The entire reason I created this blog was to push myself to challenge the status quo. I want to stop accepting things as they’ve always been done and begin researching the “why” and ask, “how can I do this better to supercharge my life?” Let’s optimize our health and get energized together – regardless of your work setting!
Challenging the 9-5 schedule that i’ve been a product of since I started working full time out of college is no exception. In fact, this is a critical concept to challenge because studies show that people working a full time desk job die earlier than those that do not. WTF?! I won’t accept that..
How Can We Do It Better?
I did a LOT of research for this post & did my best to summarize the 3 core components of how we can optimize our health and energy while working a desk job. This is my opinion and experience, not medical advice. Take bits and pieces that apply to you.. there’s plenty to go around! I guarantee if you incorporate a few of these additions to your routine, you will experience work feeling a bit more healthy & energized. You have to be there… you might as well be there as your best self.
I Believe it Can Be Done With 3 Core Components:
1. 70% of the Equation is about What We Eat (or don’t eat)
Eat Breakfast. Eating breakfast helps to balance blood sugar and improve sustained energy throughout the day. Skipping this important meal can lead to fatigue, sluggishness, and moodiness. You’ve got to “fire up the engine” and get your body started on a positive note. Doing so promotes strong memory, concentration, mental, and physical performance. Too early when you leave for work or practicing intermittent fasting? No problem. Bring a snack or pack easily transportable breakfast options like oatmeal, overnight oats, chia pudding, coconut yogurt, or smoothies for when you are ready to eat. Check how I typically schedule my meals here.
Drink Water All Day. Drinking water is vital to our total body health for many reasons. My favorite reason to drink water all day is to give me a reason to get up; I fill the cup of water, walk to the water cooler, walk to the restroom, and I do it again and again and again throughout the day. Second, water aids in healthy digestion. It’s recommended to drink at room temperature 20 minutes before or 60 minutes after you eat. Third, many of us confuse thirst with hunger and live in a state of chronic dehydration. Drinking throughout the day helps to ensure this doesn’t happen to you. How much? Aim for at least half your body weight in ounces.
Prepare Healthy Snacks and Keep them Away from your Desk. In order to avoid snacking on the convenient candy bowls dispersed throughout the office, you need to come prepare with healthy alternatives like nuts, fruit, low-sugar energy bars (Bulletproof Bars in Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough & Primal Kitchen collagen protein bars in Dark Chocolate Almond are among my favorite). It’s key to keep these snacks on a table that isn’t your desk so you have to get up (more steps!) and get your snack – this avoids mindless snacking while distracted by other things and not managing our portions.
Manage your Caffeine. Most working professionals are addicted to coffee and don’t keep a check over their caffeine consumption throughout the day. Caffeine like high sugar foods seem to spike your energy but eventually result into an energy crash. A good idea is to consume caffeine in small and healthy amounts like a cup of green tea or matcha so that it doesn’t bring you bad consequences. Unstable blood sugars has been known to lead to food cravings and fatigue. I have my cup of Joe first thing in the morning but when the 3:00 energy slump greets me daily – i’ve made it my tea time! I actually look forward to it as a late in the day treat now.
Make Lunch the Largest Meal of the Day. THIS DOES NOT MEAN GO GRAB A HAMBURGER. I have come to believe that lunch is the most important meal of the day based on my studies of the Ayurveda tradition which is over 5,000 years old and prioritized healthy digestion and gut health as the core of their philosophy. This philosophy proposes that we “eat with the sun,” meaning when the sun is at it’s peak for the day, our fuel should be as well. When the sun sets, we need to lay off the food. Prioritize a large, healthy lunch, packed with energy sources like veggies, seeds, nuts, and lean protein. This meal should help carry you through the day with energy. If you find yourself hungry towards the end of the day, reach for some of the healthy snacks noted above. WATCH. THE. SUGAR — avoid sugar while your’e at work whenever possible. Blood sugar spikes caused by excess sugar is a sure fire way to find yourself face down at your desk by 3:00. Take the time to schedule these meals ahead of time to help avoid extreme hunger and moments of weakness. Put them in your planner to help create a healthy daily regiment and make yourself a priority. Don’t have time to meal prep? Try services like Pittsburgh Fresh.
What Should You Eat?
1. Protein: Protein is KEY in sustained energy. Your body uses protein to synthesize muscle tissue which is important to sustain when in this sedentary state for extended periods of time. Without it, you’ll lose muscle and gain fat. Protein and muscle mass are needed to keep your standing metabolic rate high to fend off weight gain. Protein also provides satiety, or the recognition of feeling full. How much? aim for .6 grams per pound of body-weight each day.
2. Control Carbohydrates: These raise your blood sugar more than either fat or protein. When blood sugar goes up, your body produces insulin to bring it back down, and that means two things: fat storage and low energy. Try to control the amount of carbs earthen throughout the day especially if you’re not being physically active.
3. Veggies: Include non-starchy vegetables with every meal. Eat these first and use them to take up as much of the plate at possible. This will help to limit caloric intake while still getting your vitamins and fiber, and don’t have to go hungry.
4. Fruits: A great snack during the day that help to satiate you with good fiber and natural sugars. If you’re having a sugar craving, try reaching for a sweet piece of fruit that will at least provide some additional antioxidants and nutrients and keep you full. I like to eat fruit along. Meaning, not in combination with any other food. It’s a fiber-dense food to digest which means it needs to go at it alone. Otherwise you’ll find yourself bloated… from fruit. No thanks! I’ll save my bloating for Mac & Cheese or something.
Stop drinking your calories. They’re probably the easiest calories to cut without missing them and will instantly make an impact on your weight if you’re a frequent calorie dense drinker. Think you’re safe with Diet Sodas? Think again. Aspartame has been proven to be incredibly addicting leaving you with a caffeine crash and a massive sugar craving not even the strongest willpower could fend off.
At Home, don’t eat after 8:00. Yes, you read it right! It is recommended to eat a light dinner before the clock strikes 8. This gives your body enough time to detoxify and digest the food before you get into your bed.
2. 20% is the Way we Move our Bodies (or don’t move)
Leverage your Lunch Hour. Since you’ll be eating throughout the day in your pre-scheduled time, eating shouldn’t take up your full lunch hour. This means you’ll have time to prioritize additional time for yourself and energy refill. Take this time as a mental break – don’t work through the lunch hour. Go outside or take a stroll around the building. For most, this is the only part of the day you have for yourself so take advantage of it and allow yourself to reset for a reenergized second half of the day.
Get from Point A to Point B a New Way. Even if you work out an hour every day and then park it for 8 hours 5 days a week, chances are your body isn’t getting the circulation, muscle development, and cardio strain it needs to operate at its peak performance. Sneak activity in throughout your day; park further away from the office, opt to take the stairs over the elevator, use the restroom on another floor, send your paper to the far printer, fill up your water bottle often, take phone calls while walking around the office (don’t be annoying about this one or you may find your goals sabotaged by your neighboring co-workers). Every way you can add steps into your day is helpful. Studies show that 10,000 steps is the magic number for healthy adults daily. This is nearly impossible to achieve if you sit at your desk all day!
Stand Up every 45 minutes. A study from the European Heart Journal found that excessive sitting was associated with worse health, but if participants replaced two hours a day with standing, they showed lower blood sugar levels, lower cholesterol, and lower risk of heart disease. Stand up while flipping through files or making phone calls. Incorporate a standing desk if you can. My Apple Watch will buzz me when its time to stand every 45 minutes which is a helpful reminder — set one of these on a watch, phone, or computer if you can.
Stretch. Stretching benefits both the body and the mind. Not to mention, you can do it from anywhere! Take a few seconds to stretch your arms across your body, stand up in order to reach down and touch your toes, twist your back to release any built up tension, take a few deep breath and recenter yourself before moving on to a new task. By taking 3 to 5 minute breaks throughout the day, you can get the oxygen flowing through your body and brain and improve your productivity and energy.
Posture. Proper posture is critical to keeping the nerves that run through you spine in line. All of our nerves run through this source along our spinal cord and if not in proper position there is a direct link to a decrease in performance. Not to mention, we risk back problems if not sitting properly and neck problems if our monitors aren’t in position that we can keep our head up. Pay attention to the height of your screen and if your neck is bending down or up in order to get a good view of it — adjust to ensure you’re looking straight ahead.
Sleep. Sleep is a critical component of establishing a healthy lifestyle. Let’s call it the foundation for which all of our efforts stand on. Without proper rest, our body’s can’t build up very tall without coming crashing down into a million piece. Lack of sleep results in unhappiness and irritability, overeating, lack of productivity, sex drive plummets, and our hormonal environment causes the body to start storing fat and breaking down muscle. Be sure to wind down at a decent hour, turn of your screens an hour before falling asleep, and prioritize this as the foundation that it is. Side note, the more we move our bodies throughout the day, the easier it is for our bodies to fall asleep at night.
As a part 2 of this post (since it’s already so long, i’m going to post workouts for desk jobs)
3. 10% is our Mental Clarity and Attitude
Meditation. Working long hours can be extremely stressful and incorporating mindful meditation into your day can help manage that stress and built up anxiety and approach problem solving situations with more clarity and ration. It doesn’t mean you have to sit in silence necessarily, active mediation could be taking that walk noted above, listening to music, or taking a ride with the windows down during lunch. There are a lot of apps that guide meditation, especially those rooted in silence. Close your door and take a minute!
Get a Plant Desk. Research shows that having a plant in your office reduces stress, increases productivity, improves air quality, and increases creativity. Why not! They’re usually cute too…
Power of Positive Thinking. Don’t indulge in negative thinking, don’t tell yourself you’ll never be able to hit this deadline or tackle this big project. Challenge yourself to speak more positive notions & mantras. We are what we think — if you believe you’ll success in just about anything, your chances are far greater than the alternative. Try considering – “this is a busy week, i need to focus of the top 3 most important things and set yourself up for success.” This exercise can reduce stress & cortisol levels, thus managing your blood sugar and reducing cravings or emotional eating.
Limit complaining. Ain’t NOBODY got time for this… yet it’s SO prevalent in the work place. It kills me! (See it’s sucking my energy as I type about it). Have you ever noticed that the chronic complainers you know are the ones miserable about their lives, low energy, and dissatisfied? Cut the complaining and don’t give into those energy-suckers in your environment. If there’s a way you fix the problem, contribute to that. Otherwise, focus on the power of positive thinking and cut this out of your life – it’ll be a real energy booster (and for everyone around you, as well).
Gratitude. Last but certainly not least, gratitude. Genuinely being thankful for things most often overlooked really helps create a strong and positive mindset to take on even the most challenging of days. I recommend a gratitude journal and just started one that takes only 5 minutes in the morning and 5 minutes at night. These tiny often moments shift your review and perspective of the day. Gratitude is one of the most powerful ways to re-energize and research shows it has all kinds of health benefits, including stress reduction. You just have to bring to mine and acknowledge the great aspects of your life that are there even on the hardest days.
Hope that was enough for you, i know I learned a lot writing it! Let me know if you apply and of these and if they’ve helped your day to day routine in any way!
That’s the healthy truth! Xx, Jess.
