Remote Workers Can Add Movement to Their Daily Routines By Following These Tips
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that adults get at least 150 minutes of exercise each week. That can be hard to achieve with working from home for 40 hours, doing chores, cooking, cleaning, and even caring for a family or pets.
All that sitting at your desk can take a toll on your physical health, including backaches, stiffness, and increasing your risk for medical problems down the road.
To help combat these problems, consider incorporating movement in your workday. Try these tips for staying active.
Get a Standing Desk
Among the best furniture for working from home is the standing desk. Sitting in even the most ergonomic desk chair for long periods of time can lead to aches, pains, and chronic health issues.
But by using a standing desk, you break up sedentary hours and promote better posture, blood circulation, and a litany of other health benefits.
In fact, Australian researchers found that standing for as little as two additional hours per day can help improve your cholesterol and lower your fasting blood sugar levels.
When it comes to standing desks, you have options. Choose a full-size desk with a crank or hydraulics to adjust in height, or try a portable standing desk converter that sits atop your current desk. Alternate between sitting and standing positions throughout the day. This simple, but effective working from home tip ensures that you get a much-needed break from prolonged sitting.
Take Regular Breaks to Stretch and Move Around
Regardless of which type of desk you choose, you still want to take regular breaks to stretch and move around. When working from home, it’s easy to get caught up in tasks and forget to give your body the movement it needs.
Plan two-minute movement breaks each hour, during which you can perform simple stretches for your neck, shoulders, back, and legs. Stretching will help relieve tension that has built up from sitting or standing in one place for too long. You also can incorporate short walks or exercises into these breaks. It can be as simple as walking around your house or doing a quick set of jumping jacks or squats.
Not only will these short breaks cut short your periods of inactivity, but they also refresh your mind and boost productivity.
Add Activities into Your Lunch Break When You Work from Home
Working from home is convenient in that you don’t need to travel or head to the employee bathroom to change into your workout clothes and get some exercise over your lunch break. And you won’t have to subject your colleagues to sweaty smells afterward, either.
Regular exercise helps prevent and manage many health problems and concerns, including high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, arthritis, and more.
Pull up a YouTube workout, open your favorite fitness app, or do a quick HIIT workout from memory over your lunch break to get your body moving and your heart rate up. Even if your lunch break is just 30 minutes, that gives you five minutes to change clothes twice and 20 minutes to exercise.
Try Simple Exercises Without Leaving Your Desk
Don’t have time to get up from your desk due to a looming deadline? There’s still no excuse to move your body! One of the best working from home tips is to make use of the furniture in your workspace to get some added movement during the day.
Try these exercises that don’t force you to take your eyes off your big project:
- Use an exercise or stability ball as a seat to engage your core and improve your posture. Sitting on a ball requires constant adjustments to maintain your balance.
- Do calf raises at your standing desk.
- Use resistance bands around your thighs as you kick forward, backward, and to the side, at your standing desk.
- Try tapping your feet or using a seated elliptical machine as you sit in your ergonomic office chair.
- If you have to attend a meeting or webinar where you simply need to follow along, try doing bicep curls or shoulder presses during them, using hand weights or cans of soup to strengthen your upper body.
Every moment of movement counts and decreases the amount of time you’re sedentary while you’re working from home. You might even find that you have more energy as a result of your new active lifestyle.
Choose the Best Furniture for Working from Home to Stay Active
If you’re inspired to incorporate more movement into your workday, then you might also need to shop for office furniture or fitness equipment to accomplish your new goal.
For the best savings in this equipment, opt to shop second-hand! Snag a pre-owned standing desk from your local office furniture store, or browse your favorite online marketplace for used hand weights or a stability ball. Incorporating activity in your day doesn’t have to cost you your annual salary – but it will make working from home even better and more healthy.