Sitting behind a desk all day doesn’t do wonders for our health, in fact it’s not great for us at all. We’re not designed to sit down all day, but the type of jobs a lot of us do require us to be slumped over a computer for the full working day. Instead of just complaining about it though, and since desk jobs aren’t going anywhere soon, let’s come up with some ideas to keep it as healthy as possible.
Drink, drink, drink
My first tip is probably the most important and that’s to keep hydrated. Fill up your water bottle every hour, it forces you to get up out of your chair and drinking water is great for your brain too.
I’ve used some great apps for reminding me to drink water in the past but now I’m in the habit I don’t need the constant notifications.
Setup
Study’s say we should have our monitors at a specific height and angle, we should keep two feet on the ground when we sit, with good posture and no slouching. If we setup our desk we should be able to sit comfortably and health risk free for the whole day.
I don’t want to go into too much detail in this post but if you want to know exactly how you should have your setup for the perfect posture I’d recommend having a read here and study the diagrams.
Reach for the ceiling
Stretch! When we’re sat down our blood flow is usually quite poor, so we should stretch every now and again.
Neck turns, arm stretch, ra-ra-ra.
Walking on sunshine
Go for a walk on your lunch break. It’s the one hour of the day that is literally 100% yours. Besides, if you sit at your desk someone is bound to think you’re still working and that extra time working adds up. Go outside, get some fresh air, pick your favourite playlist and walk.
Got something small to tell a colleague? Save an email and just talk to them, it’ll get you up, quick leg stretch too.
Check the NHS website for the health benefits of walking.
Further reading
The Pomodoro Technique
This nifty technique splits your work up into small chunks and forces you to take regular breaks, you can use this time to stand up, grab something to drink, or a quick 5 minute breath of fresh air.
If you’ve got any more positive healthy desk tips pop them in the comments and share with the world!
Hope this helps you, there are tons more things you can do but this should give you something to start. It’s certainly something I struggled with when I first started working at a desk. At first I wanted to retire ASAP as I hated to sit still. You do get used to it but it also helps to integrate some positive habits into your day.