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Master The Art Of Healthy Breaks

Taking regular breaks is an essential part of the healthy workday. Indeed, medical advisors have demonstrated the inherent risks of desk jobs. Sitting for prolonged periods without interruptions can put your health at risk. Sitting makes employees twice as likely to develop heart diseases, one of the top killers in modern society. Surprisingly, desk jobs are also more exposed to high cholesterol, diabetes, stroke, and high blood pressure. Additionally, chronic pain disorders, such as lower back pain and neck pain, are prone to develop in desk positions. As such, more and more employers focus their attention on creating health breaks for their team. Encouraging your employees to stand up and walk through the office every few hours can make a huge difference. Additionally, you could also include a small in-house gym studio, where your staff can exercise their muscles away from the desk. 

However, there’s more to the healthy break than a treadmill and an active coffee break. Employers play a significant role in managing their team’s health during the day, including during breaks. Here’s what you can do: 

Get those restrooms in order

How often do you think of your office restrooms? The answer is: Not often enough! Office restrooms can rapidly develop into germ territory without dedicated care and attention. Ideally, they should be cleaned and disinfected once a day – or more frequently, depending on the size of your team. Additionally, you should ensure your restrooms are sufficiently equipped, with clean and safe booth partitions, sinks in working order, mirrors, hand dryers, and clear signage. It is a good idea, in large companies, to plan regular renovating projects with professionals such as CS installers for your partitions installation, and plumbing experts for all essential repair and replacement works. The most common complaints that staff have about the restrooms is the lack of soap and toilet paper. Indeed, making your office restrooms safe for all requires constant monitoring to keep track of your stock in soaps and toilet rolls. As most germs live in the bathroom, you can’t afford to endanger your team during their toilet break. 

Use the break room to connect with coworkers

What is the most common behavior in the break room? People scroll on their smartphones, play games, and update their social media status. As mobile phones play a significant role in everyday life, more and more people rely on the screen for entertainment. Unfortunately, excessive smartphone usage can cause a brain drain and affect your cognitive resources. According to a recent study, mobile devices make people dumber! While you can’t forbid your team to check their smartphone during their break, you can encourage people to interact and engage in conversation instead. 

Snacking and break

Have a break, have a KitKat. 

As iconic as snack commercials might be, employers have a duty of care to their team. If you are going to provide snacks in the office – through a vending machine or available for free in the office kitchen, you should steer away from sugary and fat-loaded snacks that slow people down. Instead, you can choose some healthy options, such as providing string cheese and nuts or fresh fruit. 

Healthy breaks need to be the core focus for employers. Encouraging your team to take regular breaks from the screen is essential. But providing them with all the means to turn every break opportunity into a healthy experience is detrimental to your business growth. Can health-focused restrooms, snacks, and break rooms make your business better? The answer is yes!

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