With an office-based day job Monday to Friday, life can often be quite sedentary. I’ve written before about how much my weekly Pilates classes mean to me, something I’ve been doing for 18 months and wouldn’t be without, but it’s not enough to counteract the laziness that I can sometimes feel after sitting all day long. Now our half-marathon is finished and it’s dark before and after work at this time of year, there is very little inclination to go running in the cold even though it would do the world of good for a clear mind.
We’re all reasonably health conscious at work and aware that sitting for such long periods of time isn’t a natural way to be. Some of my colleagues ran the half-marathon with me, some of them have gym memberships and it’s all so invaluable – earlier this year The Telegraph published an article about the risks of premature death posed to inactive workers. It’s not the most life-affirming way to think but as I hurtle headlong through my late 30’s, there is a sense of wanting to put health and well-being first that definitely wasn’t there in my 20’s.
There are a number of ways to counteract the dangers of sitting for so long, everything from ensuring office staff have access to appropriate office chairs and equipment to encouraging staff to leave the office at lunchtime and take breaks once an hour. As the article outlines, you don’t need to run miles every day or pay for a gym membership, but instead to never underestimate the value of walking, taking a 5 minute break once an hour and keeping on the move as much as is allowed.
Something I haven’t considered before however is office-based yoga and Furniture at Work are promoting a campaign to get all of us moving gently and focusing on ourselves whilst in the workplace. They’ve developed a video and infographic with the help of Manchester-based yoga instructor Samantha Shaw to demonstrate some simple moves and techniques although just the thought of us getting up to yoga in the office is making me giggle.
In for a penny, in for a pound – I think we could do with a new challenge so I might give this a go and see if anyone wants to join me!
What do you to keep fit during the week?
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it is great idea, although the guy in the video was very funny
I have yet to convince any of my colleagues. If I do, we’ll produce our own videos 🙂 X