There is no doubt about the fact that working from home is still stressful, challenging, and anxiety-inducing. There are so many challenges to face when you are running an online business from home.
All of that stress can decrease your work efficiency and productivity.
What we're here to do today is provide you with some important information on stretches to boost work efficiency, as well as to provide you with a variety of stretches and tips on how to get started.
The Benefits of Exercise and Stretching When Working from Home
What we do want to cover is what the exact benefits of stretching and exercise are in relation to your work.
Keep in mind that some of these will be a little more work-related than others, but the simple fact is that exercise does of course have many physical health and mental health benefits.
Every adult is supposed to get regular exercise with the official recommendation being that adults should get up to 90 minutes of low-intensity exercise per day, up to 60 minutes of moderate exercise, or up to 30 minutes of high-intensity exercise per day.
Of course, with that being said, the type of exercise you will engage in does depend on what your own fitness goal is. And yes, we do need to say that stretching is a type of fitness, just a very low-intensity type of exercise.
1. Increasing Muscle Strength
No, if you are working at home on a computer, then increasing your muscle strength is not one of the biggest benefits that you're probably looking for. With that being said, neglecting your physical health is one of the worst things that you can do, and unfortunately, it is something that happens very often when people begin working from home, particularly when it involves a sedentary lifestyle.
We aren't going to start listing all of the different benefits of having big muscles, but the fact of the matter is that increasing your muscle strength will benefit you in many different ways.
For example, a simple back stretch can help increase the strength of your back muscles, which in turn can help relieve chronic back pain. This is just one of the examples of how having strong muscles can benefit you. And yes, stretches can help build muscle, at least the right kind. Of course, if you really want to build muscle, you have to engage in some strength training.
2. Increasing Cardiovascular Health
Another way in which regular exercise can benefit you is by improving your cardiovascular health. Just like with muscle strength, we aren't about to start listing all of the different benefits of having good cardiovascular health. But that said, it is of course very important, and this is true in many more ways than just one. Perhaps the biggest benefit of cardiovascular exercise is that it can help lower your blood pressure.
Although you probably aren't running on your treadmill while you work, the fact of the matter is that having good cardio can lead to also having more energy. The relation here has to do with your metabolism.
If your cardiovascular health is good, chances are that your metabolism is pretty quick as well, and when you have a fast-acting metabolism, it means that your body processes calories much faster than somebody whose metabolism is much slower. Faster calorie processing leads to more energy, and thus increased productivity.
Of course, stretching isn't really cardiovascular in nature, but you can always incorporate it into other workout routines. For example, both yoga and Pilates involve stretching and you will be hard-pressed to find anybody who says that yoga is not taxing on the cardiovascular system. In fact, both yoga and Pilates are excellent forms of exercise and stretching combined into one awesome exercise.
3. Improved Flexibility and Balance
Yet another benefit that you will get from stretching is that it can help increase your flexibility and balance, particularly if that stretching is part of a Pilates or yoga routine. You might not think that flexibility and balance are all that important when you're working from home, particularly if you're sitting at a computer all day long, but this is actually quite false.
OK, so the balance part of things isn't quite as important as flexibility. Although sitting at a computer and using your keyboard doesn't require you to really push yourself to the limits in terms of flexibility, it does still help if you have a good range of motion.
Being flexible and having a good range of motion can prevent injuries from occurring, especially ailments like tight muscles and pulled muscles due to sitting in the same horrible position all day long. Indeed, flexibility has to do with a lot more than just being able to stretch your arms very far. Flexibility helps prevent other physical injuries from occurring when you engage in real physical exercise.
4. Decreasing Chronic Pains and Improving Blood Flow
The fact of the matter is that sitting at a desk all day long can lead to very severe chronic pains, particularly with your back, neck, and legs. Stretching and regular exercise can help decrease chronic pains like these in more ways than one. Let’s keep things interesting and put this in a list format.
- Increased blood flow to your muscles means that they're getting more blood oxygen and the vital nutrients that they need to recover and to be healthy. If your muscles are healthy and well nourished, the chances of them being pulled, tightening up, or being injured in other ways are going to decrease.
- Of course, stretching also helps relieve chronic pain simply by stretching those knots out of your muscles. Sometimes that pain is caused simply due to tight muscles, mainly due to sitting in the same position all day long.
- If nothing else, stretching can help relieve chronic pain simply because it gets you out of that chair. If your chair is causing back pain, the more you get out of it to stretch, the better off you're going to be.
- As you will see below, stretching and exercise also has mental health benefits, mainly stress and anxiety relief, as well as mood regulation. Yes, the perception of pain is related to this. If you feel happy, calm, and relaxed, your perception of pain is going to be much less severe than if you were stressed out. Serotonin and dopamine go a long way indeed.
5. Various Mental Health Benefits
One of the most important points that we want to make today is that stretching and physical activity go a very long way in providing you with mental health benefits.
One of the main reasons for this is because when you exercise, your brain creates so called feel-good chemicals, mainly serotonin and dopamine. It is a proven fact that these brain chemicals help to relieve stress, anxiety, and depression. They're great mood regulators that make you feel happy.
If you aren't suffering from depression, stress, and anxiety and you're just happy in general, then you're going to be a lot more motivated, productive, and efficient when it comes to your work. Simply put, if you wake up in the morning all depressed and grumpy, finding the motivation to be productive throughout your day is not going to be easy.
6. Increased Energy Levels and Focus
Just like a regular exercise routine and stretching can help relieve chronic pains in more ways than one, so can it help to increase energy levels and focus in more ways than one.
- The simple act of getting your blood flowing helps increase your energy and thus your productivity and focus.
- You will still get the chemicals we talked about above. Those also help increase energy levels.
- The fact that exercise is stretching and helps speed up your metabolism is another thing that will provide you with increased amounts of energy.
- Seeing as exercise and stretching help improve mental health, they also help improve energy levels. The fact of the matter is that people who feel depressed are often short on energy.
7. Increased Confidence and Motivation
The other thing worth mentioning here is that feeling better and looking better help increase your confidence and when you feel more confident, you feel more motivated to be productive and efficient.
Stretches to Boost Work Efficiency and Productivity
What we want to do right now is provide you with some examples of good stretches and morning workout routines that you can engage in in order to increase your energy levels, efficiency, and your overall productivity.
1. Full Body Stretch
Right when you wake up in the morning, extend your arms over your head and then reach through your legs and toes. This helps get your blood moving before you get out of bed.
2. The Seated Twist
Sit down in a chair while keeping your back straight and then place your right hand on the outside of your left knee.
Use your right hand as leverage to twist yourself to the left as far as you can go, and then do this in the other direction. Repeat this two to three times for each side. This acts as a great release for your neck, back, and shoulders, something that you could surely use if you were working at a desk all day long.
3. Cross Body Twist
While you are still lying in bed, while lying on your back, take one leg and bring it to your chest. Move your knee across your body and then gently look over to the opposite shoulder and then hold this for two to three seconds. Repeat this two to three times for each side. This is a good way to give those internal organs a massage, loosen up your spine, and increase your blood circulation.
4. The Shoulder Opener
With your bum seated on the very edge of the chair, clasp your hands behind your back. If you cannot clasp your hands behind your back, grab the edges of the chair. While you do this, inhale and exhale several times. You should notice that your stretching increases as you breathe. This is a great way to loosen up your shoulders and your chest.
5. Calf Stretch
A great stretch to do for your legs to really get that blood flowing and maybe even to relieve some leg cramps is to do a simple calf stretch. All you need to do here is a step on a raised surface with your tippy toes, such as a little step or even something like a tennis ball, and then slowly let your heel descend to the ground.
Keep raising your heel up so you're standing on your tippy-toes on the raised surface and then lower your heel down just before it touches the ground. For an increased challenge, never let your heel touch the ground as you are doing this stretch.
6. Toe Touch
Yes, the good old toe touch is another fantastic stretch for your legs. This particular exercise helps stretch out both your calves and your hamstrings, two things that definitely need to be stretched out regularly because you're working from home all day long and sitting in that terrible chair.
And Many More
- Hip flexor stretch
- Seated pigeon
- Cat and cow
- Back bend
- Forward fold and seep
- Three way neck stretch
- Spine extender
- Twist and dip
- Shin crossovers
- Foot arch rolls
FAQs
1. Can stretching make you feel more awake?
Besides all of the reasons why stretching provides you with more energy, another important thing to note is that deep breathing and getting more oxygen into your system will help you wake up on your own.
2. What exercises to boost energy?
Some of the best energy-boosting types of exercise out there are yoga, Pilates, and Tai Chi.
3. Is it good to stretch before bed?
Stretching before bed is beneficial because it loosens up your muscles and can help prevent you from waking up in pain.
Recommendations
StrongLifts 5×5
This app is known as the best strength and muscle-building program due to its user-friendliness and effectiveness. It focuses on five main strength-building exercises to help you work exercise into your routine.
Features
- Set up a three day per week strength building program
- Progressively increase the intensity of your workout
- Great for beginners
Yoga Studio
Take your yoga routine with you and have access to over 65 pre-made classes with Yoga Studio. Choose your practice's level, duration, and focus on searching for a class matching your preferences.
Features
- 25 hours of HD video class available
- Great for any level of yoga practice, from beginner to expert
Map My Fitness
Fitness tracking apps are very popular, and this one is no exception. Map My Fitness tracks your outdoor workouts but also allows you to challenge friends or colleagues to up their game. It’s a great app to improve your health and well-being while creating a little friendly competition.
Features
- Track with any device
- Adapt training plans to your preferences
- Create challenges with others
Conclusion
There you have it folks, everything you need to know about stretches to boost work efficiency. The bottom line here is that regular exercise and a bit of stretching can go a very long way in improving your energy levels, your motivation, and your productivity, all things that you definitely need when working long hours from home.
