Wellness is vital in all aspects of life, including in the workplace. While piles of paperwork, an inbox full of emails, and the pressure of weekly or quarterly reports can overwhelm us at times, there’s no excuse to let them overshadow the need for personal wellness. Fortunately, there are things you can do to stay fit and prevent the grind from affecting your body and mind. In fact, you can transform your workplace wellness with just a few simple changes. All it takes is a few often-overlooked habits which, once embedded into your workday, can kickstart a broader journey towards health and wellness.
What Are the Barriers To Your Personal Wellness?
Most Americans aren’t struggling with personal wellness because they lack discipline; rather, the difficulties of modern work life often begin to feel overwhelming and negatively impact our physical and mental health. Long hours, endless responsibilities, and workplace drama are just a few causes of work-related stress.
Statistics from the US Department of Health and Human Services indicate that 76% of U.S. workers report symptoms of a mental health condition, with 84% stating that their mental health is at least partly impacted by work conditions. Even worse, our minds and bodies are hardly fitness-oriented due to a sedentary lifestyle, highly processed foods, and the allure of non-physical activities like watching television or scrolling on our phones.
Our bad habits can be hard to break because they exist on a societal level. We can’t control how long we’re asked to work, or how much time we have to spend focused on our jobs, families, and finances. However, we can control how we respond to these uncontrollable factors and focus on monitoring our health alongside other concerns.
Why Workplace Wellness Is an Overlooked Secret to Success
It’s easy to get distracted by the pressures we face in the workplace, particularly when our personal wellness isn’t at the forefront of the corporate agenda. Many businesses put wellness second to efficiency, but what they’re overlooking is the direct impact that employee wellness has on productivity. When employees feel physically and mentally well, they experience higher energy levels, better focus, and increased creativity.
Though we may not be able to interrupt our workdays for full-body workouts, that doesn’t mean that we can’t make changes to our workflow and habits that supplement the fitness regimens we follow at home. Pursuing workplace wellness by engaging in quick exercises throughout the day, practicing healthy eating at workplace meals, staying hydrated, and taking routine mental health breaks can lead to many benefits. If we implement these simple changes into our workdays, we can experience benefits such as improved morale and engagement in work, reduced stress, a better social life with coworkers, personal growth, and even financial savings.
How To Enhance Your Workplace Wellness Routine
1. Stretching and Mobility Exercises
Stretching and mobility exercises like neck rolls, shoulder rotations, back twists, and hamstring stretching are essential to add to your workday. If you can find just a few minutes to take a break and stretch your body during the day, it will help to proactively reduce pain from extended periods of sitting or bad posture.
2. Deep Breathing Breaks
Deep breathing breaks can help reduce stress, calm nerves, and retain focus on workdays that feel particularly tiring or stressful. A few times a day, take a moment to relax and focus on breathing while letting go of outside noises and responsibilities. Take controlled deep breaths, focusing on inhaling, holding, and exhaling.
3. Screen Detoxes
Screen detoxes help protect your eyes and improve your mood, especially in jobs that require most of your time spent in front of a computer screen. Take incremental breaks to walk around and engage in a non-screen-related activity. Try focusing on an object at least 20 feet away for 20 seconds to let your eye muscles relax.
Workplace Wellness Tips That Can Jumpstart Your Wellness Journey
Doing exercises is just one part of an overall commitment to wellness that you should pursue at work and beyond. Short microbreaks of 30-180 seconds are statistically shown to reduce musculoskeletal discomfort and fatigue, but they have to be supplemented with other good habits to have a noticeable effect. Fortunately, many other tips and tricks can help improve your workday with wellness-savvy habits, and these tips can be implemented at both the personal and company levels.
Firstly, it’s important to eat healthily and stay hydrated at work. If you pack lunches, focus on healthy meals with a variety of fruits, vegetables, and proteins rather than heavy, rich foods, fried items, or junk food. Be sure to drink plenty of water throughout the day and don’t overdo it at the office coffee pot or vending machines! If you work in a small, more collaborative office, you can even incorporate your coworkers into a better fitness regimen. Consider encouraging innovative practices like active meetings, scheduled “deskercise” breaks, and digital detoxes to get you away from screens and focused on mental and physical calm.
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