Air-conditioners (AC) have improved our lifestyles and enabled us to regulate indoor temperature to escape the heat, especially in the scorching summers. Although it has its own benefits, long-term exposure to air-conditioning can make a person sick.

Usage of AC has become a mandatory infrastructure element in business and corporate offices. However air-conditioned environment could lead to circulation of germs if someone is sick in the workplace, which could lead to the spreading of disease. Lack of purified air or oxygen may lead to various cardiovascular and respiratory diseases. People working indoors tend to breathe unpurified oxygen to a great extent, which lead to health-related chronic issues. It has also been seen that, air-conditioned offices are dry and arid because they pull the humidity out of the room leading to skin dryness, irritations, dehydration and urinary issues among employees. Prolonged AC exposure also leads to lack of resistance of the body to minimal heat, so they either sweat profusely or cannot withstand heat even for few minutes.

Shifting from an AC environment to a heated surrounding after prolonged exposure and the sudden change in temperature leads to many skin related issues, cough, cold, fever, sore throat and other similar problems.

Being in a confined AC environment can lead to contagious infections and illness, causing one to become prone to airborne diseases. Recent reports say that a complete AC environment is more polluted than the atmospheric pollution outside and can severely impact health.

Other health issues that can occur due to working in an air conditioned room include:

• Headache
• Fatigue
• Laziness and irritability
• Respiratory and cardiovascular problems
• Eye problems
• Allergy and others