Hey, guys, Dr. Axe here, doctor of natural medicine and founder of draxe.com.
Today, I will be talking about how to be healthy at work with eight simple tips, and I tell
you, these are really, really effective.
And let me say this, there's a quote that I've heard from several people saying that,
"Sitting is the new smoking."
And listen, I want to confirm that, it is absolutely true.
If you are sitting all the time, all day, like most of us are, it has absolutely been
correlated to chronic illness and chronic disease.
So, for most of us we will sit all day at work and not get up and move, and listen,
it's not just about movement though, there are other surprising things you'll learn here
in this video that you need to do in order to have your best health possible.
So, let's dive right in and talk about how to be healthy at work and actually support
and lengthen your life overall quality health here as well.
So, here's the biggest issue at work, there's really just too much sitting going on, okay?
We know that when you are sitting, there's less movement in your body.
Listen, movement is life, you want to be moving, you want your blood moving, you want the air
flow moving in your body, you want your lymphatic system moving, your digestive tract moving,
you've got to be moving.
Well, sitting keeps all of that from happening and we were created to move.
Too much sitting, again, it's the new smoking.
It causes disease of the lungs, the heart, the digestive system, the hormones.
We sit too much.
We've got solutions for that, I'll talk about.
A poor posture.
That's another big issue at work is oftentimes rather than sitting like I am now we end up
like this, right?
Our arms, our head is forward, we get rounding here, you'll notice a lot of people when they
get older they can start to get that rounding of the spine, that hump at the base of their
neck and upper back and their head starts to shift forward.
Now, here's the problem today this happens at work, it happens in schools today, so many
people have poor posture and do this for me, I'm going to give you an exercise, take your
head move it as far forward and down as you can, now try and take a deep breath in.
You can hardly do it.
Now come back, sit up straight and tall and now take a deep breath in.
You'll see, that's what posture does.
There's actually a medical study that recently came out that said poor posture literally
cuts off your air supply, damages your heart and lungs and other organs in your body.
So poor posture, listen poor posture doesn't just cause overtime pain in the neck, upper
back and shoulders, which it does, poor posture actually causes disease of the spine and of
organs including your lungs and heart.
Poor posture is very damaging to your body so, again, posture is key.
We'll talk about how to combat poor posture in just a minute.
Lack of focus.
You know, this happens at work, this is an issue that a lot of people have is, you know,
sometimes especially in the afternoon there's a lack of focus, you just really can't get
anything done, you're not effective at work.
If you're not effective at work it can put you at risk of losing your job or not getting
raises and really moving up and having the impact that you want to have in your company
and on the world.
Next thing here, bad air.
This is another pitfall of a lot of workplaces.
There are chemicals being sprayed, there's really lack of air flow, there's hardly, you
know, really the only thing you have is, you know, lead-based paints and florescent lights
and other things you're being exposed to in your workplace.
So let's talk about now practical steps to make your workplace healthier and to make
you healthier.
Number one, rethink your workstation.
You know, I personally at my own home have a standing desk and what I do when I'm working
is I stand, most of the time, or I have a stool that's higher and I alternate between
this higher up stool where my legs aren't flexed as much and standing at my desk, okay?
Number one, hey get a standing desk if you can, if you can't what you need to do is really
reorient your workplace to where you're looking at the screen higher.
Here's what happens, most of us have computers down here so it's causing us to look down
and our head to go forward.
If your computer should be up right at eye level this high you should be looking right
into the middle of the screen there and that's going to cause your neck to come back.
When you look at your neck you should have a curve in your neck like this a lot of people's
getting what's called a straight neck and forward head posture, your neck should be
back like that with a curve.
Rethink your workstation, again, by bringing that computer up.
I did this years ago before I had a standing desk I just got a couple big books and stacked
my computer up, but that alone is good.
But rethink your workstation in where you're at.
Number two, roll and stretch.
Now, I think it's good, every hour, whether you're setting alarm so you know the top of
every hour to get up for two minutes, okay?
I'm not telling you to get up for 5 and 10 minutes every hour, that may not be realistic
for you but I'd get up two minutes and when you get up two minutes simply stretch and
move for two minutes and then sit back down.
Now, a great thing to do is have a roller, you can simply get what's called a foam roller
here and just foam roll certain areas of your body, getting some movement in there.
You can also do sort of a cat camel stretch, you can also just get up and just simply twist
a little bit, stretch a little bit, do that for two minutes every hour, lots of benefits
there at increasing that circulation and movement in your body.
Number three, focus promoting oils.
You know, if you're a person that really is lacking focus at work, essential oils can
help.
My favorite essential oils for focus can include vetiver oil, cedarwood oil, peppermint oil,
very invigorating, energizing but a blend of those oils either vetiver or cedarwood
combined with something like a peppermint oil, it's really energizing and can improve
your focus.
So what I do is I simply at my own workstation I actually have a diffuser that sits there,
I'll put in about three to five drops of peppermint, three to five drops of cedarwood or vetiver
and I diffuse those while I'm working.
These are great focus promoting oils and if you don't have a diffuser, what you can simply
do is just do a couple drops and rub it just on your neck area or even on your temples
there as well.
Number four, having a fragrance-free work place.
You know, may be something where you talk to your boss if somebody is spraying lots
of chemicals all the time or you have a co-worker sitting next to you letting them know that
you have a sensitivity.
Don't put it on them and let them know, "Hey, I don't really like your fragrance."
But if somebody has something that's really bothering you and it's affecting your health
and really even your focus at work, you may say, "Hey, I just heard from a doctor."
Hey, feel free to use me and say, "You know, I have a sensitivity to certain chemicals
and I think there maybe something in something you're wearing."
Now listen, that could create some . . . if that person is a very sensitive person then
hey, maybe you want to ask your boss to be moved from the area, I don't know, but again
a fragrance-free workplace is something that a lot of people have asked for in recent years.
Now air cleaning plants.
This is something that's fantastic.
All of us should be having these cleansing plants next to us.
Now, there are many different types of plants, spider plants are good, bamboo plants are
very, very good, as are any type of plant with a lot of leaves, all right?
And a lot of greens.
So, you know, what I think it's great to do you can get a bamboo plant or even let's say
like a rubber plant is another fantastic plant, a rubber plant with the really big leaves.
Putting a couple of plants next to your desk is actually good for cleansing the air and
actually supporting your own health there as well.
So have a couple plants there right next to your desk in your workspace.
Healthy foods.
Now, this is kind of a no-brainer, right?
This is one of the most important things on the list, you know, a lot of people at work
around 2:00 in the afternoon hit the 2:00 coma where you're ready to just take a snooze
and that's because you had probably too many carbs for lunch, maybe you had pasta or some
chips or a sandwich and all that bread or even a soda.
Get rid of that stuff.
If you really want to feel great in the afternoon have a salad, okay?
Do some veggie juice, I mean, that is really going to energize your body.
So again, lots of veggies, even as something like a bowl of chicken broth, vegetable soup
can be great.
But in general staying away from the excess carbohydrates is really going to help you
feel good during the day.
Number seven, more air protection, okay?
Now, oftentimes you can get an air filter to put it by your desk and it actually can
filter out things in the air.
This is surprising a lot of people but you would be shocked by how many works spaces
actually have mold in their air ducts, lots of them.
And if you notice where you're going into work and sometimes you go out of there and
you just feel like, when you're at work you notice your nose is a little stuffy or you
got a little bit of just phlegm in your throat, if that's sort of a regular thing happening
it could be that there's mold in the air ducts at work and so one of the good things you
can do, proactive things you can do, is simply get an air purifier, put it next to your desk
and allow that to purify the air in the area you're at, at work.
Number eight, corrective exercise.
Now, once you leave work it's great to exercise or you can actually do this at work.
You know when I talked about taking those two-minute breaks every hour?
If you just took a couple bands and you just did something like pull aparts, just did things
to really, like what happens often times when we're at the desk is our pecs get overworked,
they get real tight in our shoulders because we're like this all day.
We need to do this, we need to really work those back muscles and you can get bands at
work and simply just pull them apart like this really squeezing those shoulder blades
together.
That's a great way to combat that.
And also after work you can do exercise.
I recommend people not focus on their chest as much and their biceps.
Focus more on those back muscles and that posterior chain like your hamstrings.
Really work on, again, strengthening your back and your legs and doing certain classes
like Pilates, barre and yoga can be great ways to really improve your overall posture
as well as exercises, weight training in terms of strengthening your back by working your
rhomboids and lats and those different areas of your body.
But if you can do all these things in combination your workplace can be healthier, you can be
healthier, it's a great thing to consider there as well.
And I also just recommend, hey, during your lunch break take a 20-minute walk, eat something
but the rest of the lunch break get out there and just go for even if it's just a 10-minute
walk, get out and move a little bit during your workday.
So here's some things to think about, number one, rethink your workstation.
Remember, get that computer up, make it eye level and also consider a standing desk or
some sort of a chair that doesn't have a back and to where you're sitting up straight.
Roll and stretch a little bit every two minutes, every hour.
Use focus promoting oils like vetiver, cedarwood, peppermint.
Get a fragrance-free workplace and if you can't do that hey there's other things you
can do like air cleaning plants.
Healthy food, remember, lots of salads, veggie juices, are going to be great.
More air protection such as an air filter, and corrective exercises.
And if you can do these things you're going to be a lot healthier at work, you're going
to feel better, even when you get home later on that day.
And hey, if you've enjoyed this live training, hey, take a minute right now and make sure
to subscribe here to this YouTube channel.
I've got a lot more great videos coming out on the power of essential oils and diet therapy
and herbal remedies and a whole lot more.
And also, if you want to learn more about me and check out some more great articles,
you can just search my name Dr. Axe online and you can find my website and some other
stuff.
But I want to say thanks for watching.
Remember, sitting is the new smoking so move more, get your workplace healthy and I know
you're going to be healthier for it.
Hi, Dr. Axe here.
I want to say thanks so much for checking out this YouTube video and also don't forget
to subscribe if you want to get more great content on things like herbs, essential oils,
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Also check out more of our content on my YouTube channel.
Thanks for watching.