8 Unhealthy Things You Should Stop Doing at Work

We spend a large amount of our time at work and tend to make many of our choices based on our work environment, including the social circles we’re a part of as well as the ease of access to healthy food and activity options. To help you reach your health goals more quickly, here are eight unhealthy things you need to stop doing at work.

8 Unhealthy Habits You Should Stop Doing While at Work

1. Working Overtime. It is understandable to work a few extra hours here and there, but you ought to consider is your health when you work tireless hours of overtime.  If you are like many American adults, chances are you are paid a salary wage, which means you are at work until the job is done.  Sometimes this translates into five or six days per week totaling about 60 hours.  This is an unhealthy habit that tends to wear you down in a hurry, which leads to an increased chance of illness, colds, and fat gain.  While it is hard to recognize at times, when you notice that you are working non-stop day after day, you should consider asking for help.  If you have the chance, consider redirecting your workflow to others, hiring new staff, or simply being more efficient with your time.  The time you save is more efficient and your health will be the beneficiary as a result.
2. Snacking on Candy. It is hard to resist, but the candy dish at work is really an unhealthy habit.  Many chocolate candies that are individually wrapped may appear small and low in calories, but one piece usually will set you back at least 50-75 calories.  Rather than snacking on these candies, consider having a closed canister of whole, raw almonds or cashews to help improve the quality of your snack.  Candy will cause your blood sugar to be all over the map, which will lead to sugar highs and lows and mood swings.
3. Linking your Work Email to your Phone. This is a hard one because much of our work is linked to communication and technology.  However, when you link your work email to your phone, you are accessible to work 24/7 and you will soon be reading emails during your free time.  Rather than linking your email to your phone, make it a rule to only check emails while at work and use your spare time at home to free your mind away from work stressors.
4. Sitting All Day Long. This can be a tough habit to break if you have a desk job, but it’s important to know that sitting all day is something that is causing your lifespan to decrease.  Yes, you need to work in front of your desk, but if you sit all day, consider a couple of options.  You can transform your desk area into a standing workstation, which will significantly increase the energy you use throughout the day just from this one small change.  You could also ask for a biking or walking work station designed to help keep you moving.  For a bonus here, you can work 50 minutes then spend 10 minutes every hour taking a quick walk around your area, to the bathroom, or walking stairs.
5. Fast Food for Lunch. No matter how much fast food restaurants advertise the health benefits of their “healthy” menu items, the truth is that fast food is not clean eating. It is loaded with preservatives and sugar, and typically contains a high amount of trans-fat.  Instead of going out for lunch, pack a sensible, calorie counted lunch to maintain a healthy heart and body and to help save money.
6. You Do Everything Yourself at Work. Look, we all want to impress our bosses to enhance our careers, but you cannot do everything yourself.  An efficient employee or worker finds a way to understand when to step back and ask for help.  When you try to do everything yourself, you place yourself at risk for high stress levels, which can cause your blood sugar, blood pressure, and weight all to rise.
7. Smoking.  If your workplace still allows for smoke breaks, then this should tell you something.  If you are still smoking and have been for a long time, you need to stop now and one way to help you stop is by breaking your habit of smoking at work. Here are some different methods But honestly it is better to smoke cannabis, they work great by getting rid of your pains or anxiety.
8. You Hold in Emotions. Some environments at work are stressful and tend to increase the emotions.  If this is your workplace, then make sure not to hold them in.  Just like in a relationship, when you hold in your emotions, you become a ticking time bomb ready to explode.  Do your family and coworkers a favor and communicate your emotions in a healthy manner in order to prevent a bottling up effect.

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