AD. Establishing a healthy daily office routine can keep you in fine form, both physically and mentally. Healthwise, stress is probably the biggest cause of problems for office-based workers. When deadlines loom or conflicts with coworkers arise, elevated levels of the stress hormone cortisol will flood your system, causing you to lose focus and pile on the belly fat. Add in a sedentary lifestyle that comes with most office work, and you have a ticking time bomb of mental and physical ill-health. It’s therefore essential to keep both body and mind active, healthy, and well-balanced, even in the most stressful office environments. In this post, we will explain how.
[Photo by Karola G]
Manage Stress
The body’s response to stress and workplace pressure is perhaps the single most important factor in an individual’s physical and mental well-being. Cortisol, the body’s stress hormone, is produced by the adrenal glands and has a role to play in managing stress, controlling blood sugar, and generally regulating metabolism. In small doses, then, cortisol is useful. However, overload your system with the stuff and you will soon start to feel its effects – your mood will change, focus will be lost at work, and you will get fatter. However, by adopting a few stress-fighting strategies, you can keep stress at bay and cortisol within manageable limits. You can do this in a few simple ways:
- Take mini or micro breaks.
- Stretch your limbs throughout the day.
- Prioritise tasks to reduce mental overload.
- Breathe and practice mindfulness before meetings.
- Get the proper hydration.
Stretch Yourself
Stretching is a simple but effective way of keeping body and mind together at work. Firstly, stretching helps you relieve tension – a stiff neck and joints can be relieved by a few stretches. But giving your limbs a good stretch also has a more holistic role to play in keeping you healthy, both physically and mentally. By stretching, you promote good blood circulation and also give your brain and body a bit of a reset, helping you to get back to your work refreshed and with renewed focus.
Take Micro Breaks
Taking breaks at work is all well and good, but it can sometimes leave you feeling lethargic if they go on too long. With this in mind, a useful strategy when it comes to workplace breaks is microdosing. Short (1–5 minutes) breaks are an effective way of breaking your day up into manageable chunks and resetting both the body and mind. And it’s important to make sure that just because you’re taking small-dose breaks, you aren’t simply going through the motions. It’s important to get away from your desk, stretch and look away from your computer screen to give tired eyes a break.
Remember to Breathe
Fresh air is free, and lungfuls of the stuff can have a surprisingly beneficial effect on body and mind. When stress levels rise, your breathing will tend to become shallow, starving the brain of oxygen and raising cortisol levels. Remember, slow and deep is the way to go with breathing exercises. This will activate the parasympathetic nervous system (the body’s ‘rest and relax’ mode), reducing your heartbeat and cortisol levels, and generally helping you keep your calm.
Stay Hydrated
Finally, getting the right amount of water into your system is vital. Your sipping routine can, in fact, inform the other parts of your daily office habits, as getting up for water gives you a chance to stretch, breathe and take a microbreak. Water, tea and coffee from an Aquacool dispenser is a great way to get some fluid into your system and stay hydrated.
Conclusion
Workplace wellness is often overlooked, but it has a big say in how well an office worker goes about his or her job. By following a few easy-to-follow steps, it’s possible to stay on top of physical and mental well-being, which will have a compounding effect in terms of worker productivity when done right.
