Working long hours? Keep your body, mind active
Whether working from home or office, toiling away for long hours without breaks and physical activity can begin to damage your body, vitality and even without tell-tale signs.
“It is important to achieve a healthy work-life balance in order to live a fulfilled life. But there are moments in life when you have to finish certain deadlines and cannot avoid spending a lot of time on your desk,” says Beenu Rajpoot, noted filmmaker and a Fit India Champion.
The fitness expert has these suggestions for those busy hours that will not only nourish your body and mind, but also increase overall productivity:
Between emails, meetings and calls, try to take a stroll even for a few minutes to reset your body and brain. A little bit of movement during those long sitting hours will go a long way to ensure that your body and joints do not become too stiff by sitting.
Check your breath during intervals. Take a few long breaths engaging your abdominals to ensure that your body is getting enough oxygen. Learn some Pranayama techniques to recreate yourself quickly so that you can maintain a constant energy level throughout the long span of desk sitting.
Remember to do a few neck and shoulder stretches while on your desk to avoid neck pain or back pain later. It will also help in keeping your posture upright. Add useful stretches from your yoga class to these intervals.
Choose the appropriate ergonomic chair and table in order to maintain a good posture while sitting for long hours. Some of the important factors to be considered are — shape of the chair, height of the chair, height of the table, lumbar support in the chair, among others. Ensure that your chair has some kind of lumbar support. Lumbar support will protect your lumbar spine from pressures of excessive flexion during long sitting hours. It is also important to choose a chair where you can adjust the height of the chair so that you can adjust its height vis-a-vis your table. It will be good for your mid-upper back and shoulders. Often people who ignore this advice can develop health conditions like scoliosis and rounded shoulders.
Keep drinking water during a long shift. It’s quite common that people under pressure keep suppressing their thirst subconsciously that makes them dehydrated. Remember to keep sipping the water every hour or so to keep your body rich in fluids that will improve the circulation and will keep your blood pressure in check, apart from many other benefits of drinking water.
Decorate your space nicely and keep it clean, organised and minimal. Avoid too much clutter around in your space. Too much physical clutter affects the states of your mind, too. Practice the yogic principle of ‘Aparigraha’ or minimalism to keep your space, physical as well as mental, free.
Ensure that you are getting some sun during the day. It will not only enrich your Vitamin D levels but also give a big boost to your immune system. It is very common among the big cities in India that people don’t get enough Vitamin D as they are not exposed to the sunlight often. Lack of exposure to the sunlight leads to Vitamin D deficiency that is often linked to other health issues.
Gives your eyes some rest in between after every half an hour or so by doing a simple yoga technique of palming. Rub your palms together and just cover your eyes with your warm palms. Your eyes will feel energised immediately.
