Posts Tagged ‘health of employees’

Everybody says we’re fit!…contd 4

Wednesday, May 12th, 2010

Topping days with desktop exercise

When man was a nomad, he was uncivilized but fit. Today man is an inventor and user of electronic technology, civilized but unfit. He sure has traveled through Stone Age, Iron Age to Electronics Age but the journey has left him flabby.

Like employees of AnyLinuxWork , most professionals and students rely much on their laptops, desktops et al. Most people rightly think that this makes them efficient and faster. However, what they don’t realize is that these gadgets may be weakening down their immunity system by under-utilizing their body for manual/physical tasks.

That is where, AnyLinuxWork employees beg to differ. Every five minutes, they get up and walk around. They stretch and flex parts of their bodies like wrists, shoulders, neck, back, lower back, waist, neck, thighs to extremities like fingers, ankles and toes to prevent chronic aches.

The latest on IO’s fitness palate is the guidance that they get from desktop exercise sessions. These sessions are held every week for all AnyLinuxWork employees who never miss out on a single day.

The first phase of these sessions involve enlightening the employees about the ill effects of sitting for long duration. Now they have learnt about appropriate sitting posture, which they practiced first during the exercise sessions.

The best about Desktop exercises is that they can be done anytime during the day. Two, they are being increasingly encouraged in the current work cultures worldwide. AnyLinuxWork is one of the pioneers in India that have imbibed it among employees. Here are a few extremely easy exercises that we do at AnyLinuxWork.

Office Yoga

Yoga can be fun especially when you know it can help in releasing tension and increasing muscle strength and flexibility. Some Office Yoga tips:

1. Stretching: Stretch with the arms’ shoulder width apart, clasp hands and elbows backward. It can adjust the shoulder muscle imbalance and promote the blood of ministry of the head, neck, and shoulder to circulate.

2. Swing Shoulder: Hold the left leg with right hand; put the left hand behind back. Then swing shoulder from left to right for 3-5 times. It can adjust the shoulder muscle balance.

3. Neck and spinal column: Put the center of gravity on the left or right and take exercise for 20 times. It can adjust the pliability of spinal column and neck; promote the blood circulation.

4. Waist and shoulder: Bend body slowly for 10 times. It can relieve the fatigue of waist and should; promote metabolism.

5. Exercise for pelvis: Put hands on the knee, then put the center of gravity on the left leg or right leg and take exercise for 50 times. It can relieve the fatigue of pelvis.

Is that much of a deal? Not for AnyLinuxWork employees for sure. It is said that the best things come in small packages. Stretching is a little routine that can work wonders and add efficiency to our work as well. Lets do a bit of stretching today.

For more on fitness doses, watch this space!

Everybody says we’re fit!…contd 3

Saturday, April 3rd, 2010

How we learnt to beat stress!

Is stress the result of professional and emotional pressures alone? Most people would think so. What we ignore so conveniently is that stress has also to do a lot with the nutritional status and fitness levels of a person.

At AnyLinuxWork, we realized long back that external and internal factors are equally responsible for stress. External factors include job environment, challenges, situations and expectations around a person. Internal factors determine our body’s ability to respond to, and deal with, the external stress-inducing factors. Internal factors influencing our ability to handle stress are nutritional status, overall health and fitness levels, emotional well being, and the amount of sleep and rest we get.

And so IO enforces exercise, which is the first step towards stress management. Since the stress response prepares us to fight or flee, our bodies are primed for action. Unfortunately, most people usually handle their stress while sitting at desk, standing at the water cooler, or behind the wheel stuck in traffic.

Thus, we, at AnyLinuxWork, endorse exercise regime that helps to turn down the production of stress hormones and associated neuro-chemicals and avoids the damage to our health which prolonged stress can cause.

Exercising is a vital culture at IO family. AnyLinuxWork also holds yoga classes for employees. Moreover, we have introduced desktop stretching exercises to beat backaches, neck and shoulder ache and to maintain optimum blood circulation in the extremities. To top that, demonstrating new exercises is a regular feature of IO family as part of the daily routine and attended enthusiastically by one and all.

AnyLinuxWork takes utmost care to keep optimum hygienic conditions among our employees. Disposable tissues, liquid hand wash are some of the simple yet effective measures taken to keep widespread physical conditions like swine flu and common cold at bay.

Another preventive measure that we take is getting a six-monthly check-up of all the employees by our in-house physician to curb the onset of communicative and other common diseases.

In this IT era, health is often neglected causing stress, which results in serious heart-related diseases at later stage. At AnyLinuxWork, we have realized this and have learnt to keep our body fit so as to reap good health benefits. That’s why we are well, happy and fit.

Everybody says we’re fit!…contd 2

Friday, April 2nd, 2010

Mamma’s food for ALW buddies

Instant work. Fast life. Deadlines. This defines today’s IT professionals. Instant coffee. Fast food. Fatal habits. This comprises their eating. Take a look. Since these techies don’t have time to stop by in their fast life for food, they grab a pizza or a sandwich from the tempting McDonalds, KFC, Pizza Hut or Dominoes. Little wonder thus that the good old mamma’s tiffin is replaced by packed quick meals.

And where do they get such meals? The nearest is a cafeteria at any IT company. So what’s wrong in that? Well, to start with such cafeterias serve spicy, junk food, which caters to one’s taste buds but harmful for the body. In fact, before a slim and once-fit IT guy realizes, he looks down to find his ugly paunch staring back at him one fine Sunday morning. That’s his entry to the world of obesity.

At AnyLinuxWork, we consciously fight back obesity through a completely different approach in food. The IO Cafeteria, fondly known as Nutriteria, offers healthy as well as tasty options for both lunch and in-between snacks.

But that doesn’t mean that we deny our members of their favorite food in a bid to maintain a healthy body. In fact, we pay particular attention to serving portions. For the record, maintaining calorie consumption is easier by having frequent small meals. This also counters food craving and subsequent over-eating.

Here are some foods for thought. The choice of edible oil, often overlooked is an important factor while comparing unhealthy vs. healthy food. For example, food when cooked in processed ghee or used oil will have more calories and harmful effects like fatigue, lethargy, bloating, obesity than when it is cooked in fresh vegetable oil.

At AnyLinuxWork, we double-check the quality standards of the oil being used. The result is light and fresh-cooked meals, which are high on nutrition. By custom, the Indian meal typically comprises starch foods like rice, chappati or whole wheat flat bread as the main course and vegetables, lentils as side dishes. High consumption of carbohydrates pushes up the glycemic levels in the body, which are prime source of high blood pressure. This is especially true if a person is over-weight or sedentary. Excess carbohydrates get stored as fat, which soon after gets him hungry.

The AnyLinuxWork meal, thus, considers these factors. We ensure that the food is well-balanced with generous proportions of complex protein sources like lentils and vegetables that help slow down metabolism giving a satiated feeling for a longer period.

IO family is thus a fit family because we ensure that our employees reap long-term benefits of nutritious food. And of course, our food does taste like the good old Mamma’s food.

Everybody says we’re fit!

Thursday, April 1st, 2010

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