When you have a desk job, your primary goal is to fulfill your tasks for your position. You have to finish your assignments or else you might get the boot from your office. Staying active is out of the equation for most because the priority is their job.
There are lots of employees who sit for extended periods—without realizing the risks prolonged sitting could do to one’s health. But since you are now armed with this information, what can you do exactly to encourage movement while working and stuck in your desk job?
Here we break down what a desk does to your body and how it could affect the way you perform at work.
What Working From Home Feels Like
Some people might fantasize about working from home. It’s private and flexible in terms of working hours that would allow one to spend more time with family. Plus, you won’t have to commute to and from work. Nonetheless, you still have to be wary of not working outside your house in the long run because it may not be good for your well-being.
One con of working from home is inactivity. Our tendency is to sit for long hours to complete a job and get our workload off our chests. You may have not noticed that you haven’t gotten up from your seat for hours on end.
What this does is disrupt the normal flow of your metabolism and raise the levels of your blood pressure, blood sugar, and cholesterol. At the start, it will lead to weight gain in your waist area and then later also translate to muscle tension in your back, spine, hamstrings, hip flexors, and calves.
So to reiterate, prolonged sitting has been connected to the development of serious health issues. According to studies, it might lead to heart disease, cancer, and obesity. When you’re stuck sitting at your desk job, your body’s ability to break down fats and sugars slow down.
This is why we can’t stress enough the benefits of exercising at work during the day.
What to Do to Inject Some Activity In Your Desk Job
This is not a lost cause because you could always do something to add more movement to your otherwise sedentary job. What you need to do is to drop the excuses and do some action.
1. To combat exhaustion or feelings of tiredness from work, exercise more in your working day. Pain and discomfort from prolonged sitting could also be minimized if you exercise more regularly.
2. Reinvigorate your mind by taking five-minute breaks throughout the day. Do a vertical run and go up and down your stairs. Walk to the nearby park.
3. Stretch in the middle of the day to loosen up the tension in your body. This will reduce pain and discomfort in certain areas that you target.
4. In an hour, leave your desk at least once for even just a minute. You could fix yourself a cup of coffee or tea. Walk up and down the stairs to recharge and refresh you for your next focused round.
5. Do not forget to take a break by setting an alarm.
6. In a day, take a moment to pause and assess how the workday is going. Look at your motivators to get up and move.
7. Organize your workspace to declutter your desk and your mind.
8. Invest in an ergonomic standing desk and maximize its benefits of comfort and efficiency.
9. Look at your overall lifestyle and make changes as you deem fit. When staying active and healthy, it’s not just about creating an exercise routine or adding movement to your everyday life. It’s also what you eat, the amount of water you drink, and how much you sleep in a day.
10. Speaking of water, you have to stay hydrated throughout the day. Water is important for every function of your body. Drink lots of it and make it easier to track your daily water intake by always having a water bottle or tumbler next to you. You may add up how many times you refilled it so you have an idea how much your water consumption is. Buy one that is non-spill so you don’t have to deal with water on your desk or gadgets.
11. Do a healthy meal prep every once in a while. If you cook your own food, you are sure where you got your product and if it’s still fresh. You may even have your own garden that guarantees 100% freshness. You will have more control over all your meals and snacks if you prepare them yourself.
Why It’s Important to Stay Active at Work
In today’s workforce, it’s normal to work 8 to 10 hours a day. Some even work for longer and reach up to 19 hours. You also have household responsibilities to take care of, especially if you are working at home. There should be time for dinner, helping your family meet some of their needs, keeping everything in order at home and if you’re lucky, still be able to lie down on your sofa.
Our point being so much happens in our lives every day. If you do not take care of your physical and mental health, you will exhaust your body up to the point where it could no longer function properly or develop an illness. If you want to stay sane, regular movement is the key! We are all human beings and we just can’t stay put in one area, 24 hours a day forever.
Don’t beat yourself up if you are not a very active person at the moment. The sedentary lifestyle is quite normal for employees that contribute to the economy. Staying healthy is not only a personal commitment but also, a societal duty. To encourage good health and productivity, move around and get up every now and then.
What happens if you are already able to do this? Your body, attitude, and energy will all change because working on your physical health can do wonders for your mental well-being, too. Physical exercise in your workday will help improve productivity. It will also open a lot of benefits for your health. You will report working more often, increase your cognitive skills and mood.
Employers should also know the benefits of movement in your daily job. This could lead to them deciding on changing the work climate.
Conclusion
To enjoy these benefits, workplaces are offering their employees standing desks. FlexiSpot has a plethora of options for those seeking to upgrade their workstations and offices in order to get a better quality of life that promotes good health.
Adding to this is regular walking which helps strengthen muscles and consume calories more than running. Live a balanced life of sitting, standing, and exercising every day to reduce the risk of developing chronic illnesses.
Don’t forget that health is wealth so always be aware of what situations you subject your body to. Schedule a time to spice workday activities and you’ll notice a huge difference in your day today.
