It’s proven that businesses who support workplace wellness can see productivity levels, job satisfaction and individual wellbeing skyrocket. Here are 5 tips to increase workplace wellness in your business.
1. Hydrate
Probably the biggest thing to slip in the workplace is hydration. This simple, often overlooked essential element to good health can dramatically boost energy levels throughout the entire day. Aim for 2-3L per day. Keep your drink bottle in sight, continuous exposure will encourage more water uptake. TIP: Aim for glass or stainless-steel bottles to reduce BPA – a toxic element in plastic drink bottles.
2. Move more.
Find space throughout the day, even on your lunch break to build up your target step count for the day. Extra movement offers more energy expenditure, which in turn supports healthy body composition, better mobility and a boost in ‘feel good’ hormones which can enhance mood and productivity during the day. TIP: Get up every 20 minutes (set a little reminder) to stretch or go for a quick walk around the office. Keep yourself accountable by tracking your step count. Aim for 10K steps a day.
3. Sleep.
Sleep can make or break a productive day for most. Getting good quality sleep allows the body to do its best healing and rejuvenation. Not getting enough sleep can play around with our hormones, particularly our hunger hormones, often making us hungrier or less in tune with our fullness hormone leptin. Not ideal if you have a weight loss goal. To get a better night’s sleep, avoid blue light exposure before bed (aka phone use), or set it to ‘night mode’. Blue light exposure can disrupt sleep. Getting good natural light exposure throughout the day supports our circadian rhythm and a good sleep cycle. Another reason to get outside and walk on your lunch break!
4. Eat more fibre-rich plant foods.
As cliché as it sounds, adding more fibre-packed vegetables to your meals, should be your first point of call. This addition not only adds a fibre boost to support blood sugar levels by keeping them stable throughout the day (meaning you’re less likely to have a 3 pm slump), it also provides the body with essential vitamins and minerals.
5. Manage stress.
Feeling chronically stressed causes a cascade of poorer health outcomes. Knowing how and when to switch off can be one of THE healthiest things you can do. In our westernised lifestyle, stress is becoming part of our day-to-day communication. “How have you been?” “I’ve been good, but feeling stressed lately with everything going on with work and family commitments”. Stress, whether it be from environmental toxins, diet, lifestyle and/or work, it’s a state of being that needs to be taken into consideration as an area of importance for health. Manage it so it doesn’t manage you.
Humans are meant to activate their fight-flight mode, it’s part of our biology, it keeps us alert and ready to go. However, sitting for too long in this sympathetic state is not ideal. Ways in which you can wind down and activate your parasympathetic nervous system is through mindfulness, yoga, simple walking, spending more time in nature and doing things you enjoy that are calming.
There you have it! Try to implement these in your workplace and see the results you see in your daily work life.
