5 Easy Exercises You Can Do at Your Desk

Eating healthy foods and drinking water at work is great, but if you're sitting sedentary all day long at your desk, your body is going to suffer. Sitting eight or more hours a day, year after year can cause weight gain, loss of muscle tone, poor posture and aches and pains, among other issues. Experts recommend at least thirty minutes of activity, five days a week, but most of us do not get anywhere close to that. Experts also say that any activity is better than none at all.  So, we have provided a list of five easy exercises that can be done right at your desk. Doing these regularly will increase your energy, decrease your neck, back and body pain and help you stay toned and fit.

1. Side Stretches - To help whittle your waist and keep your spine aligned and supple, side stretches are excellent exercises to do at your desk. With your arms raised over your head or akimbo with your hands on your hips, lean gently over to each side as far as you can safely go. Please use caution if your chair is unstable or if it is on wheels. You can do this a few times on each side at several times throughout the day.

2. Arm Raises - In order to help protect against carpal tunnel syndrome, poor circulation, and weight gain, you should do arm raises several times a day. There are different methods of doing these simple exercises: raising your arms straight over your head, raising them to the sides, or even behind you. Each method works a different set of muscles, and all will temporarily increase your heart rate, keeping your metabolism revving.

3. Butt Squeezes - The easiest exercise that you can do at your desk is butt squeezes. You can even do them while you are on the phone or typing up a report. Simply squeeze and release your buttocks muscles several times. This is the number one exercise that will help prevent "office chair spread" of your hindquarters.

4. Leg Lifts - Of course, these are not the type of leg lifts that have you lying down on the floor and swinging your legs around. At your desk, you can easily straighten your knees and lift your legs out in front of you. You can also march with your feet in place. This will exercise the large muscles in your legs. For easy calf exercises, you can raise your feet up on the toes and lower them. Be sure to use your muscles when you do these exercises for maximum effect.

5. Stress Relievers - Many of the exercises already described here will really help to relieve stress of your desk job. However, there are some other great stress relief exercises you can do at your desk. Gently stretching your neck, or rolling your head around, will reduce neck and upper back stress. Lifting your arms in front of you and bending your hands up and down at the wrist will help to relieve the stress of typing and help prevent carpal tunnel syndrome.

Source: associatedcontent.com