Stressful meetings, long hours, short lunch breaks, small cubicles and a fast paced environment saturate many workplaces, but it isn’t the recipe to staying healthy and productive. It often leaves us feeling stressed out, exhausted, brain-dead, and irritable.
There are steps you can take to stay healthy even in your office job. If you take these 5 tips and implement into your daily work rhythms, you will see the power of simple and small habits transform the way you feel before, during, and after work.
Free yourself to say “Yes” and “No”
Setting boundaries is essential to any healthy life, and the workplace is no exception. Every time you say “yes” to one thing you are saying “no” to something else. There are a thousand small ways you say “yes” every day from brushing your teeth, to volunteering to take on new work responsibilities. Start prioritizing your health and wellbeing by reminding yourself that saying “yes” to small healthy habits will build a life that actually is healthy and energizing.
Eat lunch
Raise your hand if you’ve skipped lunch to get more work done! We are guilty too. Eating lunch not only gives your brain and body a break, but it also is essential to the proper balancing of hormones, nourishment, and blood sugar balancing that you need to have energy for the afternoon. Your brain needs fuel (glucose) to be sharp, but only 4-6 hours after you eat your glucose levels are already compromised.
Skipping lunch often leads to overeating as well which throws your body systems off balance, leads to vitamin and mineral deficiencies and is counterproductive for anyone who is attempting to lose weight. Check out our for some healthy and easy lunch ideas including bento boxes and jar salads.
Practice good posture
Proper posture is essential to healthy movement. Did you know that poor posture actually makes you susceptible to injury? And not just injury when you are doing an activity, but also injury when you step off the curb, get in your car, or pick up your work bag. Many injuries happen during normal daily tasks. Watch Phillip, our physical therapist give you simple pointers to using good posture to help prevent injury and strain on the body.
Take a break
When you take a break, get up, walk around, and let your body and brain rest from whatever you were doing. You can also switch tasks you are doing to engage a different party of your brain to avoid mental fatigue. Even a couple of minutes can help your brain refocus, overcome decision fatigue, and prevent burnout. The improved mental focus that a break provides leads to higher job satisfaction and productivity.
Practice stress-relieving techniques after work
Once the workday is done, it’s common to bring the stress of the day home which leads to losing patience with family members, mentally simmering in work problems all night, and often poor rest and sleep. Practice an effective stress-relieving routine after work to let go of work stress. Consider these techniques for relieving stress so you can enjoy your time away from the office.
- Breathwork – Use a simple breathwork practice to help relieve stress and bring fresh oxygen to your brain. There are numerous apps and techniques that will only take you a few minutes and could even be done while driving home.
- Meditation – Meditation refocuses the brain on positive thinking and helps release stress in the mind and body. There are also numerous apps and resources that can guide you in meditation that fits your needs and free time.
- Exercise – Put your exercise routine at the end of your work day to help you transition to home life, release stress, and get hit with endorphins to launch you into a restful evening.
- Call a friend – Share about your day with a friend or family member. Remember that falling into complaining will actually cause more stress in your body and brain, so share what happened and then let go of it.
Every small healthy habit you set for yourself while at work will build into the life you dreamed of as a kid. You may not see the results of your healthy habits immediately, but they are the building blocks to fulfilling work and an enjoyable life after you close your computer.