Blog

As life begins to work through the phases of returning to normal, we are all excited to get back into our physical routines and out of our sedentary home lives. In reflection over the past several months, it’s safe to say that everyone has felt the quarantine blues at some point or another. As I start to hear my clients recount their schedules or setups working from home and the aches and pains that have started to creep up in their bodies, I can’t help but think about how much movement or lack of movement can impact our health, our lives and our well being. 

I’m not just talking about targeted physical activity – running, gyming, yoga or what have you. These forms of movement are incredibly important to integrate into our lives as well. But the fact of the matter is, we get more exertion than we realize from little things in our day that go unnoticed. These little things add up in a way that is truly hard to recreate when we are working from a home environment, not to mention the fact that our gyms are closed and our social engagements are limited. 

Take for example your daily commute – when you work from home, your walk back and forth to the car is gone. What about your inter-office travel – even if you work a desk job, wouldn’t you normally get up to go to your various meetings or out for a quick lunch, a quick zip to Starbucks for your coffee break? Now your meetings are at your desk, your tasks are at your desk, your kitchen is steps away. When we work from home, we take away so many of these seemingly small forms of movement and replace them with sitting, sitting and more sitting. So the question is – how can we address this issue and are there ways of setting ourselves up better for the future in case there is a second wave and things regress back to quarantine style restrictions? The answer (of course) is a resounding yes! It just takes a bit of creativity. 

1. Move things around your workspace to keep them out of direct reach. Keep your pens on a table across the room, your coffee mug or water glass on the mantle and your phone in your bedroom. That way, when you want to take a phone break, have a sip of coffee or grab a highlighter, you have to physically get up out of your chair and walk across the room. 
   
2. Stack up some cardboard boxes on your table and make an at home standing desk. Just remember, simply standing in one spot for hours is probably not going to make you feel that much better than sitting. Use this as an opportunity to walk or pace, balance on one leg, do some high knees or anything that gets you moving even if it doesn’t physically transport you anywhere. 
   
3. Enter your walks, exercise or stretching routine INTO your daily schedule. They should be in your calendar as if they are a meeting or class that you have to be at and be on time for. If you take them as seriously as other tasks in your day, subconsciously you will be much more likely to accomplish them. 
   
4. Schedule your breaks with someone or with a task in mind. The problem with taking breaks is that sometimes, those breaks just consist of us sitting at our desk scrolling through instagram. If we use this quality time to continue sitting it takes away from our time to be active and becomes yet another excuse for why we aren’t able to fit exercise into our day. 
   
5. Set timers or reminders. If you just can’t get into the routine of taking walking breaks or standing breaks – have something to physically remind you that you need to get up and get moving. Feel free to make it a loud and obnoxious reminder too. Nothing like sirens or a car horn to get you up.

Cristina Trasolini, MPT, BKIN, IMS