photo courtesy of Got Jenna

There is always room for improvement, you know – it’s the biggest room in the house – Louise Liber. Top 8 Life Hacks aims to improve different life areas such as – health, finance, relationships and self.

Life Hack #5 – Take A Break, Do A Stretch (Health)

Do you take breaks and stretch in between your work? If not, you are at risk of back aches, stiff necks, dry eyes, headaches and a host of other problems. As we spend more and more time in front of computer, it has become essential that we maintain correct body posture and stretch often.

Here are simple stretches for five most affected areas; you can do these in your office, remaining seated and without feeling awkward or silly -

• Neck:

  * Bend your head so that your right ear touches your right shoulder. Bring your head back to center. Repeat the same for the left side. Don’t do any jerky movements. And don’t stretch beyond comfort. If you keep your eyes closed while doing this and focus your mind completely on the movement (and not
  thinking anything else), this can work as a stress buster as well.

• Eyes:

  * Close your eyes and cover them with your fingers. Move your eye balls in circular motion.

  * Every 30 minutes or so, move your eyes off the screen and refocus on a distant object. Preferably on colour green (since it’s soothing)

  * Blink frequently – this keeps eye surface lubricated.

• Shoulder:

  * Roll your shoulders clockwise and anti-clockwise. (You can also do a similar wrist roll)

  * Take a deep breath and shrug your shoulders. Lift them up to your ears and pause. Release and drop.

• Back:

  * Turn right and hold back of chair with your right hand and arm of chair with your left. Twist back as much as you can – you can use your right hand for a power pull. Hold for a while and release. Repeat on the other side.

• Butt:

  * Even if you stand up on in a while, your butt will thank you The easiest exercise that you can do at your desk is butt squeezes. Simply squeeze your buttock muscles, hold for a count of ten and release. Do this several times. If you wish to preserve your butt size and ensure they don’t increase, this exercise is meant for you.

These exercises can be done anywhere, anytime. And hence, there is no excuse to not to do them. Along with these, what helps most is to take a short break every two hours. Get up and away from your desk even for a minute or two.

If your work environment is not supportive of short break without any reason, this is what you can do –
Keep a bottle which can have up to two glasses of water. Make it a point to finish the bottle within two hours. Every two hours, get up and refill the bottle from water cooler. Your break will become legitimate and bonus – you will drink 8 glasses of water at your work place.

I personally find a short break after two hours to be quite relaxing and refreshing. It helps me clear my mind and refocus. In addition to this, my productivity level boosted as I started taking breaks.

Do you take breaks and do stretches? Do try out the exercises I mentioned and let me know how you find them. Share in comments.

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