7 Healthy Habits for Office Workers
I have the luxury of working from home, enjoying a flexible schedule, taking off for yoga mid-morning if I so choose. Nice, I know. Yet nearly 60% of American workers have jobs that require them to sit in a cubicle for 8+ hours a day, staring into a computer screen 12 to 18 inches away. Even with a lunch “hour” and other required breaks, many workers remain seated at their stations, even bringing their lunches back to their cubicles. Ergonomic chairs or work stations, notwithstanding, these folks are still sedentary, alternately engaged in constantly moving a computer mouse back and forth and typing on a keyboard.
Add stress resulting from tedium, pressures to score high on departmental metrics or performance expectations, cramped or crowded work spaces, and the constant glare of a computer monitor – and you have a recipe for chronic discomfort, high absenteeism, and low productivity.
And it’s no surprise that this stressful, sedentary environment, so many workers end up gaining weight, battling nagging colds, or experiencing back pain, leg cramps, headaches, or other ailments. Our bodies just aren’t built for sitting hour after hour, day after day.
If this sounds familiar, here are seven simple actions to make your life a bit more comfortable:
1 – Get up and move at each and every break. Go for a short brisk walk outside. Walking will do much to take the strain off your body and improve your health. If going outside isn’t an option, walk around the cube farm.
2 – Set an alarm on your computer for every 30 minutes as a signal to move your body. Stand up, stretch your back, legs, neck, and shoulders to loosen tight muscles, and get your blood flowing, again.
3 – Learn a few breathing techniques and use them frequently throughout the day to help you relax. This can reduce the feeling of stress and even decrease blood pressure and heart rate.
4 – Shift your gaze frequently from the computer screen to distant objects outside or within the office. This greatly reduces eye strain.
5 – At lunchtime, make it a point to leave your work area. Eat with coworkers you enjoy in the dining area (or better yet, outside, in nice weather). Positive socialization, a change of scenery, and just changing physical positions will help you relax, unwind, and recharge.
6 – Use part of your lunchtime to take another brisk walk. Between your lunch hour and other breaks, you’ll find by the end of the day you will have completed over 30 minutes of the aerobic exercise recommended by the American College of Sports Medicine to lower your risk of chronic disease.
7 – Take your vacation days each year. Some of us express some morbid pride when we say, “I haven’t taken a vacation in 5 years!” That’s not a good thing. Vacation days offer extended periods of time to get away from the demands of your workday and the stresses of your job. They can be life-savers.
At end of day you’ll find your energy level higher, your body more comfortable, and you will be surprised at how much more productive you have been. It’s just part of creating a “happy life”.
Take good care of yourself!
Jess
