5 Ways to a Healthy Workday

Life’s tough and it’s not always easy to make it to the gym before your early morning shift, or after you’ve spent 10 hours on your feet at work.

It can feel like packing a healthy lunch is really the only bit we can control when it comes to having a healthy workday, but even then it’s tempting to just grab something from the cafeteria or ask a coworker to pick you up a sub while they’re out.

Fitness and eating healthfully are the two mainstays of having a healthy lifestyle, but there are plenty of manageable small steps we can take during our workday to help us lead healthier lives, here are our top 5:

Keep a Water Bottle Close

If you don’t do anything else but drink the right amount of water everyday you’ll be doing yourself a world of favors.

The health benefits of being properly hydrated are endless, so why don’t you drink more of it?Some people claim they just don’t care for drinking plain water (and there are a ton of ways around that), but the problem most likely lies in the fact that you don’t make it accessible enough.

You might bring a water bottle to work with you everyday, but it doesn’t help when it’s sitting back in your locker, so keep it close to you throughout the workday whether that means toting it around everywhere or keeping it at your main workstation where you spend most of your time.

It’ll take a few weeks to get regular with drinking your water, but once you’ve got a routine down we guarantee your body, mind and overall energy levels will be feeling better.  (We love this idea of marking your bottle with time increments to keep you on track.)

Resist Breakroom Temptation 

Break rooms are the breeding ground for forming bad snacking habits. If you work in a healthcare setting, you definitely know what we’re talking about since it seems like every other day is someone’s birthday, or you had a patient’s family drop off a thank you mini muffin basket.

Those muffins may be mini, but after several months that add up to years of noshing away at break room treats, you might be wondering where those extra five to ten pounds came from.

Listen, you don’t have to quit cold turkey, but really think about what kind of foods you think are worth eating. Are you hungry? If not, don’t eat it. Is it your absolute favorite treat? Nope, just skip it.

If chocolate cupcakes with vanilla frosting are your favorite, make that the only treat you’ll indulge in. And if you really have a hard time resisting, keep a small, bite-size snack that you can eat instead of the massively sugary treat on the break room table to get your fill.

See the Sun Whenever Possible

Lack of sunshine exposure all day long makes it easy for one to grow weary. If you find yourself hitting an energy slump in the afternoon, what you may need is a few rays and some Vitamin D.

Some ways we like to soak up some sun during the workday is by eating lunch outside, or if it’s too unbearably hot, taking the first 5 to 10 minutes of our lunch break to sit outside. Even standing by a window to finish writing notes on a chart or complete another quick work task can give you the perk up you need to get you feeling re-energized.

Taking the Long Way to the Bathroom

Now if you’re in the category of “I never get a bathroom break at work” type of profession, you can skip over this section, but if you actually do have the ability to take bathroom breaks whenever you feel like it and your job is mostly sedentary, listen up!

According to an infographic created by StandDesk, taking walking breaks throughout the day can increase productivity by 60 percent. Additionally, studies have shown that standing every twenty minutes can help negate the negative effects of sitting all day.

So whether it’s going to the bathroom, getting up to refill your water bottle (because you’re going to be guzzling that stuff before you know it), or just taking a mind break so you can hit the next 45 minutes with optimum work productivity, take the long route, and if you’re able to throw in some stairs online alprazolam order that’s even better!

You can also take the long way that includes getting some sunshine. For example, my mom (a registered nurse of 30 years), always cuts to the bathroom in the front area of her building that way she can walk out the front entrance and over to the side entrance of the recovery room where she works and soak up some sun while she takes some extra steps. Granted, her building is relatively small and this little detour only takes an extra minute or two of her time, but it’s usually the only sunshine she’ll see all day, and those couple minutes can add up to make a big difference.

Utilize Technology to Keep Your Activity in Check

Technology is a beautiful thing, and there are plenty of ways we can use it to benefit our health.

Getting a fitness tracker is a great way to help you increase your activity if you have a sedentary job, and having reminders set on your phone to drink water or eat your healthy mid-morning and afternoon snacks are other ways you can stay in control of your day and not let your day control you and your health.

Now we want to know, what are some of the tips and tricks you use at work to keep your energy up and health in check? Share with us in the comments or on Facebook or Twitter.