Four Ways to Encourage Active, Healthy Teams in the Workplace
The modern workplace offers many things to its workers.
We now have increased flexibility in the workplace and an improved balance between work and recovery.
However, one thing that is often overlooked is physical activity in the workplace.
Many office workers sit at their desks for upwards of six hours per day. That doesn't include the time spent sitting behind the wheel of their car or on their couch at home.
The Mayo Clinic found the following:
Research has linked sitting for long periods with several health concerns . They include obesity and a cluster of conditions increased blood pressure, high blood sugar, excess body fat around the waist, and unhealthy cholesterol levels that make up metabolic syndrome. Too much sitting overall and prolonged periods of sitting also seem to increase the risk of death from cardiovascular disease and cancer.
One of the best ways to negate the effects of sitting is to encourage physical activity in the workplace.
This post will go over four effective ways to encourage physical activity in your employees to help produce a healthy and active work environment.
Try These Four Methods to Encourage Physical Activity in Your Ohio Workplace
The number of hours we sit every day is increasing. Likewise, the number of daily hours we spend on our feet is diminishing.
Here are the top four things your business can do to help encourage an active workplace.
Reduce Technological Communication
Technology may have made communication instantaneous, but it may be adversely affecting our health.
Instead of sending an email or IM with information, you can boost your step count and cut your sitting time simply by walking to your coworkers office to relay the message.
All those extra steps add up!
Distribute Pedometers
An active adult will take 10,000 steps daily. However, many office workers do not get so much as a fraction of that.
Awareness is the cornerstone of improvement. Encourage your employees to wear their pedometers and track the number of steps they get per day.
You can even hold a friendly competition to encourage your workers to boost their numbers.
A prize for the person with the most steps will yield improvements across the board.
Install Standing Desks
Sitting can lead to various health issues down the line. Standing desks help reduce the number of hours your employees spend sitting per day and will boost their leg strength too.
Standing is better for posture, strength, and metabolism and your employees will quickly see the health benefits.
Just be sure you have comfortable floors. Concrete and flat carpets will leave your employees with aching feet!
Offer Discounted Gym Memberships
Sometimes what we do outside of the office can help balance the sitting and stress that accumulates inside the office.
Offer your workers a discounted (or free) membership to a nearby gym and encourage them to take advantage.
Time spent exercising before or after work can reap huge benefits for your workers and will allow them to reach physical goals away from the office.
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