How To Stay Healthy While Working Insane Hours
If you’re working long hours, it’s tempting to think that you’re unable to live a healthy lifestyle – think again! In this article Cate Palmer looks at how you can maintain a healthy lifestyle whilst still managing to get all of your work (and play) done.
It was another long day at the office. In fact, most of them are. Working an insane number of hours became a new normal and keeping up with a healthy lifestyle turned out to be quite a challenge. Juggling work, family, friends and other extracurricular activities doesn’t leave much time for healthy habits and often enough they are left out completely.
Neglecting our health can lead to serious medical issues associated with lack of movement, eating junk food and constantly being stressed out.
Coming up with different excuses won’t help. Yes, you are busy but are you really busy enough to prevent bad things from happening to you in the future?
Staying healthy should be your number one priority and incorporating healthy habits into your daily routine is a solid first step.
Here, we’ll list several ways to keep your physical health strong while still working long hours.
1. Start Walking
Lack of movement is something that affects most of today’s modern professions. Spending countless hours in front of the computer requires you nailed down to a chair which is probably the worst thing for your health.
Source: unsplash.com
The most obvious solution to this problem would be walking to the office every day, unfortunately that’s a luxury not everyone can afford. But for those who can it’s highly recommended.
If walking to work is not an option for you, try installing an app for counting steps. Set a goal for a certain number of steps each day and try to reach it. The biggest challenge you’ll face is managing to find opportunities to walk so start by meeting your friends for a walk instead of drinks, talking on the phone while walking at the same time or frequently getting up and walking to get a glass of water. Reaching your goal is possible, you just need to get creative.
2. Strengthen Your Muscles
Sitting down affects your entire body, especially the back. Back pains are known to cause serious problems and the associated pain can really impact your productivity.
The best way to deal with this issue is by introducing and maintaining a regular exercise regimen at least three times a week. Regular work out sessions are not only good for the body but they also help with staying productive at the workplace.
Source: unsplash.com
Take 30 minutes for yourself in the morning, before breakfast, and do a set of exercises. Focus on your core muscles since they are the ones keeping your back strong.
If you’re not a morning person, spare some of your time before dinner. You can even set up a reward system where you exercise first and relax and watch TV right after.
Another option is to exercise during your lunch break. The first half hour can be reserved for exercising and the other half for having a quick bite.
3. Eat Clean
The hardest part of staying healthy is developing clean eating habits. It’s not always possible to have a nice home cooked meal and it usually comes down to eating junk food at the nearest fast food restaurant.
Source: unsplash.com
Planning ahead and staying disciplined are two things that matter most. Create a healthy meal plan for the entire week and stick to it. Make sure your every meal contains: at least 30 grams of protein, lots of vegetables and a very small amount of carbohydrate – less than 100 grams per meal. The good news is you can pick the same few meals and eat them over and over again. That way you won’t get a headache each time you need to order or prepare something to eat.
To boost your metabolism you need to have a regular meal around the same time every day. But in case you’re unable to take a lunch break have a substitute meal in a form of all natural protein supplements which diverse ingredients make up for all the essential vitamins you need during the day.
4. Have enough sleep
Source: unsplash.com
It might be hard to believe but having enough sleep is just as important as exercising and eating healthily. In order to maintain a certain level of productivity you need seven to eight hours of sleep every night. Unfortunately, that’s not always possible and some days end up being longer than others.
Still, there are some things you can do to insure you’ll get to have a good night’s rest.
Take out all the electronics out of the bedroom. No TV, no laptop, no cell phones. Avoiding any kind of distractions will help you fall asleep faster. Before you go to bed, have a nice hot bath, tuck yourself in and relax with a good book. Having a soothing bedtime routine will improve the quality of your sleep and you’ll wake up feeling well rested and prepared for the new day.
You don’t have to be an expert in nutrition or exercising to lead a healthy life. Your body is quite capable of telling you exactly what you need in order to function properly. It’s up to you whether or not you’re going to listen to it.
Source: unsplash.com
Adopting some healthy habits is an important first step on your journey to a more quality lifestyle. It may not be that easy at first but it will definitely be worth the effort.
So, don’t put it off and start today! You will already have a healthier tomorrow.