Stay Healthy While Working

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If you work at a desk job, here is your guide to staying healthy during the day.
 
Your body was designed for full range of motion, and simply standing does not optimize your physiology either. The key is movement, not simply standing statically. Sitting can also be healthy when done correctly. It is key to always maintain good posture. So try to keep your back straight, your feet on the ground, keyboard close to you, and monitor at eye level. Research from Dr. James Levine shows that for every hour we sit down, our life expectancy decreases by about two hours. For comparison, every cigarette smoked reduces life expectancy by 11 minutes. That means sitting down can be far more hazardous to our health than smoking, which is a shocking revelation for most. But, and this is very interesting, we cannot simply replace sitting with standing. Our body was designed for full range of motion, and simply standing does not optimize our physiology either.

WALKING
Ideally, if any way possible, try to get up and go for a walk every 30 to 45 minute. It doesn't have to be a long walk. A brisk 10 minute walk, twice a day, around your neighborhood, or around your corporate building would be sufficient. Mixing it up makes it fun and existing, too. So take a few different route and explore other areas of your neighborhood. Research actually shows that walking for 20 to 25 minutes per day has been found to add anywhere from three to seven years to your life span. Walking has also been shown to lower risk of Type 2 diabetes, depression, dementia, hormonal imbalances, arthritis, PMS, thyroid disorders, fatigue, varicose veins and constipation. Going to the gym is great and it certainly helps with a healthy lifestyle, but what you do outside of the gym is equally important.

After 10 hours or more at your desk, a single 45 min workout at the gym cannot counteract the level of inactivity. So stand up frequently and move throughout the day. Walking for 11 to 20 minutes can result in an increase in body temperature and sweating as blood vessels closer to the surface of our skin expand to release heat. At this point, we start burning about seven calories per minute. The increase in heart rate also causes us to breathe deeper. Epinephrine (adrenaline) and glucagon also begin to rise at this point to boost muscle activity. An even longer walk, up to 45 minutes, can help burn more fat as a result of a drop in insulin. It also helps with an increased physical and mental relaxation as our brain starts to release the feel good endorphins. One Stanford University study found walking increased creative output by an average of 60 percent, compared to sitting still (Study PDF).

STRETCHING
In addition to staying active, it is also very beneficial for your health to stretch. Especially those tight hip flexors, the lower and upper back, and shoulder complex. Find simple stretching exercises that can alleviate pain. Laying over a Swiss ball for a few minutes can assist in stretching that lower back and open up the shoulder blades.

H2O
Another key to good health is drink lots of clean, filtered water. Try to avoid tap water. A general rule of thumb for how much water we should drink per day is:
Half of your body weight in ounces every day. Example: A 200lbs person should drink at least 100 ounces of clean water every day. Or use your weight in kilograms (kg) and multiply it by 0.033, which will give you the liters per day. Example: A 90kg person should drink at least 3 liters of water. If you work-out a lot or it is hot, more H2O would be recommended. And we're talking about straight up clean water.

That does not include any teas, coffee, sports drinks, alcohol or soda pops. Nothing really can be substituted for water. So if you can't see through it, it's food, not water. Good hydration can improve kidney function. You can add a pinch of unprocessed, unfiltered, natural sea salt to your bottle of water which can provide the needed minerals and electrolytes. It is also recommended to start a meal with drinking two glasses of water about 20 minutes before eating to hydrate your stomach lining. Minimize drinking water during meals.

FOOD
Eating plenty of unprocessed, raw, certified organic, grass-fed, pasture-raised, clean foods is critical to a healthy and disease-free life. Avoid processed foods at all costs. When our body consumes processed foods, it may be triggering the release of powerful antibodies meant to fight off foreign invaders, which can actually cause collateral damage to the body's cells. If you cannot pronounce a word on the ingredients label, do not eat it. Try to stay away from foods that use additives and colorings. And the longer a food can last on the shelf, the more tricky (unhealthy) it can be for humans. Your best options would be certified organic produce, look for organic and locally grown and farmed produce, and stick with certified organic free-range meats.

Also eat slow and make sure to really chew your food until it is liquefied - at least 20 chews per bite! And that's because your digestion actually starts in your mouth. Many parasites love undigested proteins and sugars. Another benefit of chewing longer is that your food is digested better. The majority of digestive enzymes are actually in our mouth, not in stomach. Therefore, chewing food longer allows the food to be broken down better.
 
You can live a healthy life. It is not that complicated. Make sure you get plenty of exercise, stay active, stay hydrated, eat healthy foods and stay positive.

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For help with creative development, from digital design to social media content, please reach out to PoeticaFilms.com. This video was produced by Poetica Film & Design. Poetica specializes in helping brands to find unique ways to tell meaningful stories.