Physical activity is an important part of overall human health, and as part of promoting job satisfaction in your workplace, it's a great idea to integrate exercise into the workplace. As a manager, you help create the best environment for your employees to thrive. If the physical activity becomes too strenuous on the backside, you can always make use of a massage program as part of your company's employee benefits. Below you can find out more about the Danish Health Authority's recommendations and tips for integrating exercise into working hours.
The Danish Health Authority is the (knowledge) bank to go to if you want to learn more about the health of Danes. They help draw up recommendations for the population and provide concrete advice to healthcare professionals who, among other things, promote exercise in the workplace. Physical activity is good for your health and everyone - regardless of gender, age, color or shape - benefits from getting some exercise during the day, and more than just a walk when the coffee thirst strikes.
The National Board of Health's general recommendation is that you should move for at least 30 minutes a day and preferably for 10 minutes at a time for it to really count - any trick works as long as you get your heart rate up. A good litmus test of whether you're getting your heart rate up is whether you're able to say long sentences. If you can do this, you should increase the pace so that you can only utter short sentences. This is the general recommendation, but you should of course adapt to your own level.
Similarly, physical activity, and in this context, exercise in the workplace, is many different things. So it's not necessary to install a gym in the basement. We'll get into advice on how to integrate exercise into working hours.
In general, this recommendation is the same as many of the Danish Health Authority's other recommendations: Physical activity is good, physical activity is healthy. The Danish Health Authority is in favor of physical activity.
And it's exactly as Olivia Newton-John sang it back in 1981. You need to get physical in the office. Here are a few tips on how to introduce exercise in the office as an integral part of your workday. It's a set oftips that you can hang up on the notice board so that they are freely available to all employees in the workplace.
Get on your bike and put some miles on your legs
Lace up and get to work
Get off one stop early on the public transportation route and walk the rest of the way
Park your car some distance away from work and walk the rest of the way
As a regular part of your workplace's morning, lunch or afternoon routine, you can introduce a short gym session to integrate some exercise into your working hours. If you have one or more screens available, you can put up a video with exercises for employees to imitate. It's good for both the body and the mind, and it might even get the laughter muscles going a bit.
Make it a regular routine that you all stand up at your desk when your lunch break is over. Standing up after a good meal is good for digestion, relaxes the back and improves circulation to the legs. And if everyone makes it a regular part of their routine, you can motivate each other and integrate some exercise into your working hours.
We hope that this article has given you the inspiration you need to integrate exercise into your working hours and work together to make physical activity a regular part of your workplace routine. This will ensure both health and well-being in the workplace.