Exercise should be part of our everyday lives and should never be overlooked. The impactful presence of regular physical exercise must be considered. There have been negligible moments in our daily life due to the work-from-home scenarios, leading to several non-communicable diseases. To avoid this, employees working from home or office can practice these simple exercises in 2023 to reduce the chance of non-communicable diseases. The best exercises while working at home for employees include stretching, sit-to-stand, chair twisting, seated leg raise and a few eye exercises.
Work from home exercises are gaining a lot of importance these days and are being suggested by many doctors to be a part of your job. Desk exercises such as stretching or leg raises can be practiced in the office or at home. There is no need for work-from-home exercise equipment if you can follow the below-mentioned exercise routine, which helps maintain your health and prevent you from falling sick. Stay fit while working from home is the new motto of many companies caring for their employees’ health.
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Here are 5 Super Useful Work from Home Exercises for Employees
Stretching:
The best work-from-home exercise is stretching. In this exercise, you can stretch your hands and legs so that your body should be in the shape of a bow. Basic stretching is when the hands are stretched above the head by lifting your body on the toes; the legs can be stretched in opposite directions. Stretching improves flexibility in your body and improves your sitting posture. Maintaining a correct sitting posture is very important so that your backbone will not have problems related to sitting posture. Stretching can be done at least 4-5 times during your work time so that your body stays active along with your mind.
Sit to Stand:
Sit to stand is another work-from-desk exercise in which a person can sit and stand on a chair. It is a form of half squats which improves flexibility and strength in the thigh muscles and also improves core strength by building the muscles in the center of the body that would give stability to a person. Sitting to stand also increases the blood flow in the body, as sitting for a long time can hinder the blood flow to the lower part of the body, sometimes resulting in numbness. People sometimes suffer from swollen legs due to insufficient blood flowing to their lower regions, which may happen from sitting too long in one position.
Chair Twist:
The other best work from desk exercise is the chair twist. This exercise would rotate the body sideways by sitting in and rotating the chair, or this can be done alternatively by standing. This exercise focuses on core strength and improves the body’s ab strength, muscle tone and balance. This form of aerobic workout helps you burn calories and fat. The twisting of the chair should be done in such a way that the body rotates only 180 degrees. Overall, that is, 90 degrees on each side so that the pressure would be on the abs, which would help burn calories and fat.
Seated Leg Raise:
Seated leg raise exercise is the best exercise that can be done both in the office and in-home while working. The best home exercise for employees involves raising the legs 90 degrees above and lowering them. This can be done by raising both legs simultaneously or raising legs alternatively. In any case, the effect would be on the core muscles, also known as the ab muscles. There would also be certain effects on the glutes due to this exercise. This exercise would improve flexibility and strength in the thigh muscles and also improve core strength by building the muscles in the center of the body that would give stability to a person.
Blinking and Rotating Eyes:
Most employees use electronic devices such as laptops and other screen-related devices while working from home. Continuously watching the screen can cause damage to the eyes as well as to the brain. To overcome this, work-from-home employees can follow specific eye-related exercises such as rotating the eyes and blinking the eyes. For every 1 hour of work, employees should take a 10-minute break, blink their eyes continuously, and rotate their eyeballs by closing their eyes for a few minutes. This would help create moisture in the eyes, without which the eyes would become dry and turn red frequently, leading to long-term vision issues.
Working from home has become a norm recently, and many employees report working from home without proper postures. Substance misuse could result in severe consequences that arise soon after that, including infectious diseases or cancerous growths. To overcome this, employees working from home or employees spending more than 5-6 hours a day working in a chair or front of a desk should adopt certain practices such as yoga and the exercises mentioned above to reduce the future health side effects that may arise from the prolonged sitting and working hours.
Sitting or lying down for too long increases the risk of chronic illnesses like heart attacks and diabetes, as well as cholesterol and blood pressure issues. It also leads to obesity resulting from inactivity, raising risks further. Excessive sitting and working at home or in the office is also bad for physical and mental health. The side effects of excessive sitting and working at the workplace or home are no less than those faced by smokers, as excessive sitting without adequate exercise can result in chronic diseases such as heart attacks, blood pressure, cholesterol, diabetes, and even certain types of cancer. Various studies have linked the risk of falling sick to excessive sitting as that of people with obesity and smokers. Our cardiovascular system, bowel movements, etc., work effectively and efficiently when standing.
