Helpful Ways to Make Your Office Space More Conducive to Your Health
From the very beginning of your educational career, you were likely placed in a hard, metal or plastic desk and told to sit still for hours at a time in the walled in atmosphere of a rundown and underfunded schoolhouse while a teacher droned on for hours about material you had no interest in learning. There is no doubt that the education system in the United States is a mess and policy makers are completely disconnected from what it looks like to teach. They certainly don’t know how kids today are actually learning, and the question could honestly be asked if they really care.
People expect children to learn and be able to stay focused when they hole them up in windowless rooms that feel more like a prison than a place of enlightenment and learning. A classroom, an office space, or any place of the like where real work needs to be accomplished needs to have the right tools. Health should be a primary concern in these environments, yet it’s not. When you have metal chairs, rooms with no circulation, and fluorescent lights casting an ominous glow on you for the majority of your life, it starts to take its toll.
As an adult, you have control over your own workspace environment. Even if its minimal control, it’s still control, and your health, both physically and mentally is of prime importance. Here are helpful ways you can make your office space more conducive to your health:
Get Tailored Furniture
Gone are the days of sitting on hard metal surfaces for 8 hours at a time. You might not be able to change a lot about your office space, but you most certainly can choose the furniture you have. Make it tailored to you. If you’re having back problems or you can’t sit for too long, or you prefer to stand while you work, find a fully adjustable desk. Get a massage chair for your office. Get a mini fridge that allows you to keep food right in your space so that coworkers don’t eat your lunch or you don’t spend all your money eating lunch out every day. If you spend half of your adult life in the office, you need to make it a place that will help you instead of hurt you. This starts with furnishings.
Bring in Fitness Tools
Much of your time in the office is probably spent doing mundane things; i.e. checking emails, making phone calls, thumbing through paperwork, and thinking about strategy. 8 hours in a room, 5 day a week is a lot of time to spend sitting in one spot. To help your physical and mental clarity, bring some simple fitness tools into your office.
Have a resistance band with you so that when your feet are under your desk and you’re tapping away at emails on the computer your can be crafting your legs into pillars of steel or be shaping your buns into the likeness of a statue in a Roman garden. Bring a fitness ball into the office. Write an email and do 10 crunches. If you’re keeping active throughout the day, you’ll be accomplishing so many things and your health will take a serious turn for the better.
