Feel sluggish during the day? Wish you had more energy during meetings? Want to boost your mood at work? When it comes to healthy steps in your workday, one of the best ones you can take is to get up and move.
In fact, just a little walking during the day goes a long way. It’s good for your health and weight, burning calories as you move. It also lowers your risk of obesity, heart disease, and a host of other illnesses.
By walking before or after work, during your lunch, or during other breaks you have during the day, you can take advantage of other benefits too. These include:
Reason #1: A Calm Mind.
Studies show that walking calms down your brain. It takes it from an active, busy state to a more meditative one. It’s why you can feel frenetic and stressed before a walk, and relaxed afterward.
This also gives you time to reflect on your work, your projects, your goals, and even your personal life. A solution to a problem you’ve been plagued with for weeks might even come to mind during a walk.
Reason #2: Less Tension.
When it comes to walking, it’s also been shown to reduce stress and tension. This is good news if you have a job that is demanding. As a result, this also improves your ability to remember and your ability to concentrate. Both are critical when you’re at work. Overall, walking will also lower your feelings of anxiety and help you calm down.
Reason #3: A Happier Mood.
In general, walking can improve your mood as well. This is because those feel-good hormones, like endorphins, get released into your body. This cuts down on stress and can even lift your mood if you’re experiencing the blues or mild depression. Walking calms you down and brings up your mood, so you’re ready for the challenges once you return to work.
Reason #4: More Energy.
It’s common to feel sluggish during the day. But getting outside and walking can help to fight feelings of fatigue, especially after a meal.
Reason #5: Connections with Co-workers.
If you don’t like walking alone, ask a co-worker if they’d like to join you. This is a good way to get to know them on a more personal level outside of the office. Talking and laughing with another human being, all while getting some exercise, will not only lower the level of cortisol in the body, which is a stress hormone but put you in a good mood once you return to the office.
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