Why working in skyscraper can make you feel sick

SCIENCE EDITOR IF WORKING in a high-rise office makes you tired and grumpy it may not just be your job that’s to blame.

Skyscrapers may trigger motionsickness, sleepiness and depression because they sway slightly in the wind, believe experts who are launching a £7million study to gauge the impact.

Very tall buildings can also shift slightly in response to external forces, such as nearby building work or trains rumbling past.

Now a team of engineers, medics, physiologists and psychologists from the Universities of Exeter and Bath will explore claims that people experience motion sickness, fatigue, depression, poor concentration and lack of motivation if they live or work in a building that sways slightly.

Testing simulators will be built in Exeter and Bath to measure movement from very tall buildings, offices and flats, football stadiums and rock concert venues, including the impact of vibrations caused by crowds simultaneously exiting a stadium or walking across bridges.

Alex Pavic, Professor of Vibration Engineering at the University of Exeter, who was an expert adviser on the “wobbly” Millennium Bridge in London said: “More and more people are living and working in high rises and office blocks but the true impact of vibrations on them is currently very poorly understood.

“It can differ depending on whether an environment is quiet or noisy, the time of the day and even whether people are moving, standing, running or walking.”

Previous studies have already shown that very subtle building motion can be perceived by some occupants, sometimes inducing motion sickness, sleepiness and causing fear.

Scientists believe that evolution made humans adept at picking up tiny vibrations.

For our primate ancestors the slight movement of trees could have signalled the approach of a predator.