Posts Tagged ‘fitness blog’

Stop being a lazy bum

Wednesday, October 10th, 2012

INDORE. IT’s one of those days when you fail to feel any motivation. The energy is on leave. And the spirit to live life to the fullest is on a holiday. All you have is a routine, a very drab work schedule and absolutely no will to hang on.

But still hang on, it happens to everyone once in a while no matter how healthy, fitness conscious you are. However, it may happen to you more frequently when you live a sedentary life. There are things that are sucking the energy out of you. And you ought to stop it. Take a look:

Begin well: Start out with a sumptuous breakfast. Grab a glass of fresh juice and see how it refreshes you. Include nuts or eat a high-fibre breakfast that preferable may have proteins and carbs. Even a glass of milk with a little dab of chocolate can nourish you for the day. But make sure you have plenty of things to stuff yourself for the day.

Take a walk: If exercise is boring, take a walk outside. Observing things, people while walking doesn’t get so boring plus it gives you some fresh air. It’s so important to breathe in the fresh air and let your nostrils smell the smells of the environment. This will be great to kick off a great day.

Cut caffeine to sleep well: A major reason why you can’t work well or focus better is lack of sleep. Too much of caffeine or tea during the day can be the culprit that steals your sleep every night. Make a count of the number of cups of caffeine you have every day. Cut down on it substantially and see how well you sleep.

Cut down on alcohol: Some people have a habit of having a few glasses of alcohol before they go to sleep. But a few facts must make them consider avoiding alcohol. Since alcohol has an effect on your nervous system, it retards sleep and then you suffer from insomnia. If you don’t sleep well daily, you will notice a clear effect on your motivation and energy.

Give your brain a break: It’s good once in a while to not think about Facebook, text messages, emails and just relax. Plug in an ipod and listen to your favourite song for a few minutes during work. Or start your day with half an hour of mediation when your brain relaxes. It’s very important that your brain gets much rest.

Drink water: Throughout the whole day, make drinking water a priority. Nothing charges you better than water. Walk to the water cooler in the office so you get a few minutes of respite from the stress too.

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Are you a hard or a fit worker?

Wednesday, April 18th, 2012

THE old school thought of hard work exists in the minds of some very sincere techies who toil through every inch of their energy. If a software company has even a handful of such employees, it can consider itself lucky. While ethically this seems to be the way to work and progress for them, health wise it’s the biggest mistake they may be committing.

At AnyLinuxWork, we encourage people to learn to keep health issues at bay and go up the professional ladder without compromising on the quality of life. We have developed a check-list to see whether or not our employees are really enjoying life and work both at the same time.

Circadian Rhythms: Are you one of those who work ‘blindly’? Have you ever taken time to calculate what your ‘best performance’ time is? Are there any slots during your entire work day that are often unproductive? Take heart. Know that your high-energy period is the first half of the work day, say, 9 am to 1 pm. That’s what the scientists call Circadian rhythms. Don’t waste this precious time on Facebook or checking emails or replying to them. If you are working on a project, start work on it during this best half. And keep the mechanical tasks like replying to emails, calling HR cell, returning phone calls etc for the second half. Remember that you are at your most creative self during this time, so do your best.

Stretching breaks: Ever noticed that 15 minutes before lunch time, you already start to lose focus? Does it happen before every break? How often do you take a break? If it happens several times, check it. Every time you take a break, it takes much effort and energy to get back to the same level of concentration. This affects efficiency. Result is you end up working late in the office or bring work home. This is very taxing for your health and brain in general. Your biggest motivation to avoid too many breaks during the day – you will be able to go home early.

Physically here, mentally there: Deliberately avoid thinking about work while watching TV or while you are having family time. Distract yourself. You deserve to relax and have fun after every day’s work. It is okay to let go sometimes and forget about work. Try to avoid replying to messages of colleagues about any work related issues. Tell them frankly to discuss them over work. You can do it. This will help your mental health. Your brain will get a real change and will work with renewed energy the next day.

Pamper yourself: Nothing rejuvenates your body and senses better than physically pampering. Even if you are a guy, get a head massage or a pedicure once in two weeks. If not anything, take a long shower after you come back from the office. It’s summer, get a cold water shower and watch your body and brain revel in the refreshing change.

Recreation: At least one physical or mental activity (not video games) outdoor or indoor once a week is a must. Do not confine yourself to work-home-work life. Get out. Gather your friends at least once a week for a hard party or picnic. Play chess with your kid or take him to a cricket stadium. Go running every morning or take a brisk walk every evening. Give your body quality time to unwind.

Weekend work: Have you ever taken work on weekends? How did that week look like? Tiring, isn’t it? On a long run, you are inviting some serious health issues if you are consistently carrying your work over on weekends. Understand that your body has a biological clock and it commands the body to rest and relax completely at least once a week. Even The Bible says that God rested on the seventh day after creating work. Respect your body’s inherent need for rest and rejuvenation. Every machine needs refueling.

Get new air: Plan a weeklong holiday at least once in three weeks. But it should not involve sightseeing or partying. This holiday should take you in the arms of nature. Go to a beach resort or simply a rest house outside the city amid greenery. Watch movies or read books, relax, watch, click, eat and give your body the much-needed change. Switch off your cell phone, don’t carry your laptop on these locations. Breathe in the new air and feel the change in your body.

A fit worker is usually a more efficient one. The need has been felt today even by the employers, why shouldn’t you realize it now? If you lose your health in the long run, you also kill your chances of professional progress. Invest in health today. It’s about time.

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IT industry gets health-trendy

Sunday, March 25th, 2012

Shocked by the decreasing average age of men getting heart attacks, IT industry is realizing the brutal effects of a sedentary lifestyle. There have been cases of young men aged 24 to 32 experiencing cardiac arrest. And so software industry in India is waking up to several health trends in order to prevent itself from heart diseases that creep into their lifestyles uninformed.

The health trends have come in the form of big and small initiatives from IT companies that are now suddenly very concerned about the health of their staff. Obesity is a common health condition among software professionals. It is the biggest drawback of a sedentary routine that eats into the physical activities of people. What are these health trends? And how healthy are they? Let us have a look.

Health Classes: Compulsory health classes have become quite a routine in many IT companies. The biggest advantage is that they are organized in the company premises an hour or so earlier than the usual work hours. As a result, most people have to attend it as the hours are made to count in their pay roll system. This has been by far the most practical way to achieve better health of the employees. These classes include Yoga, dancing, aerobics or simply some stretching exercise. ALW has been doing Office Yoga as part of the compulsory stretching among the staff for the last few years. We make it compulsory for each of the employees to choose a certain time of the day and do some stretching for at least 15 minutes.

Personal trainings: Personal fitness training packages have also become quite in among the IT circles. Many IT companies are tying up with local fitness centers to create packages exclusively designed to suit the work timings of their employees. Some companies have these fitness professionals come to the premises and do the training while others are providing separate fitness vouchers to be used by each employee during the month.

Sport activities: ALW ensures that at least twice a month, the employees get to really sweat it out in some kind of sport activities. Trekking is our favorite way to do that. In the past, we have trekked quite a few hills located around the city. Every member thoroughly enjoys trekking and most members look forward to it every month. During company or festival celebrations, we have cricket or races organized to make people work hard physically.

What started as a corporate health trend is slowly taking shape as a health revolution in the IT world. ALW has been quite proactive in keeping the health of its employees and is keen on setting newer trends in the times to come too.

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Corporate Health: A new way to stay healthy!

Wednesday, March 21st, 2012

In theory, most national-level IT companies have gymnasiums that offer fitness facilities. However, their work schedules rarely give the employees opportunities at a regular level to really take good advantage of these amenities. The concept of Corporate Health has helped to combat this problem to some extent.

Corporate Health has not been such a new concept abroad. In India too, it has been gaining momentum steadily for the last few years. Corporate Health is a concept of keeping the employees of a company fit and healthy. This involves a fitness company providing group health facilities to employees. The idea is to be able to keep people motivated for fitness and health. When you do activities in group, you are more motivated and inspired. Peer pressure plays a key role in really making people work hard on fitness.

So why must we embrace this concept? If we take a look at a few health reports, we have every reason to go for it. The World Economic Forum noted that 60% of deaths worldwide, in 2005, could be attributed to non-communicable diseases including heart disease, stroke, cancer, chronic respiratory diseases and diabetes. This figure was projected to increase to 77% by 2015.

The reason why more and more companies are buying corporate health programmers is because these help in increasing the work productivity of the employees. Software professionals, otherwise, lead a very unhealthy lifestyle. This, in turn, affects their fitness and finally their productivity. Many companies have found that employees, after taking the corporate health package, had less number of sick leaves during a month.

For the software professionals, however, this can be a two-fold challenge. They must balance their work hours and keep up with the regimen provided by the fitness company in charge. And here’s where the corporate health package comes handy. Each such package is designed to suit the needs of a particular company, hence, it is more feasible for the employees and more practical.

Observations have shown that employees who took up a corporate health program have reduced blood pressure, reduced cholesterol levels, reduced obesity, better posture, decreased stress levels, reduced coronary problems.

AnyLinuxWork promotes the concept of corporate health for the benefit of its employees. It has been running several work place initiatives like Office Yoga during the last two years. The Office Yoga has helped our employees combat body conditions such as bad posture and backaches. Everyone has testified to having a better energy level after they have undergone a few Office Yoga exercises for a few minutes.

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