Fit and healthy in the workplace

What does "health in the workplace" actually mean?

Long periods of sitting and fast food for lunch - that's everyday life for many people. In the long run, that makes you ill. Added to this are one-sided physical strains and stress factors that affect your physical and mental well-being. There is quite a lot you can do yourself to use your resources as carefully as possible. A lot of it comes down to personal responsibility if you want to get through everyday office life in a healthier way.

Why is health in the workplace so important?

Regular work is an important prerequisite for mental well-being. Social contacts are made and maintained in the workplace, and the feeling of being needed also plays a role. Focused work at a screen demands a great deal from us, which makes it all the more important to replenish our energy reserves with the right foods. But there are also plenty of stumbling blocks here that we need to remove in order to get a little closer to our goal of a healthier everyday life. Basically, it's quite easy to make everyday office life more active with little effort and to make your meal plan healthier and more varied.

STAY HEALTHY AT WORK

• Reduces sick days and therefore the costs caused by absences

• Increase performance and productivity

• Learn stress management techniques

• Review working conditions

What should I pay attention to regarding my health in the workplace?

Let us first turn to the centrepiece of our daily work: the desk. As a rule, when we start a job we are given a fully set-up desk with a matching office chair. Some people personalise the desk a little with small accessories or decorative items to suit their own taste, but the main focus is usually on practicality and design. Much more important, however, is adjusting the desk and chair to suit the way each person sits, based on ergonomic principles.

Compare this scenario with your wardrobe. Imagine someone filled your wardrobe with clothes and you had to wear them every day. Sounds a bit odd, doesn't it? But what does that have to do with a computer workstation?

It is exactly this kind of work uniform that, in terms of clothing, most of us would categorically reject in the office or at least view critically, yet when it comes to the desk and office chair we accept it without complaint. We simply take over our predecessor's furniture and at most adjust the seat height of our 'new' office chair. Yet many desks can be adjusted in height by a few centimetres to suit your own body size. It also makes perfect sense to take a look underneath the office chair – your model may have a few features you did not even know about yet. Important functions include seat depth adjustment and an adjustable lumbar support, for example.

To preserve our ability to work in the long term and protect us from serious illnesses and problems in the workplace, the legislator has laid down a number of requirements in no uncertain terms.

Guidelines and legislation

The most important document is the so-called ‘Display Screen Equipment Regulations’. These set out things such as the correct distance from the screen, workspace and materials. If all points of the regulations are observed, that is already a major step in the right direction. In most offices, however, each employee has to make sure they put these points into practice themselves in order to work in a back-friendly way over the long term. But it is not only guidance and instructions on the right equipment that are set out there; the right workplace is at least just as important. There must be enough space for changing working postures and movements. Lighting is also an important factor to avoid impairing vision in the long term. All in all, furnishing an office according to ergonomic principles is a comprehensive task and requires careful planning. When setting up new offices, it is important not only to choose the right equipment, but also to match the number of employees to the available space in order to create a pleasant working environment.

Of course, we often have no influence over this. Very few people will be able to choose their workplace based on its setup and ergonomic features. But at the very least, you should try to create the best possible working environment with the means available.

MAKE EVERYDAY LIFE MORE ACTIVE

As soon as we get up, we sit down at the breakfast table, then get into the car and drive to work. There, we spend the whole day sitting at our desks. When we get home in the evening, we settle down comfortably on the sofa. And before we know it, we have spent almost the entire day sitting down. STOP - this is where we should change something and break our pattern. Leave the car keys at home more often and walk, cycle or use public transport instead. But first of all, we have to overcome our inner reluctance. Admittedly, that is not an easy task. However, if we go without our motorised means of transport more often, the first results will soon follow. We have noticeably more energy, feel fitter and counteract many health problems.

In most cases, lack of exercise is also the reason for persistent back and neck pain. Yet with little effort and very easily during work, we can loosen tense muscles with targeted stretching and strengthening exercises and prevent serious back problems.

Tension in the back muscles is often caused by poor posture when sitting for long periods. A few small exercises can achieve good results over time. One of the simplest works as follows:

Sit upright on your chair, with your feet firmly on the floor. Now stretch your arms upwards and bend them at right angles. Then pull your shoulder blades together until you feel tension. Try to hold this position. It’s best to repeat the exercise several times.

Alongside the back and neck muscles, your eyes are also put under particular strain when working at a screen. For the simplest exercise to relax your eyes, let your gaze wander as far outward as possible in every direction. Left and right, up and down, diagonally, as well as in circles clockwise and anti-clockwise. It’s best to repeat the exercise several times. Ideally, you should finish each eye exercise with a short relaxation phase, meaning with your eyes closed.

But it’s not only targeted exercises that help to keep your back healthy in the long term. Often, a general change in mindset or rethinking certain work routines and tasks can help too.

The following questions can help:

• Which tasks can I also do while standing?

• How can I build more movement into my working day?

• Do I really have to sit down during my break?

In fact, it’s very easy to add more movement to your everyday routine. Take that well-known walk around the block before or after lunch, or simply make your routes around the office a little longer. Take the stairs instead of the lift, or simply stand up during a phone call for a change!
All these little things bring movement and variety into your day, and switching between sitting and standing is especially important. This trains your back and leg muscles, stimulates the cardiovascular system and improves breathing. Of course, making the switch is easiest if your workstation has an (electrically) height-adjustable desk. The rule of thumb is: 50% sitting, 25% standing, 25% moving.

If we manage to integrate some of these exercises into our daily routine, we can work much more comfortably and do our backs a big favour at the same time. And stay healthy at work.

Of course, our bodies also need enough energy to stay fit in the long term. But which snacks are suitable for desk work? And what should we avoid instead?

What can I do for my health at work?

SNACKS & NUTRITION IN THE OFFICE

Health experts agree: people who eat one large meal and one or two light snacks live more healthily than those who eat two to three large meals a day. Healthy snacks between meals are not only important sources of nutrients, vitamins and minerals, they can also help reduce hunger before lunch.

If you do not get really hungry, you will almost automatically avoid fast food or large portions. However, when choosing snacks for between meals, you should consciously avoid sweets, pastries and foods that are particularly high in sugar. Too much sugar causes blood sugar levels to rise quickly and then drop almost as fast afterwards, which often leads to difficulty concentrating.

HEALTHY FOOD FOR THE OFFICE

Sandwiches! But this time in the healthy version. To really count as a healthy snack, they should be made with wholemeal or rye bread. White bread is less suitable and should be avoided wherever possible. Good toppings include turkey breast, cream cheese or fruit spreads and jams with a low sugar content. Vegetables and salad are always allowed. Healthy snacks: fresh fruit

Another option is fresh muesli. If you are in a hurry, choose a reduced-sugar version from the supermarket. Or make it yourself with some freshly chopped fruit and a splash of milk or yoghurt – voilà, your little energy booster is ready. Nuts or chocolate pieces should not go into your muesli.

A balanced mix of raw vegetables is ideal for healthy eating in the office and also happens to be an absolute top performer when it comes to energy. Simply cut a few carrots, apples, peppers or cucumbers into sticks and pack them into a fresh-keeping box. You can conveniently snack on these healthy power sticks while working at your screen!

The most important thing is variety, after all. Change your snacks regularly to stop this new kind of break from becoming boring too quickly and to help you stick with healthier eating at work in the long term.

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

MAKE SURE YOU DRINK ENOUGH

Staying properly hydrated at work is at least as important as eating the right diet! There are plenty of myths and half-truths surrounding the exact amount we should drink throughout the day. The truth probably lies somewhere between two and four litres per day, depending on body weight and other factors. Since most of us spend eight or more hours in front of a computer, we should make sure we maintain a healthy fluid balance while we work. Unfortunately, many desks are still home to unhealthy, sugar-packed drinks such as cola, lemonade or juices. Water is the best choice, whether from the tap or bottled mineral water from the supermarket is entirely up to you. But drinking only water all the time can become rather monotonous, so teas or freshly squeezed juices are a good alternative.

If our workstation is set up in line with legal regulations, we have adjusted our desk and office chair to suit our needs and can skip fatty and sugary snacks and foods now and then, we will work in a much more relaxed way and therefore more healthily too!

Of course, you do not have to follow every single tip listed above, but there are certainly a few that can easily be put into practice in the workplace.