Fit and healthy at work

What does “health at work” actually mean?

Sitting for long periods of time and eating fast food for lunch - that's what everyday life looks like for many people. That makes you sick in the long run. In addition, there are one-sided physical strains and stress factors that have an impact on your physical and mental well-being. There are a few things you can do yourself to use your resources as carefully as possible. Here, a lot of personal responsibility lies with you in order to get through everyday office life in a healthier way.

Why is health at work so important?

Regular work is an important prerequisite for mental well-being. Social contacts are made and maintained at work, and the feeling of being needed also plays a role. Concentrated work on the screen demands a lot from us, so it is all the more important to replenish our energy reserves with the right foods. But there are also a lot of stumbling blocks that we have to remove in order to get a little closer to our goal of a healthier everyday life. Basically, it's very easy to make everyday life in the office more active and your diet plan healthier and more varied with little effort.

STAY HEALTHY AT WORK

• Reduces sick days and therefore the costs incurred due to absences

• Increase performance and productivity

• Learn stress management techniques

• Check working conditions

What should I pay attention to regarding my health at work?

Let’s first focus on the center of our daily work, the desk. As a rule, we take over a fully furnished desk with an office chair when we start work. Some people adapt the table at least a little to their personal taste with small aids or decorative items, but the main focus is usually on practicality and design. However, it is much more important to adapt the table and chair ergonomically to the respective sitting behavior.

Compare this scenario to your closet. Imagine if someone filled your closet with clothes and you had to walk around with them every day. Kind of weird, right? But what does that have in common with a computer workstation?

The very same work uniform that we would probably categorically reject or at least view critically from a clothing point of view in offices, we accept without complaint when it comes to desks and office chairs. We simply adopt the furniture of our predecessor and at most adjust the seat height of our 'new' office chair. The height of many tables can be varied by a few centimeters and thus adapted to your own body size. Also a look under the Office chair makes perfect sense, maybe your model has some features that you didn't even know about before. Important functions include seat depth adjustment or adjustable lumbar support.

In order to maintain the workforce in the long term and to protect us from serious illnesses and problems at work, the legislature has set some requirements in stone.

Policies and laws

The most important document is the so-called 'VDU Work Ordinance'. Things like the appropriate distance from the screen, work surface and material were determined. If all points of the regulation are adhered to, it is a big step in the right direction. In most offices, however, each employee has to take care of implementing these points accordingly and thus working in a back-friendly manner in the long term. But it's not just information and instructions about the right work equipment that is noted there; the right place to work is at least as important. There must be sufficient space available for changing working postures and movements. Lighting is also an important point in order not to impair vision in the long term. All in all, setting up an office ergonomically is a comprehensive task and requires some planning. When setting up new offices, care should not only be taken to select the right equipment, but the number of employees must also be adapted to the available space in order to create a pleasant working atmosphere.

Of course, we often have no influence on this. Only very few people will be able to choose their workplace based on the furnishings and ergonomic aspects. But you should at least try to create the best possible working atmosphere with the resources you have.

MAKE YOUR EVERYDAY LIFE MORE ACTIVE

As soon as we get up, we sit down at the breakfast table, then get in the car and drive to work. We spend the long day there sitting at our desk. When we come home in the evening, we sit comfortably on the sofa. And without noticing, we spent almost the entire day sitting. STOP, we should change something here and break our pattern. Leave your car keys at home more often and walk, cycle or take public transport. To do this, we first have to overcome our inner weaker self. Admittedly, it's not an easy task. But if we do without our motorized vehicle more often, the first successes will quickly appear. We have significantly more breath available, feel fitter and counteract many health problems.

In most cases, a lack of exercise is also the reason for persistent back and neck pain. With little effort and very relaxedly, we can loosen tense muscles with targeted stretching and strengthening exercises while working and thus prevent serious back problems.

Tension in the back muscles often arises from poor posture when sitting for long periods of time. With a few small exercises you can achieve good long-term results. One of the simplest works like this:

Sit up straight in your chair with your legs firmly on the floor. Now stretch your arms upwards and bend them at a right angle. Now pull your shoulder blades together until tension is created. Then try to hold on to them. It's best to repeat the exercise several times.

In addition to the back and neck muscles, the eyes are particularly stressed when working on a screen. The simplest exercise to relax your eyes is to let your gaze wander outwards in all directions as far as possible. Left and right, up and down, diagonally and in circles clockwise and counterclockwise. It's best to repeat the exercise several times. It would be ideal if you ended every eye exercise with a short relaxation phase, i.e. with your eyes closed.

But it's not just targeted exercises that help you have a healthy back in the long term. A general rethink or rethinking certain work processes and tasks often helps.

The following considerations will help:

• Which activities can I do while standing?

• How can I incorporate more exercise into my workday?

• Do I really have to sit during my break?

It's actually quite easy to incorporate more exercise into your everyday life. Before or after lunch, do the famous walk around the block, or simply extend your commute to the office a little. Climb the stairs instead of using the elevator or simply stand up during a phone call!
With all of these little things you bring dynamism and movement into the day, especially the change between sitting and standing is very important. This trains the back and leg muscles, stimulates the cardiovascular system and improves breathing. The change is of course easiest if your workplace has an (electrically) height-adjustable desk. The rule of thumb is: 50% sitting, 25% standing, 25% moving.

If we manage to integrate some of the exercises into our everyday lives, we will work much more comfortably and do our backs a big favor. And stay healthy at work.

In order to stay fit in the long term, our body obviously needs enough energy. But which snacks are suitable for desk work? And what should we do without?

What can I do for my health at work?

SNACKS & NUTRITION IN THE OFFICE

Health experts agree: those who treat themselves to a large meal and one or two light snacks live healthier lives than people who eat extensively two to three times a day. Healthy snacks in between are not only important sources of nutrients, vitamins and minerals, but they can also help us reduce hunger before lunch.

If we don't feel really hungry, we almost automatically avoid fast food or large portions. When choosing snacks for in-between meals, you should consciously avoid all sweets, pastries and particularly sugary foods. Because too much sugar causes blood sugar levels to rise quickly and then fall almost just as quickly, which often leads to difficulty concentrating.

HEALTHY FOOD FOR THE OFFICE

Lunch sandwiches! But this time in the healthy version. To really qualify as a healthy snack, it should be a wholemeal or rye bread variant. Wheat bread is rather unsuitable and should be avoided if possible. Turkey breast, cream cheese or fruit spreads and jams with a low sugar content are suitable for the topping. Vegetables and salad are always allowed. Healthy snacks: fresh fruit

Other alternatives are fresh mueslis. If you're in a hurry, try the low-sugar version from the supermarket. Otherwise, you can make it yourself with some freshly cut fruit, a dash of milk or yoghurt - Vóila, the little energy supplier is ready. Nuts or chocolate pieces should not be added to muesli.

The best way to eat healthy in the office is a balanced raw food mix, which also happens to be the absolute leader when it comes to energy. Simply cut a few carrots, apples, peppers or cucumbers into strips and pack them in a food storage box. You can easily nibble on the healthy power sticks while working on the screen!

The most important thing is variety anyway, vary your snacks regularly, this will ensure that you don't get bored of the new type of break so quickly and that you stick to eating healthier at work in the long term.

Here is a brief overview of the dos & don’ts of office snacks:

ENSURE SUFFICIENT FLUID

At least as important as proper nutrition is adequate fluid intake at work! There are many rumors and half-truths about the exact amount we should consume throughout the day. The truth is probably somewhere between two and four liters per day, depending on body weight and other factors. Since most of us spend eight or more hours in front of the computer, we should ensure a balanced water balance while we work. Unfortunately, many people often find unhealthy and sugary drinks such as cola, soda or juices at their desk. Water is best, whether from the tap or mineral water from the supermarket, it's up to you. Drinking only water is quite monotonous in the long run. Teas or freshly squeezed juices can help.

If our workplace is set up according to legal regulations, we have our desk and office chair set up the way we want and can occasionally do without fatty and sugary snacks and meals, we work much more relaxed and therefore healthier!

Of course, you don't have to stick to all of the tips listed, but there are certainly some that can be easily implemented in the workplace.