Welcome to the world of work: endless deadlines, meetings, emails, and calls. If you find yourself feeling sluggish and fatigued throughout the day, you may need to overhaul your work life nutrition, fitness, and wellbeing.
Since working professionals spend up to 40 hours a week in their workplace, we thought we’d share some valuable tips and advice on how to stay healthy at work - from ensuring that you are sufficiently hydrated and eating well, to improving your sleep pattern and caffeine intake. Here are our tips to improve your health - both physically and mentally - at work.
One of the most common excuses people cite for not being in good shape relates to not having the time or the energy to do what it takes to be healthy. This is particularly true for working professionals. Here are 7 things employees can do regularly to ensure they stay healthy:
Stay Hydrated
We’re all guilty of losing track of how much water we drink a day, especially when we’re sat at a desk immersed in emails. However, it is extremely important to ensure that we stay hydrated to avoid drowsiness and feeling sluggish.
The NHS recommend that adults should drink between six and eight glasses of water each day. Therefore we recommend that you try to follow these guidelines. Why not take a large 2-litre bottle of water into the office with you each day - place it on your desk and train yourself to finish the bottle during the working day? Drinking this amount of water will also help you to fend off those unhealthy mid-morning and afternoon cravings.
Eat Well
Many working professionals complain that they struggle to eat healthily whilst at work, finding it difficult to fight off cravings and reign in their willpower. It can be extremely difficult to resist the treats that your co-workers bring into the office, however, it is important to understand that moderation is key.
Eating well is crucial for optimum health and energy. Ensure that you start the day with a nutritious breakfast as this will keep you energised throughout the morning and reduce the risk of you reaching for the biscuit tin. For lunch the best foods to eat are salads, soups and fruit, we recommend that you avoid all greasy food at lunch as this will make you feel drowsy throughout the afternoon.
If you often find yourself getting peckish between meals at work, purchase some healthy snacks to bring into the office with you, such as nuts or dried fruits - to prevent you from the temptation of crisps and chocolates.
Get up and away from your desk
Time is a valuable commodity in the working day. With so much to do and only a small amount of time to do it in, many of us think that taking breaks is a waste of time. However, this is not the case! Taking a break from your workspace and office environment for 5 - 10 minutes can be extremely productive and rejuvenating. Take a few minutes to yourself and get outside for your daily dose of vitamin D, although remember your umbrella if you’re in the UK! The fresh air will help to invigorate you and boost your energy levels.
Reduce/Limit caffeine intake
Although we all love coffee, and couldn’t imagine a working day without it, it is important that you try to moderate your caffeine intake on a daily basis. If you’re guilty of rushing to the coffee machine multiple times throughout the day, try to reduce this intake to one cup each morning. This will help to prevent a caffeine crash later in the day.
Reducing your caffeine intake will also improve your health, resulting in lower blood pressure, better quality of sleep, mood and wellbeing.
Mental Health
Working professionals have extremely hectic lives, juggling heavy work loads, with deadlines and responsibilities on a daily basis can leave many burnt out and exhausted.
Employees need to ensure that they learn how to manage stress levels successfully and take time out of their schedules to do things that they enjoy, whether it's spending time with family, friends or loved ones, watching movies, travelling, relaxing or exercising. It is important to remember to take care of yourself whilst balancing a successful career; work-life balance is key.
Get enough sleep
Do you struggle to fall asleep at night, or often wake up in the morning feeling exhausted? Our solution here is to try and go to bed earlier. It is important to create a regular sleeping pattern to ensure that you wake up feeling well rested, this will help to boost your mental wellbeing. When you do go to bed, we also recommend that you put away your laptop, mobile and iPad - this will remove distraction and temptation to help you fall asleep quicker.
Waking up in the morning after a good night's sleep feeling fully refreshed will help to prevent binging and cravings caffeine later in the day.
Maintain good posture
Most working professionals spend their days staring at their screen for hours on end, which wreaks havoc with necks, backs, and spines. Therefore, it is important that we make a conscious effort to improve our posture on a daily basis.
A painful back is not what you need during your working day, and will ultimately affect your productivity and mood. Take every opportunity you have to stand up and stretch your back, we suggest desk exercises that focus on releasing tension in your back and engage your muscles to reduce a risk of injury.
