Published On:Saturday, 31 December 2016
Posted by ARAB GAZETTE. weekly newspaper issued on Sunday morning - London, UNITED KINGDOMمؤسسة الوطن العربى الإعلامية - لندن ، المملكة المتحدة . WA MEDIA FOUNDATION - LONDON, UK
Bookmark This: How To Stay Healthy When You Have A Desk Job
Bookmark This: How To Stay Healthy When You Have A Desk Job
ARAB GAZETTE - BY: Guest Writer..
Think your long office hours are only playing havoc with your work-life balance? Think again. Family and lifestyle medicine physician, Dr Yasmin Ohlsson, says the key to good health starts at your desk…
With our ever increasing recognition of the importance of a healthy lifestyle, it’s no surprise that workplace wellness is a hot topic these days. From standing desks to cycling during board meetings, some of the most innovative and forward-thinking global businesses are setting the bar pretty high – and rightly so. After all, we spend an average of over a decade of our lives at work, a fair amount of this chained to our desks.
Chronic conditions such as diabetes, heart disease and obesity are the greatest causes of disability and death on the planet today, far outnumbering the effects of infectious diseases like TB, cholera and even ebola combined. In the UAE, 19 per cent of the population suffers from diabetes, and that figure doesn’t include those who are borderline diabetics, suffering from what the medical community calls ‘pre-diabetes’.
The majority of these chronic conditions are preventable, and are a direct result of the lifestyle choices we make. Sedentary living, poor nutrition, sleep deprivation, sky-rocketing stress levels and declining emotional wellbeing are just some of the factors that can contribute to our chances of developing one or more of these diseases.
Although the physical effects of modern day living are incredibly important, stress and depression are major issues too, with research underway into the effects of work on our mental health. In a recent poll, 78 per cent of Americans described their jobs as stressful, and it would be surprising if this figure wasn’t similar or even higher in other countries.
Of course, with declining health come more sick days, lower productivity, more mistakes, higher medical costs and reduced team morale. But what do we expect when most of us work in high-pressure jobs that require little or no physical activity and leave barely any time to eat or drink? It was this realisation that ultimately led to the international workplace wellness focus we’re seeing at the moment.
Depending on the business, workplace wellness can really include anything from a one-off blood pressure check to offering free fresh fruit. However, I believe the best and most successful programmes are those that aim to educate staff whilst creating lasting behavioural change, whether through talks, workshops or other activities. It’s essential to empower people with the knowledge they need to make better decisions and also to show them how to challenge their current habits and create new ones. Because healthy habits shouldn’t be limited to time at home or to time at the office. Instead, they should become a way of life.
So whose responsibility is it to ensure staff are kept healthy and happy? Businesses? Individuals? Or should governments be passing legislation to protect the health of their working populations? As with most of these sorts of dilemmas, it’s ideally all of the above. But it takes years for legislation to be passed and, although corporate wellness initiatives are becoming more and more popular, not every workplace has one – and even if yours does, at the end of the day it’s really up to you to make a change and maintain it. So whether your work has a health programme in place or not, here’s what you can do to start your own wellness revolution and spread the healthy living message.
Don’t keep a water bottle at your desk
It might sound counterintuitive, but there are real advantages to having a glass that you refill at the water cooler whenever you want a drink. It’s not only good for the environment but gets you up and moving regularly. It will also help send the subliminal message that no one needs to be stuck to their chair the whole day. By being less sedentary, you will improve your own physical and mental health whilst showing your team that it really is ok to get up.
Value face-to-face contact
Don’t email or call a colleague. Walk to their desk and talk to them. This is actually great for building better team relationships and boosting morale, but again, it also incorporates some physical activity into your day. We are still social creatures and need human interaction, no matter how connected we are online.
Dare to stand during meetings
It may seem awkward at first, but no doubt your colleagues will begin to question whether they should be standing too. You might even start a trend. Of course, standing may not always be appropriate or practical, but if you persevere you’ll soon wonder how you managed to get through those long meetings without doing so. Standing meetings are slowly becoming more commonplace, so why not become your own company’s wellness pioneer?
