Work Hard, Stay Healthy
Last month, dentists and nutritionists spoke with concern on the office “Cake Culture”; the habit of office workers to indulge on cakes and snacks whilst working. The major concern was that it was fuelling obesity and poor oral hygiene.
In the NovaLoca office, we’re no stranger to cake culture (although Wine Gums are the current office favourite), but it’s a valid concern. The relatively sedentary office lifestyle doesn’t lend itself to weight loss, and the added temptation of sweets only compounds this issue.
As we refuse to give up our vices any time soon, we’ve instead been looking into the best ways to keep your body healthy and active whilst in the office, which will not only improve your health, but your output.
Walking Meetings
Relive those adolescent, walking-to-school memories by taking a short trek around the block with your colleagues. It beats bellowing over your co-worker’s desks and gets some fresh air back into your lungs.
But this needn’t be relegated outside the office; if you find it’s not possible to leave for any reason, a popular method is to ‘gamify’ seating. A popular trend among many property agents, bankers and salesmen is to forbid themselves from sitting until a sale, viewing or deal has been sealed over the phone. You may even find that pacing during your calls keeps you, quite literally, on your toes, and you’d be surprised what this can do for your confidence too.
Be Your Own Commute
While few of us are averse to taking the car on short journeys – it’s quicker, after all – if your commute to work isn’t too far or too long, consider walking or picking up your bike. It sounds obvious, but the benefits are worth it – 30 minutes of cardiovascular before work is one of the most effective ways to train your body for the day ahead. It’ll improve your mood, eliminate stress, and wake you up for the day ahead.
Limit Your Caffeine
Despite popular opinion, caffeine doesn’t wake you up – it merely blocks adenosine. Adenosine responds to receptors in the brain, triggering drowsiness by slowing brain activity.
The problem with these receptors is that they allow caffeine to bind to them; let too many of them bind to these receptors and your natural drowsiness becomes compromised. The result is that your tiredness is simply delayed far later in the day, with more caffeine simply prolonging this effect. Without delving too far into the science, think about it this way – the more coffee you drink now, the more tired you’ll be later. If that carries over into the next working day, you’re looking at one long and tiring working week.
Office Chair Yoga
Yep, it’s a thing. A quick Google search for “seated yoga” will find you a number of different poses that can improve posture, composure and heart rate. Best of all, a great many of these are subtle and discreet – you can avoid the odd stares from your office workers that you might otherwise get attempting a “Wounded Peacock” by the photocopier.
Avoid Snacking
We’ve saved the most difficult until last. The battle will always be against your own temptation, but if you find those doughnuts, sweets or crisps too hard to ignore, consider some low-fat alternatives. Fruit will satisfy that sweet-tooth (and fill in as one of your five-a-day) whilst baked, low-fat snacks can replace crisps. For serial grazers, get into home-made popcorn. A light drizzle of olive oil and some flavouring such as paprika is surprisingly moreish.
As for the Wine Gum addiction… we’re still working on that.
If you’re losing the weight, why not try losing some stress as well? Read our 4 easy ways to reduce stress in the office.
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