About the fact that I became ugly at work...

Review expert: Zhang Yuhong, chief physician of the Department of Dermatology, Zhengzhou Central Hospital Affiliated to Zhengzhou University

The first working week after the Spring Festival holiday has ended. Have you guys who have endured seven consecutive days of work taken some time to relax during the weekend? Don’t let work affect your appearance!

This is no joke. Some time ago, the topic "It turns out that you really do get uglier after going to work" became a hot search on Weibo. Netizens complained that they felt like a different person after going to work, and posted comparison photos before and after work!

Source: Screenshot of Weibo topic

After seeing the photos posted by netizens, everyone couldn't help but sigh: It turns out that working really makes you ugly! Long-term fatigue not only reduces your appearance, but also brings other changes, such as a strange smell on your body, damage to your health, etc.

Why does being too busy at work make you ugly?

In a nutshell, it is because we work too hard and overwork ourselves, which causes us to suffer from mental stress and lack of rest over the years, resulting in some negative changes in our mental outlook, making our faces and body posture look very tired, which is what the Internet buzzword "tired and ugly" describes.

Being too busy at work can make you ugly, mainly in the form of getting fat, becoming bald, having a worse body shape, looking listless, and having an ugly complexion.

According to a survey, people are more likely to gain weight three years after they start working . Lack of sleep and disruption of the biological clock caused by long hours of work will affect the body's secretion of "leptin", an important hormone for maintaining a stable body weight.

At the same time, huge work pressure will also cause the body to secrete more adrenal cortisol hormone, which increases appetite. In this way, the appetite increases, and the weight naturally goes up.

Source: Screenshot from CCTV Finance Channel

In addition, long hours of work can also disrupt the body's original hormone balance , leading to pathological hair loss. As work fatigue and stress continue to accumulate, workers' hair volume continues to decrease and their hairline continues to move back.

At the same time, the bad posture of workers sitting in front of the computer for a long time will also have a great impact.

Take hunching over as an example, which will not only increase the stress on the cervical spine and spine and cause deformation, but also squeeze the blood vessels and nerves in the neck and waist to varying degrees. While making people's body posture worse, they also suffer from diseases such as cervical spondylosis and lumbar disc herniation.

Friends who are reading this article, please test yourself. Do you have the following behaviors: looking down, sitting for a long time, crossing your legs, stretching your neck forward, hunching over, etc.? If so, please stand up and move around!

What does “fatigue odor” smell like?

In addition to being ugly due to fatigue, workers may also suffer from **"fatigue odor"** when they are extremely tired! "Fatigue odor" is body odor caused by excessive fatigue, and often appears in areas where sebaceous glands are concentrated, such as the armpits and back.

Then some of you may be wondering, isn’t this just sweat odor?

Source: pixabay

In fact, this is not true. "Fatigue odor" is different from sweat odor. It is caused by excessive "ammonia" in the body , while sweat odor is caused by bacteria decomposing sweat on the surface of the skin. And because our physical constitutions vary from person to person, the "ammonia" content in everyone's body is different, and the "fatigue odor" produced by each person is also different.

"Ammonia" is a colorless gas, a mixture of nitrogen and oxygen, with a strong pungent smell, which comes from the decomposition of amino acids in the human body. Therefore, with metabolism, our bodies are constantly producing "smell".

The intestines, kidneys, stomach and other organs all produce "ammonia", which is a normal component of body fluids. Even if the "ammonia" content exceeds the standard, the liver will synthesize the excess "ammonia" into urea and excrete it from the body in the form of urine.

One of the metabolic pathways of ammonia: the alanine-glucose cycle.

Source: Biochemistry (7th Edition)

However, when people are in a state of fatigue or over-stress for a long time, the liver's detoxification ability will decrease. When the liver does not decompose enough ammonia, the remaining ammonia will enter the blood and be excreted with sweat, forming a pungent odor, or be excreted from the mouth in the form of bad breath, which is the "fatigue odor".

How to prevent yourself from becoming ugly at work?

So can taking a shower frequently solve the problem of "being ugly at work" and "stinking due to fatigue"? No, taking a shower can only clean the surface of our skin, while "stinking due to fatigue" is produced from our body. Therefore, to prevent "being ugly at work", we need to solve the root cause.

Source: pixabay

In general, eliminating fatigue is the key. Workers can relax their bodies appropriately, get up and walk regularly during work, promote blood circulation, protect our bones and muscles, and avoid various diseases. At the same time, relax your mind and ensure adequate sleep every day, so that you can have enough energy to resist stress at work.

Of course, if you experience obvious negative emotions such as anxiety, depression, and physical discomfort, it is also very important to seek help from a psychologist in a timely manner.