Being an Office worker & sitting behind a desk for long hours. Standing and speaking, logging time in front of the computer, sitting in the car — it all adds up. Finding a healthy work/life balance can be a mythical concept — (Read also: work/life balance) While hard work almost always leads to business success, sitting at a desk all day can also have negative consequences.
Recently, several studies have pointed to the dangerous effects of prolonged sitting. A study by German researchers found that sitting too much is the new smoking — raising your risk of diabetes, heart disease and even some cancers. And the risk actually increases with each two-hour period of sitting time.
And as an office worker you always tell yourself you don’t have time to exercise or eat right because you’re always on the go & have a lot to do, you don’t want to waste your time. Getting to the gym or the grocery store is the last thing on your mind, and a healthy lunch (or lunch in general) is often the first thing to go.
But high-performance people need high-performance bodies, and you can’t achieve peak performance if you don’t take the time to fuel yourself properly. In one study of workplace health, employees with unhealthy diets were 66 percent more likely to report a loss in productivity.
So, here are a few simple strategies for making health-smart life style at work that will help you to improve & change your whole life style performance:
1. Stretch. Taking a break at least every hour to stretch and move is crucial. Try a series of stretches to really help your physical stamina. Your back starts to tighten up and your shoulders start to slouch over the longer you’re seated in an office chair.
2. Eat less junk food.Think of food as fuel: The higher quality fuel you put in your tank, the better you’ll perform. You don’t need to diet or cut foods out to eat healthy either. Just eat more real food — stuff that comes from nature — instead of processed junk and fast food. By doing so, you could help improve your energy endurance (no sugar crashes) and mood, among other benefits.
3. Walk while you talk: Take conference calls while you walk around the office. This is not only good for fitness, but it helps manage stress and fires up creativity.
4. You eat more at your desk, so make sure it’s something healthy. You know how sometimes you start eating lunch and then, a few minutes later, you realize you’re on your last bite? This is “distracted eating” or “mindless eating,” By eating while preoccupied with TV, Internet, or a spreadsheet, your body and brain don’t properly process the amount of food you consume. As a result, the hormone leptin is often late to signaling the brain that it’s time to stop eating, meaning you take in more calories than you need to feel satisfied.
5. Squeeze. Those little stress balls exist for a reason! Typing and writing all day can lead to hands that need care. Stop what you’re doing throughout the day and stretch your hands. Try squeezing a stress ball or even your tennis ball gently and releasing to increase your hand and finger strength.
Interlace your fingers and stretch them gently to provide an alternate stretch and relief from typing.
Take good care of your hands and the rest of your body during your workday and they’ll be sure to return the favor.
6. Bring your lunch. Get a set of Tupperware containers, and pre-pack your food so everything is ready to go when you leave for work in the morning. “Lunch is a good opportunity to eat healthy,” Bring a salad with chicken, nuts, beans, fruits and veggies — you’ll get some great nutrients, including fiber and protein, Avoid takeout lunches, which tend to be expensive, over-sized, heavy in fat and calories, and lacking in nutrients.
To keep your lunch safe, we recommend using an insulated lunch bag with a freezer pack to keep your food cold until you can put in the office refrigerator. But don’t let more than two hours pass before putting it back into a fridge.
7. Lift: Try doing some dead lifts from the desk with a very low-weight item to stretch out the back and strengthen the core. Again, make sure this is a very low-weight (three to five pounds) object, such as a few books or a large water bottle that’s filled. Lifting slowly and controlled with the right breathing can really strengthen the core muscles in your body, which need to stay strong to support you during the hours of sitting process.It doesn’t take a lot of reps or weight, but lifting done properly around your workstation can actually increase your mobility if you approach it correctly.
8. Eat with a friend. If you have to eat at your desk, invite an office-mate over to eat with you, it’s important from a productivity and creativity standpoint to get that break and interact with your colleagues.
9. Stand: Even if you can’t afford one of the electronic, adjustable standing workstations, you can still try standing for 30 minutes to an hour a day at your workstation. This is a great way to change your body’s posture and get the benefits of standing to keep your body aligned.
10. Get Enough Sleep. Different people need different amounts of sleep. So the key is to experiment and be aware what amount works well for Some people need at least 7 to 8 hours, when they sleep less than this, they come to work tired all the next day, and of course avoid caffeine & sugar all these things can potentially affect your quality of sleep and make it incredibly hard to wake, try to eat fruits with reach amount of sugar like Bananas, Apples, Oranges & some nuts like almonds.
