YOU’D rather be out having fun than stuck at your desk being “productive” and yet, for most of us, several hours a day are spent sitting down, looking at a computer screen, hunched over a rather uninspiring desk.

    There’s been a lot of research into what creates a productive working environment and it doesn’t really matter whether your desk is in your bedroom, a workspace or a big open-plan office — the findings still apply.

    1. Ditch the clutter

    According to researchers at Princeton, “Multiple stimuli present in the the visual field at the same time compete for neural representation by mutually suppressing their evoked activity throughout visual cortex, providing a neural correlate for the limited processing capacity of the visual system.” In short, mess and clutter — too many things in your eye-line, basically — could compromise your attention.

    So rid your desk space of anything you don’t need.

    2. Take back the thermostat

    According to a survey from 2014, researchers reckon that almost 2 percent of working hours could be lost to people being dissatisfied with the temperature.

    What is the right temperature to work in then? Luckily you don’t work at Facebook, where Mark Zuckerberg reportedly keeps the thermostat at an icy 15 degrees Celsius. A study from Cornell University found that warmer workers are better workers, after an increase in office temperature from 20 to 25 degrees Celsius cut typos and increased typing output.

    3. Get away from the crowd

    If you can choose where you work, you’re in luck. Most offices these days tend towards busy, open-plan structures which, sadly, are doing nothing for your productivity. According to a study review from Auckland University of Technology, conversations from others can be a “significant task distraction and source of irritation.”

    The review refers to studies which recommend visual distractions from fellow workers — bookshelves, or “living plant walls.”

    4. Go green

    According to a paper from Exeter University, employees in minimalist offices were 15 percent more productive when their environments were populated with a few plants.

    (SD-Agencies)