Constant sitting at your desk causes multiple health problems. Most people work glued to their chairs and desks, fully unaware of how harmful that can be. Fortunately, there are ways to keep yourself healthy even though you have a desk job. For example, if your workday is 8 hours, just standing up for a couple of minutes every hour will make your body feel much better.
The sedentary way of life or too much sitting is bad for both your health and motivation. In conjunction with other potentially harmful factors like anxiety, stress, sun deficiency, and constantly staring at your monitor, it can permanently ruin your health. Prolonged sitting is known to increase the risks of stroke, diabetes, clogged arteries, and heart disease.
Sitting all day can also lead to obesity and office work is often associated with negative effects on the average diet, as people don’t have the conditions and time to eat healthy food. The most common problems that all office workers experience are muscle, neck, and back problems as a direct result of constant sitting.
Based on all this, here are some tips to help you keep yourself healthy.
The Hazards of Sitting
Sitting reflects the most on your posture, the way you stand and walk. Sitting still is also damaging your circulation. These two things are closely related. A person needs to move and be active to maintain a healthy posture and circulation. To avoid any serious problems, the key is to find the time gaps where you can stretch, stand up, do some exercise, walk or even run.
No matter what you do, it’s essential to maintain good posture. A healthy body depends on a healthy spine. If you want to maintain the right posture, properly align your head with your monitor, sit up straight, and arrange your workstation so that it’s ergonomic.
To improve circulation, get up as often as you can but also stretch if you have the room for it. It’ll refresh your mind and body and re-energize you during your workday but it also helps to relieve mental and physical stress.
Stretching improves the oxygen flow through your brain and the rest of the body. Short breaks can do miracles and it’s best to make short breaks every hour. Standing does the trick as well. It’ll help lower the risks of heart disease, high cholesterol, and blood sugar levels.
Use Office Equipment to Develop a Healthy Daily Routine
Most modern offices today have plenty of equipment that increases movement. If you can replace your sitting desk with a standing one, do so. A standing desk will make you move a bit more. There are plenty of activities that you can do while standing, like talking on the phone, keeping meetings, and so on. Switch off your laptop or PC whenever you have the chance.
Being constantly glued to a computer causes various health risks such as Computer Vision Syndrome. People also have symptoms such as shoulder and neck pain, dry eyes, blurred vision, headaches, and eyestrain. So, try to unplug from the office to improve your emotional and mental health.
Constant use of computers causes chronic anticipatory stress, which leads to anxiety, mental exhaustion, poor sleep, and overall bad levels of physical and emotional well-being. Unplug from work in any way you can, especially when you’re not working. After all, taking a break from time to time leads to improved productivity.
The Most Common Office Hazards
Office health hazards most commonly include stuffy air, sunlight deficiency, and exposure to co-workers. These are the cases that are mostly unavoidable.
Stale air, working in dark places, and constantly being around other people can cause various health problems. The office cold, dirty hands, office equipment swarming with germs and bacteria, these are all things that anyone might expect when working in an office environment.
There’s only one rule here: keep your hands, desk and all other pieces of office equipment that you come in contact with clean at all times.
Just by washing your hands regularly you’re already making progress. People often make the biggest mistake, neglecting their work desk. The truth is, other co-workers and your desk are the biggest sources of germs in the office.
Bacteria too, not to mention if someone comes in sick and spreads a virus. Still, these are all normal things and you can do something about it to protect your health. Keep your keyboard, phone, and desk clean, regularly open the windows to let fresh air in and expose yourself to sunlight as much as you can. Stale air is the perfect environment for germs just like dark and damp offices.
On top of that, both cause anxiety, depression, and mental exhaustion. Fresh air and plenty of sunlight make you feel energetic, productive, and creative. Adding a plant to your office helps improve air quality and reduce stress so that could also be a nice touch.
Mental Health Hazards are your Worst Enemy
A desk job is often associated with common mental hazards like anxiety, stress, and boredom. Lack of interesting activities makes people unproductive and dissatisfied with their current status. In the long-term, this causes a constant feeling of anxiety because they’re expected to do better by their superiors and themselves. Constant anxiety leads to stress and stress can seriously damage your health.
A person with a desk job should always aspire to do everything they can to improve their work environment. Working reduces stress because being busy puts your mind somewhere else. No boredom means no anxiety which means no stress. A well-balanced daily routine will increase your sense of mental wellness and you’ll sleep better.
Good sleep keeps your health in top shape, which will guarantee creativity and productivity. Everything is connected. People function much better when they find joy in what they do, therefore it’s very important to actively reduce stress and minimize mental hazards that might endanger your health.
