Take a break: Exercising at your desk can be beneficial

By Neil Allen

Many of us sit at a desk every day for eight hours or more. This is not good for our bodies or mental health.  This is true for students as well as your typical office desk dweller.

Short breaks during the work or school day can actually boost mental resources such as attention, ensuring good performance. For example, researchers have shown that watching a funny eight minute video or spending less than one minute looking at nature improves employee performance after they return to the work task (Grippo, 2017).

According to Grippo, a key component of an effective break is psychological detachment and shifting our focus. “Detachment helps us to directly reduce work demands that are causing fatigue and to naturally recover,” she said.

Physical activity can help detach from work or learning as well as increase blood flow to areas in the brain that are necessary for focus and attention. It can also help replenish mental resources and help you become more creative.

There are many simple workout routines that you can do while sitting at your desk and only take about 10 minutes (read about the health benefits of exercising for just 10 minutes every day here).
Here are a few that I found in a quick search online:

• www.fitnessmagazine.com/workout/express/10-minute/get-rid-of-job-related-jiggle
• info.totalwellnesshealth.com/blog/bid/344319/8-Exercises-You-Can-Do-Discreetly-at-Your-Desk
• www.yourmodernfamily.com/exercise-sitting-down

If none of these work for you, you can create your own workout routine made up of exercises that fits your needs, abilities, and time or space limitations.

Teachers
You can help your students learn better, be more focused, and be more creative by making mandatory breaks during class where everyone does three to five desk exercises. It will also help prepare them to have healthier work habits.

• Have a bunch of different exercises you know every student in your class will be able to do in a jar then have students pull out random exercises for the class to do.
• Have the class brainstorm on exercises the class could do and focus on making sure the exercises could be done by everyone in the class.
• Choose a different student every week to lead the desk exercises.

Reference:
Grippo, A. (2017). Why and how you should take breaks at work. Psychology Today. Retrieved from www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-wide-wide-world-psychology/201704/why-and-how-you-should-take-breaks-work.

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