Smoking is without a doubt harmful to your health but it appears that there is another possible source of health risk that affects billions of people all over the world. Sitting for long periods of time poses a huge threat to your overall health as you become inactive. From poor posture, slow blood circulation, and weight gain, there are plenty of health risks accompanying prolonged sitting. Unfortunately, most work nowadays require logging into a computer and tapping away on the keyboards for hours on end. How then will you be able to avoid the risks of sitting for too long? Well, why don’t you inject a little bit of wellness in your workplace?
- Make fitness sociable. One way to strike a healthy tune in the office is to be encouraging to your colleagues. Employers nowadays are seeing the benefits of offering fitness programs to their workers to reduce their stress levels and the effects of sitting for hours which you should take advantage of along with your co-workers. You can always ask your friend to accompany you up and down the stairs for a little cardio workout on the side.
- Prepare healthy snacks. Since you’ll be stuck in the office for hours, save yourself from the temptation of having chips and candies to munch on during break time. Instead, go and prepare yourself a healthy snack at home such as homemade granola, salad, and the like so you will know that what you’re putting in your body is actually good for you.
- Desk exercises can be your friend. Just because you’re going to the spend the entire day tied to your desk, it doesn’t mean that you won’t be able to inject some exercises in between. Even 10 minutes of doing some light exercises can offset the hours that you spend sitting down. Among the exercises that you can do are triceps dips, squats, leg raises, and even side bending. Not only will these exercises help you give your body a break from the monotony of sitting down but they can also help ease the kinks from your tense muscles.
- Skip your smoke break. When stress is getting too you, stepping outside for some smoke is what you would normally do. However, if you want to switch things up because you believe that now is the perfect time to start living a healthy life, then why not take a walk around the block? Even 10 minutes’ worth can help clear your mind and make you more alert when you go back to the office.
- Work the stairs. Most of us take the elevator going up and down the building but if you want to stay healthy in spite of sitting for hours, be friends with the office stairs. Going up and down the stairs will not only help tone your leg muscles but it can also increase your lung capacity plus get your cardiovascular system working smoothly. Not bad for something that we take for granted.
