How to be Healthier in the Office

How to be Healthier in the Office Photo Via: Pixabay.com 1. Get up Frequently Many workers get too involved in their work and lose track of time. While this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, it does mean that you’re stuck at your desk all day, which in turn means you’ve been sitting for endless hours. It’s important to get up frequently to get your blood pumping and keep everything regulated. Sitting isn’t good for you, especially for extended periods of time, so getting up when possible gives you a nice mental break and your body will thank you for it. 2. Make Your Own Meals On occasion, there are treats brought into the office. Or perhaps there’s another lunch meeting, or another co-worker asked you to join them for a quick lunch out of the office. Before long, these events begin to add up, and your unhealthy eating habits start to impact your body. The best way to avoid such circumstances is to pack your own lunch so you can regulate what you’re eating and ensure your food is healthy. While this by no means suggests you can’t eat out, you should only be doing so every once in a while. 3. Allow Yourself Mental Breaks Mental breaks are so important at work, not only to avoid burnout, but also to keep you focused and mentally sound. Whenever you find you have a minute or two of down time, make sure you take some time for yourself. Get up and grab some water, or read an article on your phone that you were interested in, or listen to some music. No matter how you unwind, giving yourself that short amount of time to mentally take a break from your job will truly help you to stay on task without feeling the effects of burnout. 4. Talk with your Co-Workers Along these same lines, talking with your co-workers keeps you engaged with the work environment while also giving you some time to step away from your work. Work/life balance can rely strongly on your relationships with your co-workers, so the closer you are with them, the better. Taking a few minutes to have a quick conversation with them every now and again is great for team building and gives you that much needed break. In addition, it can give you an opportunity to vent (though be cautious here), which is always a positive in that you aren’t allowing negativity to build up. 5. Take a Lunch Break I have often been a victim of working through lunch, and on occasion, this may be necessary, but certainly don’t make a habit of it. Stepping away from your desk for the allotted lunch hour is yet another means of taking a mental break that you may not think is important, but it very much is. Lunch breaks allow you to step away, take some time to yourself, and then return to work refreshed. Plus, it makes your day go by much faster. So really, taking a lunch break every day is a win-win. Again, there may be days in which this isn’t possible, but for a majority of the time, your goal should be to step away, even if only for a short period of time, for lunch. 6. Don’t Bring Work Home Bringing work home with you is one of the worst things you can do in terms of your mental health. Some individuals are workaholics and need to bring work home with them, others have jobs in which they need to bring work home as well. But for others that don’t need to, but that do, it’s important to take a step back and reevaluate your choices. Again, there may be some times in which this is necessary, but for the most part, you aren’t allowing yourself to detach from the office, which is another way in which you can experience burnout. For this reason, leave the office at the office, whenever possible. Working in an office results in weight gain a lot of the time. If not physically, health can be impacted mentally in an office environment as well. For these reasons, it’s important that you actively try to be healthier in your office, combating unhealthy practices. It’s also important to note that each individual is different, so your stressors and unhealthy tendencies will differ from others. Keep these six tips in mind to be healthier in the office, but also experiment on your own in trying new ways to remain healthy at work.