Top 5 healthy office habits to keep you well Sitting for too long can be bad for your health. Make sure you compensate with healthy office habits. Some people enjoy the office life – they walk into work and savor the printer fumes, admire the orderly stacks of papers and files, and revel in the ability to provide meaningful assistance to other employees and clients. But even if you love your job at the office, sitting or standing for 8 hours or more a day doesn’t do much for your health. In fact, studies indicate sitting for 11 or more hours a day (combined work, commute and home time!) makes an individual 40 times more likely to die within a 3-year span compared to someone who sits fewer hours. So, what do you do when you need to pay the bills but want to live a long, healthy life? Well, aside from regular diet and exercise outside of work, there are some simple healthy office habits, all employees can follow to keep themselves well while at the office – and in general. Healthy office habit #1: Give your brain a break Office work isn’t always physically demanding, but it can be mentally draining, and too much mental stress can affect physical health down the road. To ward off work-related depression, Dr. Marc Berman, a post-doctoral research fellow at Rotman Research Institute in Toronto, recommends getting outside on your break for a walk. If you can’t get outside, keep a plant near you or have an array of nature pictures to view. Only 10 minutes of viewing scenic pictures has the equivalent mental benefits of walking outside. Add a soothing musical background, and you’ll get even better results. You may even want to get a guided meditation track and spend 10 minutes, twice a day, listening to it. Healthy office habit #2: Keep moving Just because you’re sitting doesn’t mean you can’t be working your muscles. Discovery recommends people in an office setting stretch in their free time, focusing on the neck, wrists, legs, calves and ankles. Stretching can be as simple as rotating your angles in a circular motion as you sit and type. Utilizing the office space around you can also be a way to exercise your muscles. Sitting in a chair? Use the time to strengthen your abs by extending your legs in intervals of 15. Do a lot of interoffice communicating? Instead of emailing your notes, take the time to get up and deliver them to coworkers in person. See graphic below for some great office exercises! Healthy office habit #3: Drink lots of water Aside from the well-known benefits of drinking water, making sure you are hydrated will keep you getting up and heading to the bathroom. The farther away your desk is from the toilet facilities, the more walking you’ll get to do during the day. Hydration and exercise? Success! Healthy office habit #4: Eat right Using disinfectant wipes in the office is a good way to keep germs to a minimum. (Shutterstock) Eating right is an essential part of life in general, and people who work in an office setting need to resist the temptation of going out with co-workers or grabbing something unhealthy because hunger has taken hold. To help keep your eating in check while at the office, make sure you bring enough snacks to hold you over for the day. This doesn’t include your healthy break-time meal. Health snacks are important so you don’t feel overwhelmingly hungry when it is time to eat and opt to go with an unhealthy, tempting meal like fast food. Snacks should also be of a variety; how many times have you reached for something that sounded good in the morning and didn’t look so great 8 hours later? Healthy office habit #5: Keep germs at bay If you worked at home you probably wouldn’t need to worry about too many new germs, but people in an office setting come in contact with each other, with clients, with children, and technically with a string of strangers each person who walks into the office has come in contact with throughout the day. To keep from getting sick at work, Well-Being recommends: • Wiping down surfaces frequently with disinfectant wipes • Avoid touching your face with your hands • Do not eat at your desk where food particles can promote germ growth • Wash hand after handshakes • Dispose of trash often, especially in the kitchen and bathroom • Keep door handles wiped down with disinfectant or use a paper towel to open them • Wash your hands before leaving work to help reduce the chance of bring germs home • If you use hand sanitizer, make sure you understand the risks
Posted on: Mon, 24 Jun 2013 18:03:16 +0000
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