Is Eating Lunch at Your Desk Making You Sick?

I am definitely guilty of not taking time each day to have lunch away from my desk. It’s 12:30, I’m hungry -- so I eat. I know this isn’t entirely healthy, but I never thought I could be making myself sick.

A study by microbiologist Charles Gerba found the typical office area can contain 400 times more germs than a toilet seat. That amazes me. Telephones came in as the number one home for office germs, followed by desks, water fountain handles, microwave door handles and computer keyboards. Surprisingly, toilet seats consistently had the lowest bacteria levels of the 12 surfaces tested in the study.

“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," Gerba said. "Without cleaning, a small area on your desk or phone can sustain millions of bacteria that could potentially cause illness."

This is just great. Not only do us office folks have to worry about back issues, carpal-tunnel syndrome and my favorite -- a flat behind from sitting all day -- now we have to worry about getting pneumonia from our keyboards.

So how can you control these illness-causing bacteria? "One good way to kill bacteria and help stop the spread of germs is to regularly clean your personal workspace," offered Dr. Gerba. The study found that using disinfecting wipes can dramatically reduce their number and therefore help lessen your chances of illness.

I don’t know about you, but today at lunch I am buying some disinfectant wipes. This is probably a better solution than moving your lunch break into the office bathroom -- as Norma points out, that place has enough problems without me eating in there.

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