Tips to Improve Your Health at Work

Sitting behind your desk for long hours can be hazardous for your health. However, integrating a bit of wellness tips into your workplace can help you enjoy a healthier workday! If you’re spending most of your time in front of the system, then here’s some unsettling news for you: your job could actually be bad for your health. Research suggests that people who sit and work for long stretches are more likely to be depressed and obese, mainly due to the deficiency of Vitamin D than those who stay more active throughout the day.

So, in case you are tired of being tired and sick of getting sick, then here are 6 tips to help you improve your health at work.

  1. Begin With The Right Foot

The more you walk, the better it is for your health – this is one of the most popular healthy lifestyle tips, which only a few follow. Therefore, for optimal health benefits make sure you begin your day by parking your car as far as possible from your office building. In case you take a public transportation then get off one stop early and walk the remaining way to your work station. Also, when you reach your office building, prefer taking the stairs and avoid using elevators.

  1. Keep Away From Snack Attack

The mouth-watering snacks your co-workers place on their desk is nothing more but an invitation to add a few hundred calories to your diet every day. If you’re not careful with what you eat at work, you would easily gain a few unwanted pounds day after day. So, remember if someone at your workplace has a tempting candy dish, simply walk over the desk to avoid the temptation. Also, keep your personal stock of healthy food available to you to get over your periodic hunger, and resist yourself from reaching out to chips or cookies.

  1. Hydration Is Essential

Drinking sufficient quantities of water, about 8 – 10 glasses daily, can help you keep your body well-nourished and hydrated. Certain foods also serve as an excellent source of water. Fruits such as oranges, watermelon, apples and grapes can further add up to help you meet your daily water requirements. Most often the 4 o’clock lull experienced my people at work is due to dehydration, therefore it is advised you have as much water as you can throughout your work day.

  1. Walk Your Way Out In Lunch

Walking during your lunch hours is by far the best thing you can do during the entire day to stay fit and healthy. This ways you not only burn down your calories but are indirectly de-stressing and refreshing your exhausted self. Plus, as you are spending majority of your time indoors, then going out in the lunch time can also benefit you in getting your daily dose of natural Vitamin D through sunshine. In the absence of sun, however, you can meet up your Vitamin D requirements by consuming reliable and effective high quality Vitamin D supplements.

  1. Fitness Breaks Are Essential

You can also practice some fitness breaks right at your desk by performing gentle stretching or any other form of mild exercises by making use of portable equipment. For instance, you can perform 15-30 seconds leg raises under your desk or hold your leg behind you for a stretch during the breaks for your wellness in workplace.

  1. Protect Your Eyes

Eye strain is one of the most common problems encountered by people who spend a major portion of their day in front of their computer systems. It can not only cause difficulty in focus, but may also be the main reason for causing headaches and increased sensitivity to lights. In order to fight unnecessary straining of eyes, maintain a distance of about an arm’s length between you and the screen. Additionally, make sure you are regular with your daily consumption of essential supplements that contain perfect quantities of essential nutrients such as lycopene, beta-carotene, lutein, grape seed extract and methylcobalamin for healthy and radiating eyes.

Are You Doing Enough To Protect Your Bones?

You would be surprised to know that your bones keep changing all through your life. This means, now is the right time to think about their health. The following article discusses some essential tips to help you protect and monitor the health of your bones.

You probably don’t think about it much, but your skeleton structure is an incredible part of your body. From a total of 300 bones you had at birth to 206 bones you have by the age of 25, your bones fuse and renew, to develop a strong framework in order to protect body’s organs and help you stay fit and healthy.

Here’s What You Should Know about Vitamin D: Boosting Your Bone Health

Vitamin D popularly known as the sunshine vitamin is necessary for maintaining good bone health. A deficiency of this vitamin can lead to serious health consequences as our body loses its capacity to absorb calcium effectively.

Calcium works with Vitamin D to help support the growth cycle of bone formation, ensuring that it can be used as and when needed by the bones, teeth and other parts of the body.

You’ll come across various kinds of milk products, juices and cereal products that are sold with ‘Vitamin D fortified’ labels attached. But, the most easily available source of this nutrient comes from direct sun exposure. Exposing your skin to ultra-violet radiation prompts the body to produce Vitamin D. However, during the short winter days this source is less readily available. So, how can you support your bone health during winter?

Add a Supplement to Your Diet

This is by far the most convenient method to flag up your Vitamin D levels, especially during cold winter months. Adding a quality Vitamin D supplement, such as iOTH’s iDaily- D, can help you compliment the natural food sources in your daily meals, ensuring you get required doses of this vitamin on a day to day basis.

The Recommended Daily Allowances (RDA) of Vitamin D for girls and boys up to 18 years of age is 600 IU per day. This range remains the same for adult males and females, aged between 19 to 70 years and increases up to 800 IU in aging adults over 70 years of age.

Look What You Eat

There are certain foods that can help you get fair quantities of Vitamin D. These foods include salmon, margarine and mackerel along with other fortified milk products and UV exposed mushrooms.

However, it must be noted that you cannot fulfill your daily Vitamin D requirement through diet alone, which is why it is very important you add a daily dose of Vitamin D supplement to your diet.

This is specifically important during winter months when less sunlight is available to you and other sources of Vitamin D become more and more crucial.

Exercise Your Way to Build Bone Mass

A living tissue, your bones are constantly being broken down and rebuild in a process called as remodeling. It is up to the age of 20 – 30 years that the rate of bone formation exceeds that of bone destruction in individuals who get enough Vitamin D and the ones who exercise.

However, during later stages of life, bone destruction typically exceeds the production process. But the good news is – you can actually reduce the bone loss with age, provided you exercise on a regular basis.

This is especially true for weight-bearing exercises, including walking, running, weight lifting, playing games such as tennis, dancing and hiking, etc. These are some of the best ways to boost your overall bone health.

Guarding Against Osteoporosis

People who do not get sufficient quantities of Vitamin D or the ones, who do not perform any type of physical activities, stand at a greater risk of developing osteoporosis – a painful disease that is typically characterized by weakening of bone tissues followed by low bone mass.

If ignored to left untreated, it can lead to fractures, most commonly on the hip region, wrist or even spine.

Remember, osteoporosis can develop undetected over a period of many years. However, a proper bone mineral density test can help you detect it in its early stages, such that you can determine your risk of fractures and even monitor your response to the respective treatment.

Maximizing Safe Sun Exposure for Best Results

Natural Vitamin D is good for you and you can even get it in cold winter days as well, but for that you need to be strategic. People with moderately fair skin should enjoy the mid-day sun for 7-30 minutes to get sufficient quantities of Vitamin D daily.

However, people with darker skin tone are required to spend more time out in the sun to gain similar quantities of Vitamin D. This means you are required to spend anywhere between 20 minutes to 3 hours exposure to mid-day sun.

But, it should be noted that if you going to step out into the sun, make sure you have adequate sun protection even in winters!