used with permission from MSFT for
Work
The US Department of Health and
Human Services says 59% of employees do not get adequate exercise, while the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention sites that 75% of healthcare costs
come from chronic diseases—the most preventable type of diseases. Exercising
while working, or during a break from work, can give you more energy, reduce
stress, and can help prevent you—and your employees—from catching the latest
bug, meaning less sick days and healthcare expenditures.
Employers and team leaders play an
important role in encouraging fitness at work and changing the company culture
to support wellness. Here are a few ways you can lead by example to keep your
employees healthier and more productive.
Go
for a magic carpet ride
When the majority of your time is
spent at the workplace, it's important to integrate wellness into the workday
in addition to any workout you do outside of the office. Of course there's the
little things you can do to keep moving throughout the workday like taking the
stairs and getting up from your desk to move around. You can also do exercises
right at your desk, like the magic carpet ride, or using your desk to stretch.
But it's hard to remind ourselves to
take breaks, especially if you get in "the zone" at 10 a.m. and the
next thing you know it's 3 p.m. Set yourself a meeting reminder once every
hour, or every other hour, to get up and move. Even if it's for just a couple
of minutes, breaks are proven to help you up productivity.
Take
your meetings on the road
It's important to integrate wellness
into the workday in addition to any workout you do outside of the office
A low-tech option to bringing more
movement to an otherwise sedentary office is to hold, and promote, walking
meetings. One-on-one meetings are especially good for this. Instead of sitting
over coffee or in a windowless conference room, hit the pavement and talk while
you walk.
Epidemiologist Steven Blair has
studied the effects of sitting on overall health and has found that even people
who regularly exercise outside of work can't fully combat the effects of
sitting for hours on end. His study of adult men and their risk of dying from
heart disease revealed that "men who reported more than 23 hours a week of
sedentary activity had a 64 percent greater risk of dying from heart disease
than those who reported less than 11 hours a week of sedentary activity."
4
ways to invest in a lazy-proof workspace
- Try swapping your chair for a balance ball, using it in
30-minute increments until one day you forget to swap it for the chair at
all.
- Rig a standing desk using recycling bins and boxes to
boost your monitor, or invest in an adjustable desk.
- Go all-out with a treadmill desk for your office. Even
just one desk is a game changer if you set it up as a conference room that
any employee can book for an hour or two.
- Set a reminder every hour (or as often as your schedule
allows) to get up and move, or at least take some breaks away from the
screen.
Increasing numbers of employers are
implementing measures to help keep their employees healthy, as it increases
satisfaction, defers health care costs, and can lead to happier workers. How
are you encouraging your employees to stay fit? What is your daily routine to
lazy-proof your workspace?
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