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The Surprising Health & Psychological Benefits Of A Clean,
Uncluttered Desk
By B. SixWise

Despite their best intentions, many workers fall prey to desk
clutter. And from behind their towering paper piles, old coffee
mugs, outdated manuals and the swarms of unused office supplies,
they usually shout out the old adage that "a clean desk is a
sign of a sick mind" in self-defense.

In truth, most of us sense that a cluttered desk actually leads
to disorganization, a bad impression on coworkers, internal
feelings of disarray and a cluttered mind. What's surprising,
though, is that a messy desk can actually make you sick -- and
there's a new syndrome to describe it.

Irritable Desk Syndrome

Researchers at NEC-Mitsubishi, a maker of computer monitors,
questioned 2,000 office workers and found many to be suffering
from "Irritable Desk Syndrome" (IDS).

IDS is caused by working long hours at a cluttered desk, often
with poor posture. The combination can lead to both physical and
mental symptoms, including chronic pain, and loss of
productivity. Among the survey's most telling findings were:

67 percent said they are more tied to their desks than they
were two years ago.

40 percent said they were "infuriated by too much clutter and
paper on their desks but could not be bothered to do anything
about it."

35 percent said they had back or neck pain because they
knowingly had poor posture or an awkward position while at their
desk.

Said the study's lead author and "deskologist" Nigel Robertson,
a consultant at Open Ergonomics, "What most individuals fail to
realize is that desk symptoms typically escalate very quickly,
from persistent discomfort to chronic pain, which can end a
person's career and reduce their quality of life in a wide range
of ways."

Not to mention that working at a cluttered desk adds extra
stress to your life and can eat up valuable time.

"Studies have shown that the person who works with a messy desk
spends, on average, one and a half hours per day looking for
things or being distracted by things. That's seven and a half
hours per week," says time management speaker and consultant Dr.
Donald E. Wetmore,

And employers are noticing. According to a study by DYMO Corp.,
which surveyed 2,600 bosses worldwide, 51 percent said they
think there's a link between an employee's organizational skills
and their job performance. Which is understandable when you
factor in their finding that every document lost by an employee
(due to a cluttered desk or otherwise) costs the company $120.

"Like going on a date, first impressions at the office are
often lasting," says Deborah Wiener, an interior designer and
owner of Designing Solutions in Maryland. "We also make quick
judgments about work relationships. You want your desk to say:
'I mean business and I'm ready to move up.'"

Desks Can Hold More Bacteria Than Toilets

Aesthetics and personal well-being aside, a messy desk can be
home to much more than your old files and memos: your desk may
hold 400 times more bacteria than the average toilet seat.

This was the finding of a three-month study funded by The
Clorox Company. Other findings included:

While typing, your hands may be surrounded by 10 million germs.

Telephones had the highest levels of germs, followed by desks,
water fountain handles, microwave door handles and computer
keyboards.

In areas where desks weren't cleaned with disinfecting wipes,
bacteria levels increased between 19 percent and 31 percent
daily.

Toilet seats had the lowest levels of bacteria.

"For bacteria, a desk is really a laptop of luxury," says
Charles Gerba, PhD, an environmental virologist with the
University of Arizona. "They can feast all day from breakfast to
lunch and even dinner."

"We don't think twice about eating at our desks, even though
the average desk has 100 times more bacteria than a kitchen
table and 400 times more bacteria than the average toilet," says
Gerba. "Without cleaning, a small area on your desk or phone can
sustain millions of bacteria that could potentially cause
illness."

How to De-Clutter and Really Clean Your Desk

Take a few minutes each day to go through papers. Throw away
those you don't need and file those you do.

Invest in color-coded file folders and bins to organize
important papers.

Keep your desk (and the rest of your office) clean using the
highly recommended PerfectClean Cloths and Dusters. Unlike
ordinary cleaning rags that simply push dirt around,
PerfectClean's revolutionary ultramicrofiber construction
enables them to reach deep into microscopic crevices and remove
everything in their path: all forms of dirt, dust, hair, dander,
and the biological contaminants too small to see with the naked
eye. That is because at an astonishing 3 microns, the
ultramicrofibers are even smaller than most bacteria (each
cleaning cloth contains over 300 miles of actual cleaning
surface!).

Put only the bare necessities on your desktop. Keep everything
else out of sight in drawers or cabinets.

Personalize your desk with (a few) personal items such as a
desk lamp, tasteful personal photos or a plant. Devote one desk
drawer to your personal items like snacks, breath mints, a
hairbrush and photos.

About the Author: This article was provided by the world's #1
most popular and trusted holistic living e-newsletter -- FREE to
you right now at http://www.SixWise.com! The old way of
thinking: "holistic living" pertains only to personal health.
The new way of thinking: "holistic living" means prevention of
the negative and adherence to the positive in all SIX practical
areas of life: relationships, finances, career, home
environment, safety and health. With the SixWise.com
e-newsletter, you will get holistic wisdom from the world's top
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Source: http://www.isnare.com

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