10 Tips for Improving Your Health at Work

If you’re chained to a desk all day, work can seriously damage your health. Learn more about how to improve your health at work with these 10 great tips.

Would you like to improve your health at work?

A healthy lifestyle is more important than ever. Over one-third of American adults have obesity and close to three-quarters of adults are overweight.

On average, we spend about 13 hours a day seated, and another 8 sleeping. That means we don’t really move as much as we should.

It’s can be hard to create a healthy lifestyle, especially at a desk job that requires you to be seated for 8-9 hours a day.

The good news is that there are some things you can do to improve your overall health and wellbeing at work. Keep reading to find out what they are.

1. Bring Lunches to Work

In the middle of your busy day, it’s easy to go out for lunch. It gets you out of the office, but there are costs to eating out all the time.

Eating out every day adds inches to your waistline, not to mention the financial costs.

Restaurants serve huge portions of food, which can be as high as 3000 calories per meal.

Improving your health at work starts with bringing lunch with you. It can be hard to plan ahead, so start with bringing leftovers from home.

Once you get into the habit, you can plan more creative and healthier options.

2. Keep Snacks at Your Desk

Offices are known for having celebrations with tempting snacks. There’s usually cake, pizza or other high-calorie, sugary options lying around.

The most tempting times to reach for those snacks is when you’re hungry.

That’s why you’ll want to keep healthier options at your desk. Protein bars, fruit, and a small number of nuts are good options at your desk.

You can keep yogurt or cottage cheese in your office refrigerator for healthy snack options, too.

3. Use Deep Breathing Techniques

During the workday, you’re going to have moments of high stress.

How you respond in those moments can determine how productive and focused you are and remain for the entire day.

As more companies are investing in employee wellness programs, they’re including deep breathing exercises as part of those programs.

One deep breathing exercise to try is the 4-7-8 breath. Inhale for 4 seconds, hold your breath 7, and exhale for a count of 8.

Do that for 2-3 minutes and notice if there’s a shift in your state of being. You’ll find that you’re more focused and relaxed.

4. Stay Hydrated

We all know that coffee is the nectar of the gods and workers worldwide.

A lot of people can drink cups of coffee throughout the day.

The downside to that is that coffee will dehydrate you. Even a 1% fluid loss can lead to a decrease in performance in athletes. It’s the same with office workers.

Keep a water bottle at your desk and make sure that it’s always filled. If you can’t bring yourself to drink water all day, have an iced peppermint tea or put flavor drops in your water.

5. Eat Every Few Hours

It’s easy to forget to eat during the workday.

Waiting until you have a break in your day can lead to poor choices and overeating because you’re so hungry.

When you’re hungry, you’re more likely to get something out of the vending machine because it’s convenient.

To avoid that situation, eat a small meal or snack every few hours. This will keep you fueled and focused throughout the day.

6. Move Every 30 Minutes

There is harm in sitting at your desk all day. Even if you’re an avid gym goer, if you sit all day, you can still increase your risk of death.

One way to counter that is to get up and move around every 30 minutes.

Stand up, stretch, and go for a quick walk around your office. You can do a set of squats or jumping jacks for a minute or two just to get your blood flowing throughout your body.

Stepping away from your work won’t make you less productive. You’ll feel refreshed and energized and ready to go.

7. Have an Ergonomic Set-Up

When you’re sitting at your desk, you want to be sure that your body is properly supported. That starts with your desk setup.

You want to make sure that your desk, chair, monitor, and mouse are all aligned to your body. View here for more information.

8. Pay Attention to Your Posture

When you sit at a desk all day, a few things happen to your body. Your hips get very tight, your shoulders are rounded forward, and your core is weakened.

This all can result in a significant strain on your lower back.

You’ll need to start to pay attention to your posture while you’re at the office.

Sit up straight, which will force you to tighten up your core muscles. Have your shoulders down and back.

It will feel awkward, so try it for 30 seconds at a time to start with. As you become aware of your posture, increase your time.

9. Set Good Work Boundaries

Setting good boundaries is an important part of being healthy at work. As a business owner, you feel that you always have to be on or respond to your customers within minutes, even off hours.

While your commitment to excellent customer care is admirable, it comes at the expense of your mental and physical health.

When you take on clients, let them know when you’re available for questions and customer issues. Having set office hours is a great way to let clients know when you’re able to answer questions.

10. Stretch at Your Desk

A big part of your overall health is flexibility and mobility. Your ability to move well can reduce nagging pain and injuries.

When you get up for 30 minutes of movement, incorporate a few stretching exercises that you can do at your desk.

Tips to Improve Your Health at Work

Even though you spend most of the day sitting, there are things you can do to improve your health.

Improving your health at work encompasses your mental and physical health. When you focus on your overall health, you can manage stress, move better, and have more energy in your day.

At the end of the day, you’re more productive and you can maintain a higher level of performance.

For more tips on maintaining a high level in your work, check out our blog today.