How to Improve the Health of Office Workers

Recently when one of my fellow office workers suffered a heart attack at age 49 several of us began to question the health effects of our sedentary life style.

All of us report to work at 8:00 AM at which point we sit at our respective desks, turn on our computer and begin sorting through work files left from the previous day. For most of us our daily administrative routine requires us to stay at our work station/desk working on files and answering telephone calls from both customers and other employees.

Unless there was some exception such as an employee meeting or a customer visit our daily routine required us to remain at our desks throughout the day. Typically we would only leave our desks for a mid-morning and mid-afternoon coffee breaks or an visit to the restroom. The lunch break provided an additional hour away from the desk, but typically that hour was spent sitting in the company lunch room eating and visiting with fellow workers.

The tragic event that struck down our fellow worker brought to our attention the fact that our inactivity throughout the day could well lead to similar health failure for any one of us.

In informal meetings over coffee and with management's support we discussed options to change our daily routine to make our working environment a healthier one.

We decided to hold a contest in which each of our 50+ employees could make suggestions of activities we individuals could take to overcome our sedimentary working conditions. Over the course of two months we received over 100 ideas that could be easily implemented with little or no interruption of work, but would result in increased activity and exercise during the work day.

Since that time many of these suggestions have been put into practice on a voluntary basis. Employees are free to chose those activities that best fit them considering age, weight, and physical limitations.

Some of the more popular and effective activities resulting in an increased level of daily exercise include the following:

Stair Utilization - Our office is located on the third floor of an office tower. Employees who are physically able are encouraged to use the three flights of stairs on each occasion when they enter of leave the office. In addition to using the stairs on entering and exiting the office daily many employees who leave the office for lunch or other business during the day will also use the stairs. And many younger employees will walk the stairs once during their lunch break.

Reduction of Inner-Office Telephone Calls. - Our employees have found that in lieu of telephoning fellow employees in distant office or cubical hand delivering the message is equally fast and provides the opportunity to stretch desk-bound legs and smile at the recipient. A welcome by-product of this change is we have found that communications actually improve.

Exercise at Your Desk - Most of our offices include many hard-bound manuals, reference books, catalogues and specification manuals. We have encouraged our employees to use these books to exercise several times daily. Employees perform ten repetitions of bicep curls (holding the weighted book in one hand parallel to the floor and the fold the arm until the book is against the shoulder and return) several times a day. Older and weaker employees may use only one book for the exercise, while the younger and stronger employees may use a belt to strap two or more books together for the exercise.

In offices without the availability of books half gallon jugs filled partially or fully with water may be used as a resistant weight.

Voluntary Lunch Walk - Employees are encouraged to utilize half of their lunch hour to participate in 20-25 minute walk. After taking 30 minutes to have lunch in our lunch room interested employees meet at the top of the stairwell to join in a 20 to 25 minute walk outside of the immediate office area. The walk begins and ends with using the three flights of stairs between the office and the ground floor. Initially, only six walkers participated. Now, one year later we regularly have three walking teams consisting of six employees each competing to see which team can complete the walk route in the fastest time.

Stand Up While Working - Standing burns more calories than sitting. We have learned that that taking telephone calls, checking voice mail, dictating memos, and reading incoming mail and many office activities can be easily done while standing. Organizing and scheduling activities that can be performed while standing can result in burning hundreds of calories each day.

Do Chair Leg lifts - Often our legs are the first to suffer from those who are desk bound. Our employees have found that simple leg lifts done hourly will increase leg circulation and increase mental awareness. Leg lifts are done by sliding the desk chair away from the desk and then raising each leg until it is parallel with the floor and the holding it in place for ten seconds before returning the foot to the floor. Repeat this ten times for each leg.

Increase Walking Pace - The average walking pace for must adults in a working environment is 3 miles per hour (about 100 steps per minute). Office workers can increase their exercise and the number of calories burned by increasing the pace walked while in the office environment by twenty percent to 3.6 miles per hour (120 steps per minute). Most of our employees were surprise at how many miles they walked each day while in the office and how many calories could be burned by increasing the pace of each walk.

These are seven of the most popular exercises adopted by our office staff. Additional exercises such as desk arm pushups and leg squats are also practiced by many of the younger staff. Others have taken the step of walking or riding bicycles to work.

One year later all of us agree we are healthier and have more energy by incorporating office exercise into our daily routine. We have as a result experienced less sickness, less absenteeism, and the serendipitous result of significant weight loss.

Make your office healthier and help your fellow workers to live longer and healthier lives with the addition of daily office exercise programs.