Wellbeing at work

Yoga at your desk

Wrist stretch

Stretch hand out in front of you, gently extend wrist (fingers point to ceiling) and with other hand, pull back on all fingers of extended hand to stretch wrist. Then flex wrist (fingers pointing down) and once again gently pull back on fingers to stretch wrist in other direction.

Repeat other hand

Side body and chest stretch

Interlace fingers, push palms to ceiling and then stretch down one side, and then the other, and out in front. Then re-interlace behind back and stretch through front chest.

 

Seated pigeon pose

Sit on you chair rooting down through sit bones, raise your right leg and place your right ankle on your left leg towards the knee. Feel stretch across right thigh and glutes and if want stronger, interlace hands around back of left thigh and lean into stretch, leading with chest so spine isn’t curling. Repeat other side.

 

Gentle twist (Ladies – not if pregnant or menstruating)

Sit up tall on chair, sit bones rooted into chair. Place left hand on right knee and right hand either on chair arm or at on the chair at the base of the spine. Inhale to extend through spine and top of head to ceiling and exhale twist round to right. Only twist as far as feels good, don’t move head too quickly, twist from back body and ribs, head to turn last. Inhale back to centre before repeating other side.

 

Movement in ankles

Point and flex feet under desk.

If feeling really up for a stretch…

 

Chest stretch

Find some wall space, extend arm out to right side while facing wall and turn to left, extend fingers.

Repeat other side.

 

Eye exercises

The other area to exercise when at work is your eyes! Looking at a screen all day can strain them, and as we have a tendency to become lazy, can affect our long term eye sight. To combat this, take regular breaks from your screen. Doctors recommend the 20:20:20 rule, every 20 minutes; take an eye break from your screen, look at something at least 20 metres away for 20 seconds. Basically, look at the other end of the office, or out the window for 20 seconds to relieve your eyes every so often. 1

The other recommendation is to remember to blink more often. When we stare at screens, we blink less, making our eyes dry out and more tired. Therefore consider blinking the eyes repeatedly to give more water coverage every hour or so. 2

 

Source:

1: https://www.rebuildyourvision.com/blog/vision-conditions/computer-vision-syndrome/6-refreshing-eye-exercises-for-tired-computer-users/

 

2: http://www.allaboutvision.com/cvs/irritated.htm

 

 

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