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The alarm wrenches you awake at 6 am and rush-hour traffic delivers you to the scene of eight hours of desk-bound servitude. The same streams of traffic carry you home in the evening, where breakfast dishes await and a hungry family demands feeding. Welcome to the Monday to Friday reality of many New Zealanders.
It's hardly surprising that “lack of time” is quoted as the number one reason for neglecting a regular exercise routine. In reality, with a little lateral thinking, and a genuine desire to do something about your sedentary existence, you can move mountains - and some of the spare tyres seeping over the top of your waist band!
Do you need a little more inspiration and motivation to change? What could be more inspiring than an honest look at the long-term consequences of a sit-down existence?
Sitting at a desk or behind a computer for eight hours a day affects our physical and emotional health in a number of unpleasant ways. Sedentary workers burn a relatively paltry 560 kilojoules of energy an hour while at work compared with the massive 1,700 kilojoules an hour used up by a builder. That’s why the sedentary are constantly fighting (and often losing) the battle of the bulge.
Along with the rising scales comes an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, back and joint problems, and fatigue. Many of these health problems are aggravated by stress. Sitting hunched at a work station for hours at a time can lead to rapid, shallow, upper-chest breathing, which in turn keeps the stress response switched on.
Enough of the doom and gloom. Now it’s time for some good news. The reality is that it’s up to you whether or not you become another work-related health catastrophe. Choose fitness as your goal and gently and gradually incorporate more and more of the changes required to get there.
Every day gifts us with 1,440 minutes, of which only a tiny 30 minutes (minimum) needs to be devoted to exercise. The news gets even better. To reap some benefits, we don’t even need to find 30 consecutive minutes in which to exercise. Three ‘exercise snacks’ of 10 minutes each, scattered through the day, will still pay health dividends.
Change your attitude
Instead of putting off exercise during the week because there is no time for it, try introducing short bursts of exercise into a typical working day. Change your attitude to activity - see each reason to move as an opportunity to become healthier, not as an inconvenience!
- Set an hourly alarm on your watch or cell phone to remind you to stand up and stretch.
- Use the stairs instead of the lift at every opportunity.
- Try having meetings while walking instead of sit-down sessions in windowless meeting rooms.
- Invest in a set of dumbbells and keep them under your desk or in the filing cabinet. Aim for three five-minute sessions a day.
- Whenever possible when you’re on the phone, stand up, move around or do some simple squats or exercises with dumbbells.
- Bring lunch from home and spend half of each lunch hour going for a brisk walk before eating.
- Park further away from the office and walk.
- Get ruthless with your diary and schedule exercise as a regular part of your daily routine.
- While waiting at the photocopier, do some squats or lunges - if you have a private photocopier. Admittedly ‘squatting’ in your best business attire in the line of vision of your co-workers may be a little daunting!
If you travel regularly for business:
- While waiting for your flight, walk around the airport (taking the stairs), instead of blobbing in the cafe or bar.
- Stay at hotels with gyms or pools and start the day with a half-hour workout.
- Pack a skipping rope or resistance bands in your suitcase.
Workplace support
Talk to your HR representative about what your workplace can do to promote a more active office. You might be surprised at the positive response you get. Savvy employers are increasingly recognising the benefits of encouraging healthier lifestyles for their employees.
It could be something as simple as subsidising entry fees for fun runs or company sports teams, through to the development of managed health assessment and education programmes (depending on the resources and constraints of the company).
Workplace wellness programmes will not only help you with your personal fitness and health goals, they’ll also make you feel good at work, reduce stress levels in the office and improve your productivity (which is good for your employer).
NB - Check with your GP before commencing exercise or if exercise causes pain or discomfort.
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