The human body is designed to move. Movement is how we keep our circulation flowing, our joints mobile – and it’s how we get from one place to another.
Walking is a great way to get moving at work. It’s free, it’s weight-bearing (which is good for your bones), it burns calories, and it’s aerobic (if you make it brisk enough). So take an office hike today.
Here are a few ideas to help you work more walking into your work schedule.
- If you work in a multi-floor building, take the stairs. If you work on the 15th floor, you don’t have to walk all the way up; take the elevator to 12 and walk the last three floors. Better yet, add a floor each week and work your way up to a 10-floor ascent each day.
- If you drive to work, park as far as possible from your building.
- If you take mass transit to work, walk one or two stops from your usual stop in the morning, and get off the bus a stop or two earlier on your way home.
- If you need to correspond with a co-worker or client in another building, walk over and visit in person rather than e-mailing or phoning.
- Conduct a “walking meeting.” Rather than sitting in a stuffy conference room, walk around the block to discuss an issue.
- If you’re traveling, skip the moving walkway in the airport and walk on the uncrowded open corridor.
- Use your imagination. Surely there are other ways to get moving at work (and I hope you’ll share them here by clicking on the “comments” link below).
If you don’t have a good sense of how much you’re walking every day, consider getting a pedometer. One affordable, compact model is the Omron HJ-151 Hip Pedometer. This pedometer and many others can also tell you how much of your walking each day was aerobic.
About the Author
Larry Swanson is a massage therapist in downtown Seattle, WA. His practices focuses on the unique needs of office workers and also includes injury treatment for sports and car-accident injuries as well as massage for wellness and athletic performance.