Do You Do Your Deskercises?

We’re constantly being to told to take regular exercise from our desks to give our poor eyes a rest and time to adjust to away from the PC, but do you do your deskercises?

Working in an office can often mean we are sat stationary at our desks for up to 8-9 hours a day, sometimes longer.

As a young child I can remember my preschool teacher would do some strange things with here legs, while we were all sat on the carpet for story time. I’d often wonder ‘what on earth she was doing’, and one day when she asked if we had any questions, my hand shot up…“Miss, Why do you do jiggle your legs around”  My classmates chuckled, but she replied “To keep my brain active”  Well if I wasn’t confuse before asking, I most certainly was now. I wondered why my teacher had her brain in her feet….The mind boggles, or maybe ‘the feet boggles’

Well low and behold, later on, I learnt all about blood circulation and why it was so important to keep the blood circulating freely when I ended up with a clot from poor circulation and thankfully I had a very luck escape from any last effects. I was informed by the doctors that people who sit still all day and in particular those who liked to sit cross-legged or worse still those who love to sit on one bent leg, were at high risk of having poor circulation.

I was told rather sternly that I must always do my leg and foot exercises if I am sat for any long periods of time, such as at a desk or on a plane. Not only will it improve the flow of blood and keep my brain active but it will also help me to avoid another clot.

So my work colleagues may think I too, have my brains in my feet, like my childhood teacher.

Here are a few of those #deskercises that my doctor advised me to do:

1. Turn the Clock Back – Sit upright at your desk and stretch your legs out straight in front of you, with your feet raised off the floor, now use those toes to draw a circle in the air, first clockwise and then anti-clockwise. Repeat with both legs and do as many as you are comfortable with. (WARNING: If your desk is facing and adjoining another desk, and you are both ‘turning back the clock’ with those toes, you may inadvertently find yourself with your toes where they don’t belong… slightly embarrassing)
2. The Rocking Chair – Sit with both feet flat on the floor and your knees at a 90 degree angle, now. alternate your foot movement from, raising your feet on to the tip-toe then rocking your feet back on to the heel while pointing your toes to the ceiling.
3. The Office Lap – Take a regular stroll around the office, you can use this as a time to have a little face to face interaction with your colleagues, you’ll be amazed how much energy you can get circulating, much more than playing email tennis.
4. The Stapler Curl, yes this is our favourite one. Take your trusted stapler in one hand with palm facing up, bend your elbow and curl your arm up toward your shoulder, then back down, just like the dumbbell bicep curl. If the stapler is not weighty enough, try this with a filled water bottle.
5. The Sitting Leg Dance – This one is fun, especially if you are allowed to wear headphones or listen to the radio, just pop your favourite tune on and do the freestyle leg dance while you sit and work, no one will even know and but everyone will wonder why you are always smiling. 🙂
6. The £20 Squeeze – While seated, place feet flat on the floor, Get a £20 (a £5 or £10 or even a £50 will do) now place this note between your knees (not your thighs, but as close to the knee cap as possible) now get on with your work… write that report, check those emails…BUT Don’t drop that note, keep tight hold of it.  You could give yourself a forfeit here, if you let the note drop, you’ll offer to buy a colleague lunch with it.

There are many exercises you can do to ‘Keep that brain active’ and keep the circulation flowing. If you have any suggestions please share them below.