Work is usually a time of sitting, being on the computer, and talking on the phone. Unless you have an active job, your job probably most likely consists of you sitting at a desk and being on a computer for most hours of the day and early evening.

However, you probably know by now that sitting for long hours and not being active and getting exercise is bad for your health. The longer you spend your life being inactive, the more health problems you will experience in the future.

While physical inactivity might be the norm amongst you and your coworkers, this doesn’t mean it’s okay and using a bike desk or something similar is encouraged.

This guide will take a look at all the health benefits of staying active while you’re at work.

Helps You to Manage Stress

Most people find their jobs stressful from time to time especially if you have a new boss or if there are new projects with the right deadlines. Chronic stress is a different issue though because it means you are stressed at work every day. You might even feel stressed more often than you are not stressed.

Chronic stress can cause a wide variety of health issues and it can become more difficult for you to manage the longer you allow it to go on.

Although it’s common to feel stressed at work from time to time, you might have chronic stress if your workload is too heavy, your work conditions are uncomfortable, or your colleagues are difficult.

Exercise can help because it will regulate your cortisol levels which tend to be very high when you are under chronic stress. When you exercise, some of these stress hormones can reduce and put you in a more relaxed state of mind for the remainder of the day.

This is why almost every doctor recommends exercise as a way for people to reduce stress and reduce the amount of stress triggers they have in their lives.

Less Time Sitting Down

If you work at a computer or desk job, you will obviously have to sit down for the majority of the day. However, the goal is to reduce the amount of time sitting down as much as possible. Sitting down the whole day is extremely bad for the body. Most doctors agree that having a sedentary lifestyle contributes to poor health and even premature death.

Even though you will still have to sit to work, try taking breaks and getting active for short increments of time between the times you have sitting. The easiest thing to do is stand up and do light exercise every 20-30 minutes.

If this seems strange to do in the workplace because you do not have your own office, you can go into the breakroom or hallway where other people cannot see you. You can also make it a workplace activity by encouraging other people to do it with you so it doesn’t seem so weird.

Better Sleep

If you spend most of the day sitting, you probably find yourself not sleeping well. This is because your body is not active for most of the day and when it comes to sleeping, your body doesn’t feel tired even though your mind might.

You might also struggle to sleep if you drink too much caffeine or if you have too much screen time before bed.

When you exercise and get more active during the workday, you will find that the quality of your sleep increases.

Quality sleep means:

- You only wake up once per night or less
- You fall asleep in less than 30 minutes once you get into the bed
- You sleep while you are in the bed rather than tossing and turning

If you are able to get more active during the workday, you will find that you fall asleep quicker, you sleep for longer, and you wake up less times during the night.

This means you can perform better at work and have no problem also being active the next day.

Saves You Time

If you are able to exercise while at work or get enough active time during work, this means you can spend less time at the gym after work. You can spend more time at home doing a hobby, cooking, or spending time with your kids.

How you exercise at work can also save you time. For example, you can do high-intensity workouts that elevate your heart rate and have you moving around. This is often more beneficial than going to the gym or going for a walk for an hour a day.

Rather than focusing more on the overall time that you are active, try to focus more on the exercises themselves, how they make you feel, and how they get your heart rate up.

Better Mental Health

It can be easy to get stuck in the grind of work. You wake up, you go to work, you come back home and sleep. This can get your mental health into a funk because you no longer have time for yourself or do the things you want to do.

When you exercise at work and find time to get active, you will find that your mental health is a lot better. There is also evidence that exercise can decrease your chances of being depressed. Exercise is also a great way to treat depression that doesn’t have any side effects.

If you find your mood is down or changing because of sitting at work for too long, try to incorporate more exercise and see if it makes a difference in the way you feel.

The Bottom Line

There are numerous benefits when it comes to getting more exercise and activity during working hours. You will find you have mood changes, you sleep better, and you feel overall better about yourself and the life you are living.

Being more active at work doesn’t have to be hard either. Just focus on doing short increments of activity between periods of sitting down.