5 ways in which you can lead a healthy office life

Office hours form the significant part of our day; ranging from anywhere between 8 to 10 hours. In fact, in metro cities like Delhi and Mumbai where offices are far and apart, working professionals take around 2-3 hours to reach their office. If you add this to the mix, then around 12 out of your 24 hour daily cycle are dedicated to work. This leaves very little time and space for you to allot to any other important aspects of your life such as Health.

Such time-constraints often lead working professionals to allot little to almost no time to look after their health. As a result, today several medical studies have found health problems such as Blood Pressure, Diabetes and Heart ailments strike during early 30’s of working population. But, is looking after your health along with keeping up your busy professional schedule surely becomes a daunting task; but it’s a task that you must take up as health issues will surely impact your work life and performance.

So, if you want to lead a healthy office life, here are few tips and suggestions that you can follow within your office premises.

Stay hydrated

Ask any medical professional and the first thing he will tell you to stay healthy is to stay hydrated. This rule becomes even more important during your office hours, as in the hectic schedule of endless meetings, client calls and deadlines; something as simple as picking up a glass of water becomes quite difficult. A human body is primarily made up of fluids and therefore these fluids need to be recharged at regular intervals to avoid fatigue. Therefore, make sure you keep a water bottle always on your work desk and also keep it handy if you are going out for meetings. If the bottle is around, chances are you will take a sip and keep yourself recharged.

Cut down your Coffee intake

The majority of working population in India starts their day with a hot cuppa tea or coffee; this is again followed by another cup as soon as they reach office and then again during a mid-day break. And this cycle continues throughout the day. While a hot cup of tea and coffee may give you that instant kick in the long run it wears you down and makes you more feel more tired. Sugar and Caffeine are simulants, which essentially means that they create energy rushes for immediate result but makes you feel down and depleted later on. If drinking something is prime priority for you, try green tea or 100% fruit juices (preferably freshly made); these will make help you stay energized through the day.

Move to low sugar snacks and food

The same equation that was applied to Coffee also applies to other snacks and drinks that you take at office. Junk food, namkeens, candies and other high sugar foods are a complete no-no if you want to lead a healthy office life. Being in office you already are leading a sedentary lifestyle and consuming high calorie food will only make you feel full, bloated. Therefore, switch to low sugar snacks and food items that will ensure that you consume less number of calories and in turn control your weight gain.

Stay on the Move

For most of the working professionals who are trusted into corporate environment daily, their work life is sedentary with almost little or no movement. Majority of the heavy lifting is done by your fingers which are constantly at work on the keyboard. In fact, with looming deadlines and meetings; office mates often forget to take breaks or give their mind and body some much needed rest. Even the sitting posture also affects your health and office performance adversely. Therefore, to break the monotony of the sedentary lifestyle, you need to stay on the move while in office. You can adopt some simple exercises that can be done on your desk while sitting or light stretching that can be done on the washrooms. These can all help your muscles stay relaxed for a long time.

Stay Active outside office hours

But no matter whatever you do during your work hours to stay healthy and fit, it is not going to be enough. You will surely have instances where you will have to miss your routine or end up not moving as much you should during a regular day at office. The only way to compensate for this is to develop an active lifestyle outside the office hours. This includes going for an early morning jog or an evening stroll outside your Office. If your office or society complex has gym facility, try to visit it once in a while. If you are unable to make it to the gym, pick up Yoga or Zuma or anything else that catches your fancy.

Doing these obvious and simple things can help and incorporating the same in your daily routine will help you build a healthy office lifestyle that takes care of your health in the long run. While the tips mentioned above may sound to be modest to be effective, but years of research and experience by thousands of working professionals have proven that they work like a charm. So, go ahead and try them out.