Speaker 1: Good morning. This is Laura. Welcome to the New Corner Office,
Speaker 1: the podcast where we share strategies for thriving in the
Speaker 1: new world of work, where location and hours are more
Speaker 1: flexible than in the past. Today's tip is about how
Speaker 1: to sneak in a few more steps during the day.
Speaker 1: When you're working at home. It can be easy to
Speaker 1: go nowhere, but with a few smart choices you can
Speaker 1: stay active and have more energy. So first, I want
Speaker 1: to be clear that working in an office can easily
Speaker 1: lead to sloths too. In fact, some research has found
Speaker 1: that long commutes are negatively associated with physical activity. It
Speaker 1: makes sense when do people usually exercise well seven in
Speaker 1: the morning and six at night. When are people who
Speaker 1: have long commutes on the road seven in the morning
Speaker 1: and six at night. When you work from home, the
Speaker 1: commute disappears at least a few days a week, which
Speaker 1: is great. You can open up a lot more time
Speaker 1: for a real workout. But on days when that doesn't happen,
Speaker 1: you may be facing down a long stretch of sitting
Speaker 1: with a lot less incidental activity. The walk from your
Speaker 1: parking lot to your desk is probably longer than the
Speaker 1: walk from your bedroom to your home office. Unless you
Speaker 1: have a really palatial house. You aren't walking to conference
Speaker 1: rooms for meetings. You aren't walking to the office cafeteria
Speaker 1: or out to lunch. Usually there are just a lot
Speaker 1: fewer reasons to stand up, and that's a problem because
Speaker 1: sitting too long can lead to stiffness and general malaise.
Speaker 1: And there's nothing magical about racking up a certain number
Speaker 1: of steps, but it is a proxy for extra movement
Speaker 1: during the day, and you do want to stay in
Speaker 1: motion if you can, so how do you do that?
Speaker 1: You can look for lots of ways to sneak in
Speaker 1: extra steps. From the time you wake up to the
Speaker 1: time you go to bed, there are opportunities to move around.
Speaker 1: This is true even if, like me, you need to
Speaker 1: be careful about when you emerge from your home office,
Speaker 1: because when you emerge, people suddenly develop needs for your
Speaker 1: time and attention. First, look for ways to build movement
Speaker 1: into your morning routine. When you get out of bed,
Speaker 1: stretch a bit, touch your toes, or do some quasi
Speaker 1: push ups on the kitchen counter when you're making your coffee,
Speaker 1: pace around the bathroom as you brush your teeth. Fifty
Speaker 1: extra steps in the morning, and fifty extra steps at
Speaker 1: night doesn't sound like much, but one hundred steps a
Speaker 1: day for three hundred sixty five days a year is
Speaker 1: thirty six thousand, five hundred steps, which is about eighteen miles.
Speaker 1: You can also pace around the office while you're on
Speaker 1: an audio only call. Again, you're not trying to run
Speaker 1: a marathon. Just getting up to walk a hundred steps
Speaker 1: during two calls during the day will encounter some of
Speaker 1: the effects of sitting. You can stand up while clearing
Speaker 1: out your inbox on your phone. After all, you can
Speaker 1: delete as easily from a standing position as a sitting one.
Speaker 1: You might try taking a call while walking. Any casual
Speaker 1: one with your immediate team in which you don't need
Speaker 1: to take notes can work well. Look for ways to
Speaker 1: take active breaks. Go throw a ball with your dog
Speaker 1: or your kid in the back yard for a few minutes,
Speaker 1: walk to your mailbox, or if you live in a
Speaker 1: walkable neighborhood, go walk to run a quick errand. I've
Speaker 1: written my kid's virtual school breaks into my calendar, and
Speaker 1: I sometimes try to convince one of them to go
Speaker 1: for a quick walk with me during the break. With
Speaker 1: five kids in a family, it's hard to get one
Speaker 1: on one time, but This is one way to do it,
Speaker 1: and then, of course look for ways to be active
Speaker 1: after work too. Family outside time before dinner can lead
Speaker 1: to extra steps, but it's all about the fun. I
Speaker 1: sometimes push my baby in the stroller in the driveway
Speaker 1: in the evening as a way to fill some time
Speaker 1: and not have to worry that he'll grab anything off
Speaker 1: the floor that he shouldn't. He likes looking at me
Speaker 1: and looking at the clouds, and well he's pretty cute
Speaker 1: to look at too. Just in general, if you've been
Speaker 1: sitting for a bit, think about getting up and challenge
Speaker 1: yourself to walk for just fifty to one hundred steps.
Speaker 1: It isn't much, but it isn't nothing either, and little
Speaker 1: bits of not nothing do add up in the meantime.
Speaker 1: This is Laura, Thanks for listening, and here's to succeeding
Speaker 1: in the New Corner Office. The New Corner Office is
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Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your favorite shows.