A large majority of the population is currently spending most of their day in a sedentary position. Spending nearly 8 hours a day at a desk can do great damage to a person’s posture, waistline and overall health.
Get up more frequently Getting up and stretching your legs is an easy way to create a healthier work place. Getting up every 30 minutes for a quick walk around the office or a stretching break will increase productivity and increase blood flow throughout the body, in turn, creating more energy. Use this time to be screen free as it’s also been shown that every 20 minutes the eyes need a screen break to reduce eyestrain.
Stretch to decrease pain Sitting at a desk for long periods of time can put a lot of strain on your back, wrists and neck. Implementing a stretching plan throughout the day to loosen up these muscles will help dramatically. Ensure that you stretch through the Traps to prevent headaches, Wrist to prevent carpel tunnel then stretch the Glutes, Hip Flexors and Hamstrings to help with the low back pain.
Drink More Water Canadians on average are dehydrated throughout the day. This dehydration can cause fatigue, headaches, “fuzzy brain”, troubles with short-term memory and can affect both mood, and hunger. The body has a hard time determining if it’s hungry or thirsty which can lead to a lot of unnecessary snacking. Aiming to drink 3 Litres of water daily is optimal to keep the body functioning properly and efficiently (and increase your walking through the day…bathroom breaks)
Desk Posture Desk posture is extremely important. Some key tips to remember are:
· Keep you chin pulled back to keep your head over top of your neck (don’t reach forward with the head)
· Keep the keyboard & mouse at a comfortable arms length away
· Keep your shoulder blades against the back of your chair at all times (no slouching!)
· Have an arm support at all times to keep your shoulders at a comfortable level
· Have a wrist support for keyboarding and your mouse
· Keep both feet firmly places on the floor. If they don’t reach the floor comfortably, get a foot rest.
Eat Small Snack throughout the day Eating throughout the day is extremely important to keeping your energy levels high through the day. Calories are the fuel that keeps our body moving and energetic! Aiming to have a well-balanced breakfast, lunch and dinner with 2 snacks containing a carbohydrate and either a fat or protein is extremely important.
To determine approximately how many calories you should be eating a day (minimum) use the follow formula:
Body Weight x 10 (men) or 9 (women) = Resting Metabolic rate
We should aim for about 40% of your calories from Protein, 30% Carbs (starches/fruit) and 20% Fats with the remaining 10% from veggies (or more)
Strengthen Your Body and Cardiovascular system With long bouts of sitting throughout the day we want to make sure we are strengthening our core and joints. This can prevent injuries from occurring, it will increase lean muscle mass, which increases your metabolism, energy levels and overall strength. This is especially important for the core to prevent lower back pain. Normally we recommend 3 days per week of resistance training, with 2 extra days of cardiovascular training. These sessions don’t need to be hours on hand, 30-40minutes will be more than enough to notice big differences.
By implementing the previous 6 tips, you can increase your energy at work, decrease physical pain and increase your overall health levels. You should aim to implement 1 or 2 of these habits at a time to help make the transition to a healthier workday much more easy. Small, every day changes can lead to big changes in your body composition, mood and overall health levels.
Rich Hill
CSEP – Certified Personal Trainer
RK Athletics – https://linktr.ee/RK_Athletics
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