Modern-day office jobs can have a huge impact on your overall health. Many desk-based jobs are completely sedentary and require you to sit at your desk and in front of a computer for a large proportion of your day. With instant messages and emails, there is a little requirement to wander over to a colleagues desk to ask a question, removing the need to have a short break from your computer. Lunch and break times often consist of eating on the go, grabbing a snack from the vending machine or even eating at your desk.
How to Stay Healthy in Office?
As you spend the majority of your week at work, making it a healthier environment is sure to have positive impacts on your overall wellbeing, but what can you do to create a healthier office environment, not just for you, but also for your colleagues? Here are 5 health-boosting tips you can use to move more, eat healthier and boost the mood!
Consumption of berries helps in improving cardiovascular health, as per a study published in the NIH. Photo Credit: Shutterstock
Keep Healthy Snacks At Your Desk
It is very easy to get tempted by the offerings in the vending machine, especially when you are hungry. To save yourself from any temptation, bring in your own snacks from home. Rather than crisps and chocolate bars, instead try nut butter, unsalted nuts, and unsweetened dry fruit.
If you have access to a fridge in your office, then you should also consider fresh fruit and vegetables or natural yogurt and honey. When it comes to snacking, opt for things which contain energy-sustaining carbs and proteins, such as carrot sticks and hummus or apple slices and peanut butter. These will keep you feeling fuller for longer and give you the boost that you need mid-morning or afternoon. An easy way to stay healthy in the office, isn’t it?
Keep A Water Bottle On Your Desk
When working in an office, the regular “Coffee?” breaks mean that we often tend to drink far more caffeine than we should. Water is one of the essentials in our lives – it promotes proper kidney and liver function and flushes out your system and helps to get rid of metabolic end products.
Proper hydration helps with weight loss as people often tend to mistake thirst for being hungry. If you feel the overwhelming urge to reach for the snacks, then try sipping on a glass of water before eating anything. Pick a decent sized water bottle for your desk – liter ones are very popular – and try to drink one full bottle before dinner and another full bottle by the end of the day. Your steady hydration levels will help you to snack less and feel healthier overall.
Promote Healthy Office Challenges
If you work in quite a large office, chances are that you don’t know everyone as well as you should. Regular get-togethers or office based challenges will not only bring you away from your desk for a break but will also bring you and your colleagues together for a conversation.
Try to incorporate healthy eating into your office get-togethers – things such as “Salad Fridays” or a healthy baking competition will not only create some healthy competition but will enable you to try new things. You could also set up a collective activity which everyone can get involved in, such as mediation or something like a skipping rope competition. Split everyone into teams and the team which wins at the end receives an incentive, such as a healthy lunch voucher.
When you work in an office job, it’s not uncommon to sit at a desk for eight hours a day. Photo Credit: Shutterstock
Encourage Natural Light
As humans, we are not designed to be sat at a desk under fluorescent lights for long periods of time. We are designed to be up and moving in the outdoors, so sitting in these conditions for long periods is bound to have an effect on our health and mood. Having natural light in your office has been shown to improve mood and productivity and makes you feel happier overall. If you can, try and sit in a space where you are exposed to an influx of light or go out on your lunch breaks for fresh air and vitamin D.
Add Some Potted Plants To Your Desk
A recent study found that adding plants to your office design can increase well-being by 47%, productivity by 38% and creativity by 47%. Along with increased productivity levels, plants also help to clean the air and dampen excessive office noise. [1]
If you want to add plants to your office, be sure to choose plants which do well indoors and can survive in low-lit conditions. Peace Lily, Aloe plant and the Spider plant are good options, as well as mini cacti. If you work in a city center, then the air quality should be a focus of your office, especially if you regularly have the windows open, and office plants will help to filter out any excess pollution.
Working in an office job doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to wreak havoc on your health. By making small changes to your daily activities, desk space, and office environment, you can add in healthy eating and exercise into your workday.
