Work Hygiene: navigating stress, movement, and productivity

Our previous post on sleep hygiene shared the basics and importance of getting high quality rest on a regular basis. This allows your evenings to be productive! So how do we maintain adequate work hygiene (meaning practices at work that maintain health) to keep our days productive, healthy, and joyful?!

First: workplaces and occupations differ so much I'll be primarily describing practices you can take in occupations that include prolonged sitting/computer work/desk work. However, any occupation can take value from the following information.

Experiencing stress in the workplace is almost inevitable. Whether it be fueled from co-worker relationships, difficult expectations, poor leadership, or something different, you probably will experience some type of stress at your workplace. There are great companies and leaders out there that try and mitigate stress and offer different accommodations for their employees to help them manage work related stressors. (This is important to us: Bell and Jonette as we own and operate The Studio)

BUT, this is not always the case. Some administrations at business and companies aren't prioritizing this.

So what do you do if that's describing your workplace? Stress is rampant, you feel like you can't escape it at work, work feels like it is your primary stressor in your life?

1. Maybe re-evaluate working at this place. Sacrificing your long-term health isn't a part of your job description.

2. If you feel like the stress is manageable and you'd like to keep working at this place-find a quick and easy stress management technique: for example deep breathing or tapping. Whatever technique you choose start practicing it when you're in a relaxed state maybe at your home. Then when you encounter stress at work use it-and visualize how you felt practicing it at home. Your body lower it's reaction to stress better when you've practiced it in your goal resting state.

3. Try and prioritize time where you see sunlight and/or go outside throughout the day.

Movement is crucial throughout your workday for mental and physical health. Well you might be thinking "I'm at a desk all day long I can't really move during my workday except to go to the bathroom and leave for lunch"

There are small ways that you can incorporate movement into your workday that have SIGNIFICANT positive effects on your health.

Prolonged sitting has been associated in research to cardiovascular disease, cancer, and diabetes.

Some recommend to stand for even just a minute or two every 30 minutes throughout the day.

One study that evaluated the benefits of standing desks on 8,000 people over 24 weeks found that participants demonstrated improved insulin sensitivity (this is a great thing), improved heart values, and improved body mass index.

If your workplace doesn't offer standing desks or other activity accommodations I would recommend asking for that opportunity to be available. The research is evident how negative sitting throughout the day is on your longevity and overall quality of life.

Lots of bosses and workplaces leaders probably talk about how important productivity is to them for their employees to be. While yes, this benefits the employers, it can also benefit you as an employee and might potentially present growth opportunities, AND allow you to work better in less time!

1. The first thing you can do to increase your productivity is by prioritizing your rest/sleep when you're at home. (head to our previous blog post) This will help improve your focus and overall just help you to feel better while you're at work.

2. Keep work at work. By setting a goal to try and have your time at home uninhibited by workplace tasks will help motivate you to finish those tasks you'd rather not being doing off the clock at home.

3. Set timers. If you find yourself only being able to focus for 5-10 minutes-okay set a timer for that and see how much you can get done in that amount of time. You'd be surprised how much you are able to accomplish.

4. Do the hardest things first. That task that you just despise or tend to put off. Knock it out first and you'll find the others flow much easier.

Most of all I encourage you to find a workplace that prioritizes your health and time (at work and off).