Have you ever heard the phrase “Sitting is the new smoking”? Approximately 86% of Americans work desk related jobs and sit on average 11 hours a day. Combine that with 6 to 8 hours of sleep and that’s almost your entire day of not being active. Let’s not forget about work-related stress due to high pressured work environments, tight deadlines, long hours, and maybe the tension of owning your own business. Stressed and sedentary? It’s no wonder we’re getting sick. When your job is taking a toll on you physically and mentally, it’s a recipe for disaster.

Now, before you go quitting your day job, let’s explore why your job may be hurting your health and what you can do about it.

Your Job is Too Sedentary

Sitting for long periods of time can lead to cardiovascular disease, certain types of cancer, metabolic syndrome, and obesity. Extended durations of inactivity can also reduce your metabolism and impair the body’s ability to control blood sugar levels, regulate blood pressure, and break down fat. Prolonged sitting over time can shorten hip flexors and tighten glutes, contributing to low back pain. Long story short—it’s bad. If you’re wondering how much is too much, here’s the breakdown: medium risk is 4 to 8 hours of sitting; high risk is 8 to 11 hours; and very high risk is sitting for more than 11 hours.

What can you do about it?

• Take frequent breaks to get up and walk.
• Increase your physical activity before and after work, or even on your lunch break.
• If your office allows, get a standing desk.
• Drinking enough water. This helps lubricate your joints, along with frequent trips to the bathroom, which will help you get your steps in.
• Start doing some hip flexor stretches and glute strengthening exercises. A few suggestions are the 90/90 hip stretch, the pigeon pose, and glute bridges.

Musculoskeletal Disorders

Musculoskeletal disorders affect muscles, nerves, tendons, joints, cartilage, and spinal discs. These conditions result from repeated strain or overuse from physical activity at work. Anyone from office workers, retailers, healthcare workers, laborers, photographers, and service industry employees can experience these. Musculoskeletal problems in the workplace can significantly impact an employee’s productivity and health.

What can you do about it?

• Hot and cold therapy
• Mobility work
• Strength training
• Yoga or stretching
• Chiropractic, physical therapy, or therapeutic massage

Stress & Mental Health

Whether it’s work overload, a demanding boss, long hours, or high job pressure, stress can take a toll on your mental health. Stressful work environments can contribute to headaches, sleep disturbances, a short temper, and difficulty concentrating. Chronic stress can result in anxiety, depression, insomnia, high blood pressure, and a weakened immune system.

And if you’re a stress eater, your health might suffer even more. Stress eating often involves consuming foods high in sugars, fat, and calories, but low in nutrients. Not only is this toxic for your central nervous system, it’s also bad for your waistline.

What can you do about it?

• Track your stressors to identify which situations are creating the most stress and think of strategies to manage them.
• Exercise. Whether it’s lifting weights, cardio, yoga, or something else, exercise is the best stress-buster.
• Meditation. There are many free meditation or sound apps—like Headspace—that can help reduce stress.

Poor Diet

Whether it’s a coworker’s birthday, a bake sale for charity, or an office potluck, there always seems to be delectable and enticing treats at work: cakes, cupcakes, cookies, dips, pizza, pasta salad… The easy access to unhealthy snacks and temptation is right in front of you. But it doesn’t stop there. Eating out when you’re traveling for your job, not being able to bring a lunch depending on your work environment, not eating at all because you’re too busy, and the list goes on. Not to mention the times you’re too exhausted from your day or week and don’t feel like cooking when you get home. In short, your job can take a toll on your diet.

What can you do about it?

• Plan ahead and create a routine. On the weekends, press pause on the Netflix bingeing and take a moment to plan your meals for the week. Bringing your meals to work will not only save you from making bad decisions, but it’s also more cost efficient.
• Eat a healthy breakfast. We’ve all been told that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, and whether you believe it or not, there are evidence-based benefits to it. It provides energy to power you through your day, improves brain function, decreases the likelihood of making poor food choices due to being overly hungry, controls blood sugar (as long as you’re not downing donuts or other sugar laden foods), and can be linked to improved heart health.
• Eat regular meals. Eating on a regular schedule helps maintain high energy levels, improves concentration, and reduces the likelihood of overeating during your next meal. Skipping meals can impact your mood and can affect overall performance.

Sleep

Good quality sleep is highly important because it impacts physical and mental well-being. It’s a vital component of a healthy lifestyle, essential for physical health, boosts cognitive function, and improves overall quality of life. Prioritizing good sleep and addressing factors that may disrupt sleep can significantly improve both short-term and long-term health outcomes.

What can you do about it?

• Manage your stress. Stress will negatively impact your sleep.
• Make sure you are getting at least 6 to 8 hours of quality sleep every night.
• Establish a bedtime routine. Go to bed at the same time each night and create a relaxing schedule and stick to it.
• Put down the phone! Blue light exposure is real. Phones emit blue light, which suppresses the production of melatonin, a hormone that regulates sleep-wake cycles. Using screens close to bedtime can delay the onset of sleep and reduce overall sleep quality.

Takeaway

While we may not have the ability to completely avoid these circumstances that are taking a toll on our health, we do have the power to understand how they affect our health and how to work though them. When we improve and maintain our physical and mental well-being, not only do we feel better, but it can reduce the number of health challenges we may have to deal with in our lives.