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Queensland State Archives posted a photo:

Strain Of Typing

Sickness Among Office Workers.

Typists are especially affected by ill-health, according to an article in a recent issue of “Industrial Welfare.”

In one large office the average number of days lost through sickness was ten for each women typist, as compared with 7.2 for each woman clerk.

As the result of a preliminary investigation the Industrial Welfare Society has formed these general conclusions as to the cause of abnormal sickness among typists:-

High speed and great concentration.
Monotony.
Noise of the typewriters.
Cramped position.
Faulty ventilation and heating of rooms.
Defects of eyesight.

Output Measured.

“The sickness referred to,” state the article, “is probably of the neurasthenic type, and this indicates the importance of concentration and speeding up as factors.

“Schemes of measuring the individual output of typists have been found to have harmful physical effects. The mere fact that a girl’s output is being measured is in itself sufficient to cause strain and worry

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Queensland State Archives posted a photo:

Eat Health At Breakfast.

The Right Meals for Office-Workers.

In these times of sedentary occupations, when office-workers spend most of their day in one position upon a chair or high stool, the most important meal is – or should be – breakfast.

The first meal of the day should not be a heavy one, yet it should be substantial and of such a character that it counteracts the evil effects of crouching all day over a typewriter or ledger.

There should always be variation in the breakfast menu, for it is easy to exercise a little imagination and originality. But always have on the table a bowl of fresh fruit; it will save on doctors’ bills.

For instance, on Monday one can start with fruit. After that you can have an egg, boiled, fried, scrambled, or poached on toast. If the latter, cut the toast to fit the egg. it

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Queensland State Archives posted a photo:

Isometrics in the office

Hamburg, – Ever since it has been proved that pains in the head and shoulders and signs of general tiredness can be caused by feeble muscles millions of people have taken to isometrics.

In the Federal Republic of Germany an estimated 70,000 office workers spend two to ten minutes a day doing isometric exercises.

Secretaries, for instance, can be seen pressing the flat of their hands against their typewriters and pressing their fingers together or their heads against their hands. Other isometric exercises, designed to keep unexercised muscles in trim, can be practised without onlookers noticing.

Description source:
The Canberra Times, 21 May 1969

View the original image at the Queensland State Archives:
Digital Image ID 2711

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Queensland State Archives posted a photo:

Keeping Fit At Forty.

Health Hints For Office Workers.

What are the correct rules to adopt to ensure good health and fitness for middle-aged people? The majority of men and women over forty years of age who work at their desks eat far too much, and throw more work on the digestive apparatus than it can possibly do. A remarkably small quantity of solid food is required for sedentary work, for work in offices takes very little out of the physical system.

Meat, the great stand-by of the man who is engaged in strenuous muscular activity, is little needed by the office worker, who, on the other hand, requires more fat, starch, and sugar to keep up his, bodily warmth than the man who uses his muscles. The best thing to do is to have one really substantial meal and two small meals each day.

A good breakfast,

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Queensland State Archives posted a photo:

Vivid Drama Of Office Workers.

Imagine the world’s tallest building, the 102-storey Empire State Building in New York City, with all the drama, romance and bits of humor which make up the lives of the thousands of men and women, young and old, toiling on its many floors.

This is the structure around which “Skyscraper Souls,” screening at the Victoria Theatre this Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, has been woven. The plot involves a fight for ownership of the skyscraper, an attempted looting of the safe of a diamond merchant, frenzied speculation by a pool working in the stock brokerage office of the skyscraper and all the big and little romances, the schemes and rivalries that affect the lives of those who toil in the building.

The production of “Skyscraper Souls” entailed the building of massive sets. Shops and cafes, a radio station, luxurious Roman baths, a millionaire’s apartment

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