HEALTH@WORK
Five Tips to Keep Your Pilot Light “On” from 9 - 5

Who says computer downloads and excel spreadsheets can’t co-exist with exercise? With a little creativity, you can charge up your heart rate while waiting for the Internal Rate of Return to calculate.

1. You don’t need to be Einstein to figure out that occasional deep breaths and good posture can re-energize your day, especially as it veers towards lackluster. If stress overwhelms you, don’t just sniff your eggshell-colored hydrangeas. Breathe. Sit up straight as a pin, place your hands on your knees and shut your eyes. Take a deep breath, hold for five seconds, then exhale.

2. Stretch those limbs. As you sit in your chair, extend one leg so you feel your quads get taut; repeat with the other leg. Extend your arms in the air, clasp your palms and gently pull them, as though you are lifting your body into the ether.

3. Take a walk around the block during lunchtime or during the afternoon. Don’t just say you will, and then get distracted by the next phone call or graphics document. Sometimes, a sea of tranquility within you can yield a goldmine. Many colleagues have told me that some of their best ideas came to them while they were walking around the block or when they took a break from work.

4. Distill your energy, even in this heyday of multitasking. Focus on one task at a time, from filling a cup of fresh-brewed coffee to writing a speech you’re going to give the next day. Distraction grates. “If you’ve ever attempted to meditate, you know this phenomenon as ‘monkey mind,’ the state where your consciousness leaps about wildly and refuses to settle in one place” says Marcia Menter, author of The Office Sutras.

Like anything else, focus comes with practice. Like getting that slam-dunk on the basketball court.

5. You won’t look like a loser if you do bicep curls with your Evian bottle. Or keep some 1lb weights underneath your desk and work the arm muscles for a minute or two instead of surfing gawker.com. Use ankle weights too, if you want to strengthen your quad and calf muscles. A burst of energy is sometimes all you need to rev up your internal work engine.