Whenever Jess Farmery walks into work, she starts sneezing and itching her skin uncontrollably. Her colleagues joke with her that she’s allergic to the office.
“I thought it was hay fever or something at first, and then winter came around, so it couldn’t be hay fever,” Farmery, 31, tells SELF. Farmery, who works as a communications and public relations professional in the health technology industry, also noticed the fluorescent lighting triggers headaches and makes her exhausted.
When she leaves the building, her symptoms subside almost immediately.
Farmery isn’t alone. What she’s experiencing is often referred to as “sick building syndrome”—a term used to describe a range of symptoms that appear to be associated with staying inside a specific building for long stretches of time. Research suggests this sudden, inexplicable illness affects women more often than men.
According to a report by the EPA, sick building syndrome describes “the acute health and comfort effects that appear to be linked to time spent in a building,” including brain fog, nausea, dizziness, migraines, rashes, and other symptoms.
There are many potential triggers that can cause these symptoms, including particles in the air such as mold spores, dust, and certain chemicals. But other symptoms, including headaches, eye strain, and fatigue, can be triggered by the more physical traits of an office building, such as bright strip lighting, a lack of windows, or the smell of the carpets.
Lizzie, 30, who works for a nonprofit organization tells SELF her sick building syndrome symptoms at her current office are “unmanageable.” She asked not to be identified for fear of workplace repercussions.
Lizzie has been with the company for around eight years, and she didn’t have an issue when she was based in a different building for the first five years at her job. Lizzie never really experienced workplace stress before, but when the company moved to a new purpose-built office in January 2024, she started to feel very unwell whenever she was at work.
“I was like, oh God, these lights are really affecting my brain,” she says of first experiencing it. “I was starting to have migraine symptoms. I felt sick and dizzy. And this was only after being in the building for about 10 minutes.”
Her work suffered as a result because she couldn’t focus. When she approached her employer, Lizzie says she was told she could reduce her hours voluntarily if she couldn’t come into the office full-time, or she’d risk dismissal. She agreed, but even part-time attendance causes her to feel ill.
