How to combine wellbeing practices with your work

I’m going to guess that you already know the importance of your health and taking better care of yourself. You know you need to get enough sleep, to eat vegetables and move throughout your day.

You may have also heard that by prioritising your health your work can improve. You can be more productive, have more focus, feel more creative and are better able to manage stress.

But perhaps what you’re unaware of is how to actually combine wellbeing practices with your work?

If time is often cited as a top reason why many people don’t, or don’t feel they’re able to prioritise their health perhaps we can try a few new strategies?

Let’s try combining a few wellbeing practices throughout your work day.

Before I go into any strategies, I would like to say that this post isn’t about workplace wellbeing policy. This isn’t about organisations and leadership. This is about you, the individual and what healthy habits you can incorporate into your day.

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Strategies to combine wellbeing practices into your work day.

Getting more movement:

There’re actually a few great ways to incorporate more movement into your work day, reducing screen time and getting some fresh air.

Meetings:

Look at your calendar and see if you can plan one of your meetings outside. If you don’t really need to be in front of your screen could you do it over the phone, go outside and walk?
Or, if there’s only a couple of you meeting, grab your colleague and go for a walking meeting outside instead.

Taking breaks:

Taking your breaks outside will also help add some steps into your day. Even a simple walk around the block would help.

Moving around the office:

Walk to a colleague’s desk to ask a question (perhaps following a quick message to ask if it’s a good time).
Take the stairs if possible.
Go to the washroom on a different floor if you’re in a building.
Take advantage of stand-up desks and meeting tables wherever possible.

Nutrition and staying hydrated:

Now, these ones will probably sound familiar to you.

Bring a reusable water bottle with you everywhere. Especially to meetings as these can often be an hour long. This will help ensure you’re drinking water throughout the day.
Bring healthy snacks and a lunch with you instead of relying on the vending machine and local take away. This will require some weekend pre-planning. But incredibly worth it. When you have something with you, you may also find you are less likely to grab something on the go.
Switch to decaf in the afternoons to help with your sleep.

Use tech to your advantage:

Tech is an amazing thing if you know how to make it work for you. Too often it gets a bad rap for distracting us with notifications and endless scrolling. It comes down to knowing how to make it work for you.

Use it to plan out your day effectively. Batch your tasks, email times and meetings.
Try to note when you feel the most creative during the day and schedule in that time for tasks that require your focus.
Planning your week out in advance can also help reduce overwhelm. Knowing a particular task is booked for another time allows you to concentrate on the present things.
Set reminders to get up, take breaks and drink water.
Use apps and track the daily habits you’d like to incorporate into your day. Seeing our progress has an amazing effect on our levels of motivation.

Create a work zone:

Temperature, light, noise and the set-up of our space can all have an effect on our overall wellbeing (with space at home be easier to control of course.)

If at home try the following:

Make sure you have a proper chair (or prop a cushion behind your back if you don’t), your laptop/computer screen is set to the right height (top of the screen in line with your eyes) and you have somewhere to put things away to stay organised.
It’s also important to personalise it like any other area of your home. Surround yourself with plants, candles or a diffuser for your favourite essential oils, art, photos and flowers. Anything that may make you feel calmer and inspired.
Set up an area to do some stretches throughout the day. Perhaps have some weights nearby too for strength exercises.
Don’t have any equipment? Try doing squats during your next meeting (video off of course) or while waiting for the kettle to boil.

Carve out moments throughout the day:

Listen to your body. Our bodies are amazing at giving us signals that we need to rest or take a break. It’s up to us to get better at listening!

Perhaps between meetings instead of squeezing in another task, what you actually need is to do some stretches, sit quietly with a mug of tea and regroup or go for a quick walk.

Setting healthy boundaries:

Let people know what you’re doing, that you’re trying to incorporate healthy habits throughout your day.

This may require saying no to things. Either late night drinks, a meeting, or even taking on more tasks.
Be really honest with yourself about what you can realistically do. And then be honest with those around you.