7 “Easy Wins” on the Way to a Healthier Working Lifestyle
For many of us, the pressures of work make it difficult to find the time to exercise or eat as healthily as we’d like. And with longerhours, increased pressure and increasingly unhealthy “convenience food” – it’s becoming more important than ever that we look after ourselves. But excuses aside - the great news is that with a little planning it’s possible to take a step in the right direction. And of course, every major change starts with the right first steps. If you’re looking to make a positive change in your lifestyle but are battling against the pressures of work, family - or even a hectic social life! – here are some quick ideas to help you take that all important first step.
- Join a gym near your office rather than your home. One thing our customers tell us is that heading into the gym before a commute is much easier to do than battle home and then find the willpower to head into the gym later in the evening. If you find a gym near your office, not only will you be more enthusiastic about heading in for a workout – but you’ll also miss most of the commuter traffic afterwards!
- Take a healthy lunch with you. Convenience food is loaded with poor quality calories, and the cost of takeaway sandwiches and salads can mount up quite quickly. With a little planning you will likely find that you can spend the same amount of money buying high quality healthy food instead – and it will probably taste better too!
- Take the stairs. It’s an oldie but a goodie – using the stars instead of a lift is a great way to add a little exercise into your working day. It’s a small change, but thinking about it will often lead to better decisions and greater things down the line
- Move more. There’s been a lot of noise over the past year or so about sedentary lifestyles and how bad sitting at a desk all day can be for us. With that in mind, look for ways to stand, move and walk during your day-to-day – whether that’s standing to make phone calls (you’ll sound better as well!) or having meetings whilst walking instead of taking up the conference room.
- Drink more water. Keeping hydrated will not only increase your energy levels at work, but it promotes weight loss, flushes toxins form your body, improves your skin complexion, boosts your immune system… Ok, there are a lot of benefits! So keep a refillable water bottle to hand and stay hydrated
- Drink less caffeine. Coffee is a staple of office life, but cutting down the amount of caffeine you consume can have some surprising effects on your health. Recognised side effects include better sleep, lower blood pressure, decreased anxiety, fewer headaches, often less sugar in our diet, and – if you’re a Starbucks regular – more money in your pocket!
- Get an early night. Busy professional lives mean we have to make compromises with how we spend our “non-working” time, and often that means later nights than we’d like. However, as dull as it sounds, sleep is a really important part of a healthy lifestyle – so try to avoid sacrificing shut-eye too often. Not only will you feel better, but you’ll get more out of the other activities you do whilst you’re awake.
A healthier lifestyle doesn’t always need a wholesale change to our lives – sometimes it’s just a case of finding “quick wins” and building on them to make a change over time. So if you feel you want to make a positive change to your lifestyle but are struggling to find time around you work – I hope you find some of the tips above useful. Let us know how you get on!
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