Guide: This is how you should organize your working day to protect your health

Long working days and stressful weeks quickly take a toll on your health – this manifests itself in various areas. Whether it's headaches, low motivation, or shoulder and back pain, being overworked never has positive effects. To ensure your health doesn't suffer even on long working days, you can make a few small changes to your daily routine. We'll show you how!

Your start to the day – How to truly wake up

Either you're a morning person, or you're not – at least, that's what most people think. But is that really true?

There are people who find it easier to get out of bed in the morning and are particularly fit and awake in the hours that follow. These people, who are especially awake until noon, are called "morning types," also known as "larks." If you belong to this chronotype, you are particularly productive and efficient in the first hours of the day. If you don't belong to this type of person, then afternoons and evenings are particularly productive for you.

To some extent, the type you belong to is genetically predisposed – but that doesn't mean you can't change anything about it. Through various small changes, you can boost your health even before the workday begins. These include:

• For your body to wake up, it needs light. The wake-up hormone cortisol needs daylight with a high blue light component, so a light alarm clock would be ideal for you.
• Open a window and stand in the fresh air for a while. It will make you more alert and benefit your health even before a long workday.
• If you stimulate your circulation in the morning, you will become more awake and your muscles will be activated. A short exercise session of about five minutes is enough to make you fitter and more alert.
• Your breakfast is essential for your workday and your health. It's best to choose oatmeal, as it keeps you full for a long time. It also contains a lot of fiber, which lowers your cholesterol level.
• A glass of water after waking up works wonders. Before you leave the house, you should have drunk at least 250 milliliters of water.

With these tips, you'll start your workday in a way that benefits your health. You'll automatically be fitter, more balanced, and more motivated – without much effort. If you want to know more about health at the workplace, then check out the Deskspace blogs!

Sitting, or standing? – How to best organize your workday

Neither long periods of standing nor long periods of sitting are healthy in the long run – but which of the two is actually unhealthier? This question can be answered quite quickly.

Sitting is a kind of widespread disease in Germany. The average adult sits for about 11.5 hours a day, much of it during the workday. Health suffers as a result, and many illnesses and pains are triggered by sitting for too long. For example, poor posture and tension develop particularly quickly when sitting. Your back hunches, and your neck and shoulder area are often under constant tension. In addition, your muscles are at rest, and your circulation is not promoted. If you sit for too long, the risk of diabetes and obesity increases.

When sitting, you tire significantly faster due to poorer circulation and muscle inactivity, and the day feels longer and more strenuous. Over time, your stress tolerance also decreases, and small tasks feel much more difficult. If poor lighting or dark days are added, the workday even becomes harmful to your health.

The effects are not as drastic when standing. Here, health problems only arise if you stand for a particularly long time (more than four hours at a stretch). Your muscles then tire, and it can happen that, for example, a leg falls asleep or your foot soles hurt – however, there are no really serious health damages, as occur when sitting. Only if your weight is shifted too much to one side or you adopt an unhealthy posture can health consequences occur.

For your workday to be optimal for your health, you should divide it approximately as follows:

• 50 percent sitting
• 40 percent standing
• 10 percent movement

This division is not intended to be maintained continuously. So always divide it into smaller sessions so that you are not in one posture for too long. Experts therefore advise never spending more than 30 minutes sitting, but also not more than 1.5 hours standing. You should always integrate movement breaks whenever possible. For example, get into the habit of taking phone calls while walking or running small errands on foot from now on.

Tip: Do you have a long drive to your workplace? Then park a little further away from the building from now on, so you've already incorporated a good exercise unit in the morning. It promotes your health even before the workday has even begun.

This equipment promotes your health every workday

To ensure you don't harm your health even on long working days, you need certain equipment at your workplace. The height-adjustable desk and an ergonomic sit-stand stool are the absolute basics that everyone should get.

With a height-adjustable desk, for example from Deskspace, you prevent several problems at once:

• Poor posture is hardly possible with correct height adjustment
• Constant, slight movement -> better circulation
• Joints in a natural position, no curving
• Screen height precisely adjustable, your neck does not have to be bent
• Fewer back problems, no pain in the lower back
• Quick change between standing and sitting possible thanks to electric adjustment

The Deskspace Pro is a height-adjustable desk with all important functions. It features a water-repellent tabletop, electric height adjustment, and also practical functions such as obstacle detection and multiple memory buttons. Thanks to the memory function, you can set several heights and select them again at the push of a button – thus eliminating annoying readjustment! You can get the Deskspace Pro for just 449.00 Euros.

A standing aid is an ergonomic sit-stand stool that takes 60 percent of your body weight off. Thus, it combines the advantages of sitting and standing without a large financial outlay. The Deskspace Wobble is made of high-quality materials and is available for 149.00 Euros. It can be adjusted from a sitting to a standing position in just a few simple steps.

Advantage: Even when sitting, an ergonomic stool ensures that your health does not suffer on long working days. Due to the rubberized underside, your body constantly makes small micro-movements that you don't even notice.

Would you like to learn more about health at work? Then visit our website! Here you will find blogs as well as detailed product pages with all important information. If you have any questions, the Deskspace customer service is always there for you!