I’ll admit it – it’s really hard to stick to a health plan and stay healthy these days! Fitness and eating clean doesn’t come easy, especially if, like me, you’re constantly confined in the office and up to your neck with work. I can confidently say that coupled with sitting in the horrendous traffic jam to and fro work, I probably spend about 70% of my day seated on butt.
Not at all productive in all health and fitness sense.
Sure, I can squeeze in a couple of hours a few times a week to gym, but it’s not enough to make up for the daily unhealthy habits that I’ve adopted due to work demands.
Clarification: unwillingly adopted.
But luckily, I stumbled upon some quick and realistic tips that can help not just me, but everyone else practise healthier habits! Check ’em out:
1. Chug a mug of coffee daily
Is coffee good for you? Is coffee bad for you? We don’t know for sure either, considering the amount of conflicting reports/studies about coffee. But we say, anything is okay in moderation. So go ahead and chug a mug of coffee in the mornings because getting a daily dose of caffeine helps rev your metabolism and provides a much needed energy boost. The coffee culture is expensive but you can stay within your “coffee budget” by keeping a bottle of Nescafe at your desk and making your own coffee instead of spending way too much on takeaway coffee.
P/S: I don’t know about you but coffee keeps me sane 🙂
2. Get some exercise or deskercise
If you’ve got enough time to hit the gym before or after work, great! But some days, there simply isn’t time for a workout. That’s alright, sneak in some exercise by running errands on foot, taking the stairs, or parking farther away from your destination. And instead of sitting down on your butt for more than half a day, get up for some exercise at your desk aka deskercise. It may feel funny and you will look awkward at first but it’s a great way to sneak fitness into your day.
Protip: Get your team or colleagues involved for a bit of office fitness fun.
3. Eat full meals instead of snacking
Don’t you hate it when you’re super busy and you just can’t seem to find the time to sit down for a proper, full meal? And when that happens, you tend to snack on junk food or whatever’s available in the pantry instead? It may not feel like you’re eating as much, snacking leads to consuming more calories than their meal-eating counterparts. Make time to head out and eat full meals no matter what or order in/takeaway. If you’re big on eating clean, get a lunchbox from one of these healthy food delivery services.
This is a no-brainer but it helps you stave off gastric situations too!
4. Stay hydrated always, always
More often than not, we get so busy that we forget to drink water. But getting plenty of H2O will keep you full, energised, and extra focused. In fact, 8 glasses of water a day can help keep the doctor away. To help remind yourself to drink up, keep a water bottle at your desk or set reminders on your phone. On long and hard nights, drinking ample amounts of water will curb hangovers ahead of time and keep colds at bay.
Drinking enough water is especially important to us in Malaysia considering the current worsening haze crisis in Southeast Asia.
5. Log yourself and your mind out
We know, we know – right before bed is the best time to go through your million and one social media platforms. We get it, it’s hard to turn off the online buzz and it’s harder when you have about a thousand notifications screaming at you. However, too much can cloud your mind and interrupt your focus. At work, turn off pop-up notifications. At home, turn off tech and log your mind out of it entirely. Don’t worry, Instagram will still be there tomorrow. Take the time instead to enjoy the silence after a busy day or heck, plan the next day by drawing up your to-do list.
It all translates into better mental health, after all.
BONUS:
6. Haze havoc calls for drastic measures
Apparently, the haze crisis isn’t going away anytime soon. This means that we really need to adopt healthy habits to not fall sick. I mean, can you afford to fall sick what with work and all that jazz? Exacly. So eat foods packed with Vitamin C, Vitamin E, and Omega-3 fatty acids to help boost your immune system. Start by keeping a bottle of Vitamin C on your desk at work and popping one the moment you get to the office in the mornings. Heck, do it even when the clear blue skies come back and stay at tiptop health at all times.
Got any quick health tips that you’d like to share with me in return? Drop me a comment in the box below and we can trade health secrets 🙂
