5 surprising ways your office is influencing your brain

You probably know that your office setup plays a considerable part in your productivity. Poorly lit offices, for example, can have a negative impact on your memory . Those of you who work in open offices probably have a gripe (or two) about your coworker’s loud chewing noise or your inability to make calls in private. But your office influences your brain in more ways than you think. And since you probably spend plenty of your waking hours there, you might not realize all the effects that it’s having on your mind. Here are five unexpected ways that your workplace can change your behavior—and what you can do when that shift isn’t for the better. You “catch” your colleagues’ negative moods Behavioral “contagion” is a phenomenon we all experience. Think about your friend who has taken on the opinions of his new partner, or the way that memes spread among teenagers like wildfire. Our brains are primed to seek out a “tribe” and to fit in, often by mimicking, or adjusting our thinking to align ourselves with other people– even if many of us don’t think that we do that . Studies show that everything from divorce to obesity could be “contagious.” This is a habit with deep, evolutionary roots. In the past, if we break away from our tribe, we might face life-threatening consequences. As a result, we developed a strong drive to prevent that outcome, and that defense mechanism has stayed with us. From a neuroscience point of view, 0ur sense of belonging is probably the single most crucial element to our being. Of course, when your colleague’s behavior inspires you to do your best work and be a better person, mirroring their actions can be beneficial. However, when it feels like your colleagues are constantly locking […]

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