In today’s work scenario, a majority of us spend about 6- 8 hours a day (sometimes more), sitting on a chair and working while staring at a computer screen. We rack our brains away to complete our tasks and to meet deadlines. Well, we all know how awfully tiresome that is.
Unlike machines, we aren’t designed to work all day long. Even those who absolutely love their jobs will at some points, feel fatigued and totally drained of energy. Instead of forcefully pushing yourself beyond what your mind and body can handle, you could try these simple exercises to re-energize yourself at work:
1. Take deep breaths: The simplest exercise to do is “the belly breathing”. Sit upright in your chair, close your eyes, and take in deep breaths through your nose. Hold your breath for a short while before exhaling slowly. Perform this exercise for about 5 to 10 minutes to immediately feel a surge of freshness flowing throughout you. This is the result of increased oxygen now flowing to your brain that helps re-energize you for your tasks ahead.
2. Stand up and move around: Another very simple exercise is to simply stand up. Sitting for long periods of time limits blood circulation to the brain, and a simple change in posture from sitting to standing will modify blood circulation to provide more oxygen to the brain. Taking a short walk, such as from one end of the room to the other, can also further help in re-energizing you.
3. Eye exercises: Staring at screens for long periods of time strains your eyes which brings about fatigue. A few simple and effective exercises to relieve your eyes are:
- Palming- rub your hands together for about 10 seconds till they are heated and then gently place your hands on your eyes, without touching the eyeballs.
- Eye-rolling- Sit upright, keep your face straight, relax all your muscles, and slowly rotate your eyes clockwise three times. Now close your eyes and relax. Perform the same exercise anti-clockwise.
- Gaze at a distant- Look out the window, and gaze at a far distance- preferably at open green spaces.
4. Stretching: Sitting for long periods of time not only affects your energy levels for the day but also has adverse long-term effects on your body. Stretching a bit daily can negate these effects to quite an extent. While doing an all-out Yoga session in the workplace would be quite inappropriate, there are a few simple stretches that you could do in your work desk:
- Neck Stretch: The neck is the part of the body that gets stiffest when working in front of a computer. to address this issue, sit upright on your chair and slowly roll your head from one side to another and then from chin to chest. This should relieve the tension in your neck, at least a little.
- Backstretch: The back is another part of the body that tenses up when sitting for a long time. A simple back stretch involves sitting upright while putting both hands behind your back with palms touching, and pushing your chest forward. Hold this pose for about 5 seconds; now relax and redo.
- Shoulder stretch: To stretch your shoulders, - sit upright, hold your shoulder blade with the arm on your opposite side from behind your head. Now hold the elbow of that arm with the palm of your other hand and slowly pull it towards the opposite side. Do the same for your other arm. P.S: watch out for underarm sweat stains though!
- Glute Stretch: Yep, the part of your body that does the most work when sitting for hours is your rear. So don’t ignore them. Cross your legs while sitting upright with the ankle of your crossed leg on the other knee. Now slowly push the knees of your crossed leg down.
Doing all of the above should get you at least a little revitalized to help you push that extra mile in your work than what your body is signaling to allow. Now, your work isn’t going to do itself, so “GET BACK TO WORK!!”
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2. Top 5 Benefits of Social Media Training
3. Develop and Improve Soft Skills
