While you are busy managing your startup, are you exercising enough? With piles of work on your desk, it’s natural to sit in your chair all day, especially if you are a one-person army! But among all these, your health is crying for help! Here are some great fitness hacks for entrepreneurs that you should follow.
Sitting at your desk for long hours comes with numerous uninvited health hazards, and it even disturbs your mental peace. Do you know what research says? By sitting down all day at your work table would increase your risk of shortening your lifespan by 40%!
So, just get up and move! Make time schedules and work efficiently within that set timeframe. Keep enough time for yourself and your health. Resting your mind and body is the key to becoming a successful businessman and believe it or not, it will largely help your business grow and prosper!
Here are some exercising tips for entrepreneurs and budding businessmen like you to stay fit and healthy.
Top Fitness Hacks for Entrepreneurs
● Get up and walk
You must take a 20-minute walk every day to revitalise your energies. You can do that after lunch or during the evening. Taking occasional walks helps to improve your blood circulation, enabling you to come back to your work with a fresher mind.
Every hour, consider stretching out for 5 minutes. Also, while taking calls, make a habit of walking around during the entire conversation. Being glued to your computer screen for hours will only cramp your body and mind, making you feel more pressurized and puzzled. It can even start showing symptoms like –
- Back pain and spine injuries
- Increased blood pressure
- Diabetes
- Obesity
- Accumulation of excess body fat, especially around the waist
- Rise of cholesterol levels
- Slower metabolism
- Chronic pain
- Loneliness, anxiety or depression
- Dementia
- Reduced social skills
- Increased risk of heart disease
- Rheumatic disorders
- Deep vein thrombosis (DVT)
- Increased incidence of cancer, due to low physical activities
So, would you better get up and walk around for some time or increase the risks of the above health conditions?
● Sit up straight
While sitting at your computer desk, never sit in a hunched position. Make sure your back is straight, otherwise you might damage your back and body posture permanently. According to healthcare experts, if you sit in a hunched position with a bent neck and back for extended periods of time, micro-fractures get created in those areas. When they heal back, they take up the shape of the bent posture, making you a hunched person permanently.
Moreover, leaning over reduces your oxygen flow to the brain, further affecting your productivity and creative skills. The phenomenon of hunching is more common in older people, who used to sit in a bent position for long hours throughout their life.
● Stand up to boost productivity
According to BBC News, standing makes a person burn 50 calories every hour. It means you would be burning 100-150 calories if you stand and work for around 2-3 hours every day. Yes, you may look odd working while standing for such a long time, while your fellow team members are remaining seated. But your health will thank you for that!
● Say no to frequent snacking!
It is tempting for entrepreneurs, or other employees to take to frequent snacking every now and then in between office hours, especially if you are working from home. It is quite easy to grab a bottle of beverage and a packet of chips, thinking they would relieve your work stress. And the binge-eating goes on!
The truth is, they are doing you more harm than good! Starting from increasing your calories, increasing your body fat to reducing your energy levels, snacking comes with long-term health problems.
Instead, try to substitute your junk foods with healthy and tasty foods and drinks like –
- Fruits (in whole or slices)
- Fruit juices
- Mixed nuts
- Dark chocolate
- Yoghurt
- Hard-boiled eggs
- Healthy beef sticks or beef jerky
- Protein shake
- Dried unsweetened coconut
- Olives
- Sun-dried tomatoes
- Canned salmon
- Last night’s leftovers
● Drink more water
No drink is as healthy as water! We often take it for granted and even go hours without taking a single drop of it! Men must have around 3.7 liters of water (or other healthy fluids) every day, whereas for women, it is around 2.7 litres. We need to have sufficient water to –
- Improves blood circulation
- Helps in proper transportation of essential nutrients to vital organs and body parts
- Reduces dehydration
- Boosts exercise performance
- Boosts energy and productivity
- Improves mood and memory
- Reduces sugar cravings
- Promotes weight loss
- Reduces headaches and migraine pains
- Prevent kidney stones
- Reduces a hangover
- Prevents constipation
- Minimizes the risk of bladder infections
- Helps to manage anxiety disorders
- Improves absorption, digestion and excretion processes
- Removes harmful toxins from the body
- Regulates body temperature
- Improves skin complexion
● Get adequate sleep
You need proper sleep per day for a healthy mind and body. A minimum of 8 hours of sleep every night is required to feel energised and reduce stress. And make sure you sleep at the same time every day. It improves your sleep cycle, and you will soon be able to wake up early without requiring an alarm! Try to go to bed early and avoid late night work as it reduces your sleep quality.
Also, in between your work pressure, you can take power naps for about 15-20 minutes, probably after lunch or in the late afternoon. It will provide an excellent burst of energy. You will feel refreshed and work more productively.
● Set a fitness routine
Be it hitting the gym or going for morning exercise, you need to set a daily fitness routine to jumpstart your day. It boosts your energies and enables you to work with greater motivation and concentration.
Make sure you make a workout plan for at least 3-4 days each week. Besides, burning your calories, exercising and working out will make you feel good, motivated and confident for the entire day.
● Get a calorie-tracking app
Fitness apps or wearables like FitBits can be a great start to leading a healthy life while managing your business efficiently. It will allow you to become more health conscious, thus compelling you to stick to healthy options only. Tracking the calories gained every day can help you to monitor the distance you need to run or walk, and the foods you need to substitute with healthier options.
Entrepreneurs go through several challenges while managing their business, especially during the initial stages. It is normal to forget about anything else. But doing so would only do more damage! Take care of your health and see the boost in your success!
