Wellness at Work: Stay in Shape With These at-Your-Desk Exercises

By Sierra McCleary-Harris 3 min read

You know that sitting at your desk all day is bad for you, but maybe you don’t realize just how damaging to your health it is. Maybe you *think* you make up for sitting most of the day by leading an otherwise active life. Or, maybe you’re like me and plan to heed your phone’s alarm to get up and move around, but a deadline or meme or video of a baby goat frolicking around tanks those plans.

Whatever’s to blame for you being stationary at your desk for hours on end, it’s time to do better and focus on some wellness at work.

According to research from the American Heart Association, no matter how much physical activity you get, sitting for prolonged periods of time could still negatively impact your heart and blood vessels. And it’s not just your heart that’s in jeopardy. The AHA also noted that a sedentary lifestyle is associated with an increased risk of diabetes, impaired insulin sensitivity, and a higher risk of death.

Deborah Rohm Young, chair of the AHA panel responsible for the advisory, told CBS, “There are many important factors we don’t understand about sedentary time yet. We don’t have information about how much sedentary behavior is bad for health — the best advice at this time is to ‘sit less and move more.’”

OK, hopefully you’re convinced to mix it up a little and move around at work, but you may be wondering just how to do that without looking like a complete freak who jogs in place at their desk every afternoon. Between the ever-talented Jessica Alba Bad Yogi co-founder Erin Motz, we’ve got you covered on this new wellness-at-work journey.

In the quick three-minute Health Hacks video from Attn, Alba shares some easy exercises you can do — either at your desk or around your office — to get your blood pumping. Check out “The Toner,” “The Tippy Toe Move,” “The Hallelujah,” and more in the video below.

Part of her 30-Day Yoga Challenge, Motz’s Yoga for the Office video is another great deskercise option

“This is really great for any place that’s cramped. So whether that’s an office, a train, a car, an airplane — anything — this class is full of options for you to do when you’re tight on space and still need a good stretch or yoga session,” Motz writes on YouTube.

Done entirely while seated in a desk chair, Motz walks you through some breathing and stretching techniques. Not only do the modified poses get you moving, but they’ve got the added yogic benefit of helping you to destress and relax a bit, two things we’re sure your heart won’t mind. Do eagle poses from your desk chair and seated pigeons have you intrigued? Check out the video below.