With hunter-gather origins, the human species was not designed to sit at a desk all day, glaring at one of our many screens. Exhaustive work hours and priorities at work are often responsible for preventing us from the priorities we need to place for our bodies. New studies are linking prolonged sitting to kidney disease with some doctors even suggesting that sitting is the new smoking. Let’s be serious. We all knew that it was a bad idea to sit around at a desk all day and the new data shouldn’t ignite uproar. Hopefully it will be just enough to remind you how important movement really is and begin taking small steps to change your path to one that arrives at a healthier destination. Start your journey in deskercise with these 6 ways to exercise at work: 1. Start Moving That Body Unless you work in slave labor conditions, you likely have fairly regular breaks and a lunch break where you can get up and move around. The worst thing you can do with your breaks at work is get up and go sit in a lunch room – you are still sitting down! You should ideally be getting up every 45 minutes for at least one minute to move around and get the blood flowing again. This is one of the easiest possible ways to exercise at work to start moving in the right direction. 2. Always Take The Stairs Yes, this is a very predictable answer but this should be non-negotiable if you spend a bulk of your day in an idle position. Climbing stairs for two minutes, five days a week provides the same calorie burn as a 36-minute walk. That just goes to show how incremental changes can provide long-term benefits. 3. Stand Whenever It Makes Sense If you are wondering about the ways to exercise at work without standing out or looking silly, you are not alone. Although this really shouldn’t be a factor in your decision, unfortunately not every workplace is friendly and accommodating. Take every opportunity to stand that makes sense such as talking on the phone or walking over to a co-worker’s desk rather than sending an email. A great way to stay alert during meetings is to have everyone stand instead of sit and get tired while half listening to the information being shared. 4. Taking The Furthest Parking Spot The worst parking spot is now also the one that helps you get the most exercise. Fortunately, this is often the same parking spot that leaves your car at the lowest risk of getting dented or scratched by other cars parking too close by. 5. Jumping Jacks There is nothing like a good burst of jumping jacks when you need some energy and the best part is you can do them anywhere. When you don’t feel like getting down on your hands and knees under your desk for some push ups, a few reps of some intense jumping jacks should do the trick nicely. WARNING: Since jumping jacks result in normal looking human beings flailing limbs carelessly in repetition, it is recommended that you go outside or somewhere on the ground level because they can get rather distracting to other people in the office. 6. Squats Squats are a great exercise and are possibly one of the top ways to exercise at work without looking too silly! Doing 10 squats every hour is a fantastic way to slip in some exercise to break up all that intense sitting you do all day. If you really want to get a move on, bring some light weights to hold when doing your squats. Hide them under your desk and impress your coworkers with your stealth dedication to health. Whatever You Do… Whatever you do, just make sure you do it regularly. With 1 in 10 adults getting kidney disease, the threat of health issues brought on by constant sitting is a very real one. Find ways to make it fun and easy or you will just abandon it. If you have some great ideas to share about workplace wellness or clever ways to exercise at work, leave a message in the comments below or on our Facebook page.
