In all of my professional jobs, I've been lucky enough to not deal with situations that are hazardous to my health aside from the sedentary lifestyle, but I take walks all the time during my shifts.
However, I recognize that office politics are a stressful part of working a cush office job.
Aside from the social aspects (cliques), there's the rat race. The people who see you as a threat treat you a certain way and may even try to get you into trouble or make you look bad. My direct supervisor tries to undermine my input on things all the time. I believe he thinks I want his job, because I tend to disagree with his decisions and don't hide it if he asks or if we're having an open discussion. Mind you, I don't push my agenda or try to get my way. I got my first review and he asked if I felt like I was heard, and I said yes. I'm aware that not all of my ideas will be considered and that's fine. I'm just trying to do my job and give input on things I know to make things better for the company and my coworkers. Despite this, lots of work done between tasks that went above and beyond what was asked of me, and the fact that I had zero negatives on my report, I got a simple “Meets Expectations”. Which translates to a 60% of my merit bonus and makes me look like I'm just doing enough. It's all because my supervisor doesn't like me. He's literally yelled at me in front of someone else when I was questioning an idea he had (literally asking about it, because I didn't understand since it sounded like a bad idea). I explained my thoughts based on my experience. He then asked a consultant, the guy who heard him yell at me to check with his boss. The next day, the consultant comes in and tells him, “[boss's name] said what [my name] said”. My supervisor's face contorted.
If it's not that, the bosses are always looking for the biggest kiss-ass and will even use divide and conquer tactics between workers. Today, the department boss comes into the area the consultant and I are working and asks the consultant “is [my name] fixing all your mistakes?” and he catches himself so then says “or are you fixing all [my name]'s mistakes?”
I'm pretty sure my boss could hear our discussions and he knew I am constantly fixing the consultant's crap code or giving him pointers on how to fix things, or fixing the things he breaks that impact my own work because I got my supervisor (who is the consultant's buddy) on my back for broken stuff.
And despite all that, I never talk shit about the consultant to my supervisor or the department boss. I only say good things, because I don't need to get this guy fired. He's a nice dude and can learn, but even if his shortcomings in some areas directly affect me and my work, I don't think it's worth turning on him and making his job at risk.
Meanwhile, he answers the department boss's question with “a little of both” as if he's also fixing my stuff when he isn't. It's literally me going into bugs opened from his checked in code and fixing it. But he has to look good for the boss and act like he's helping me. He could have just said something neutral instead of playing minstrel for the boss.
I would have simply said “it's a team effort” to take away the idea of who's fucking up and who's fixing things when the boss tries to put pressure on us peons. But apparently that's too much to ask because people get scared and only think about numero uno. They don't realize they're isolating themselves because the boss and the company doesn't give a fuck about them.