3 Simple Ways to Break Unhealthy Workplace Habits

As ironic as it may sound, the same corporate employer who helps to pay your bills and maintain your lifestyle may also be a leading cause in your degrading health.  For the majority of people in the workforce, their day regularly consists of sitting slumped over in a chair, staring at a screen for hours on end while snacking on junk food. It can become easy to get so involved in your daily work routines and tasks that you forget about maintain your health, but with a few simple adjustments to your workplace behaviors you can dramatically improve your long-term health and wellness.

1. Stand Up

Most people in an office environment spend more than half of their days in sedentary positions. A study published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine found that the more time subjects spent sitting during the day, the greater their chances of dying from causes such as cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and hypertension. Additionally, the study found that even engaging in high-intensity exercise did not reduce an individual’s risk of disease if they spent the majority of their day sitting.

Sitting also causes significant postural and muscular imbalances throughout the body. By sitting for long periods of time, the hip flexors remained shortened and glutes stretched. This ultimately creates weak glutes and abdominals and tight hip flexors, causing an imbalance in the pelvis known as anterior pelvic tilt or lordosis. Likewise, the shoulders shift forward when seated resulting in a weak upper-back and tight anterioir deltoid, which causes a hunchback or kyphosis.

To avoid these unpleasant effects of sitting, try requesting a standing desk at your office or utilize your laptop and work from an area in which you can stand. When you must sit try replacing your chair with a physio ball to engage your core and pull your scapula back to focus on good posture.

2. Get Moving

Being sedentary is one of the biggest contributors to obesity, heart disease and metabolic disease so it’s pretty obvious that we should get up and move, yet the traditional office lifestyle makes this difficult. Try scheduling walks around your building or block intermittently 2-3 times a day to burn some calories and get your heart pumping. Gather some friends from the office to keep things interesting and also hold each other accountable for the walks. Even if your completely swamped with work and feel like you can’t leave your desk; technology has allowed us to work just as proficiently with mobile devices such as tablets, IPad’s and our phones, so pull your work up onto your mobile device and get outside and active.

3. Pack a Lunch

Packing your lunch and avoiding missing import meals of the day will ensure that you don’t make poor food choices while on the go. Packing a lunch and eating while at work is extremely important to keeping your leptin levels high and keeping you satiated throughout the day; people who tend to skip lunch will be extremely hungry following work and are more likely to make poor food choices that lead to higher calorie intake then their lunch and dinner normally would be combined.