We spend a third of our time at work.  For most of us, that time is spent either sitting down at a desk or in meetings. This post will feature tips on how to stay physically healthy in the workplace.

 

 

Being Mindful of your Movements

Before reading the tips below, it’s good to think and note down the physical activities that you’re already engaged in while in the office.  Walking to the kitchen, to your next meeting, or outside to get some a coffee; all of these counts as being physically active.

 

Just being more mindful of your physical activity can have a positive impact on your health.  I’ll circle back to this point later in the article.

 

 

Increasing physical activity at work

For now, here are some additional changes that you can adopt to increase your level of physical activity at work.

 

1. Active Melbourne City Sports

There are a number of sports being organised around the city on a weekly basis: Soccer, Basketball, Dodgeball, Running, Netball and Cricket just to name a few.  Check out the Active Melbourne City Sports and to see how you can get started.

 

 

2. Stairs

Instead of using the elevator try take the stairs.  This can be done when attending meetings or you even use the bathrooms that are on a different level.  Making a trip up and down the stairs burns a little over 5 calories.

 

 

3. Chat services are great, but…

Chat services are great when you need a quick and short response to question or to broadcast a message to a team; but if a conversation is taking longer than 2-3 minutes, then having a face to face conversation may be more appropriate.  Face to face conversations requires you to move away from your desk and take a short walk across the office.

 

 

4. Nice kicks

If you are fortunate enough to work in an office with a relaxed dress code; wearing comfortable clothes and shoes encourages you to be more active.  It’s a lot easier to get up a flight of stair in flats, than in high heels (I assume).

 

 

The Mindful Housekeepers

A study was conducted to test if one’s mindset along with exercise could have an effect on health variables such as weight, blood pressure, body fat and BMI. 84 housekeepers from 7 different hotels were split into two groups and were measured on the previous health variables mentioned above.

 

The first group was informed that the work they engage in daily (i.e. cleaning hotel rooms) is a good form of exercise and attributes to an active and healthy lifestyle.  The common work tasks that they performed were shown as examples of exercise.

 

The second group of housekeepers kept in the dark.

 

After four weeks, the same health variable was measured again for both groups.  The informed group showed a decrease in weight, blood pressure, body fat and BMI as compared to the control group.

 

The research conducted by Alia Crum and Ellen Langer shows that changing one’s perception of the of physical activities at work can be enough to affect your health in a positive way.

 

Combining a change in mindset along with increasing physical activity at work would be even better 🙂