Living a healthy life is a must for everyone. As people, we all have responsibilities to attend to, and one of the most important ones is being there for your family.
But, for the working person, health and wellness often take a backseat because of work. Not only are you sitting for hours, but you’re also not eating and drinking, and when you do, it’s something unhealthy.
Staying healthy and fit at work is the first step towards a lifestyle change. While you begin your journey towards wellness, it would be great to encourage others around you to do the same.
This article will address a few ways you can be a health and wellness advocate at your workplace, the things you can do, and how to go about them.
Start with mental health
You can’t overcome depression or anxiety by eating a salad and going for a run. We often don’t take mental illness as seriously as we should, and it reflects in the way we conduct ourselves at the end of the week.
As a health and wellness advocate, you must understand that mental health is just as important as your physical health. Some would even argue that they’re directly correlated.
When it comes to wellness in the workplace, start with the basics. Lend an ear to someone who needs to talk about their issues, create a petition for mental health days and do what you can to reduce your colleagues’ stress.
You might not realize how little acts of kindness can brighten someone’s day and help them through the week. Be there for each other and ensure that your work environment is free from discrimination, harassment, or negativity.
Reduce junk food
Most offices have vending machines or a pantry stocked with junk food. While it’s nice to know the workspace offers employees such a facility, wouldn’t it be wiser to add healthy stuff instead?
Fruits, vegetables, and bottled water are the way to go here. Yes, it’s better than having your favorite packet of chips since you extend your life by several years.
Not only is this the healthier alternative, but it’s great too because fruits and veggies are considerably cheaper than junk food and juice.
In this way, you’re getting healthier while keeping your wallet happy as well.
It may require a little bit of an effort to stock the vending machine; but, if that’s too much of a hassle, consider adding a fruit basket to the kitchen area. Remember to keep everyone’s allergies in mind before stocking up.
Convince everyone to ditch their chairs
No, we don’t recommend standing up and working; rather, opt for exercise balls instead of regular chairs. It may seem challenging to convince everyone at first, but things will get easier once you lead by example and everyone sees how fun it is.
Exercise balls are a great way to passives work your legs, core, and spine erectors while sitting at your desk. For starters, you won’t be sore at the end of the day, and secondly, the benefits of a ball outweigh those of traditional chairs.
Moreover, if it’s too hard to handle, you can also bring stools or chairs back in for people with balancing issues.
Strike a deal with the nearby gym
Consider going around the block and finding the nearest gym. Negotiate and try to bring the cost down under the pretense of bringing more clients.
Gyms want as many people as they can get, so convince them that more people will come in if they offer a company discount. This will boost their numbers, and everyone will go home happy.
Moreover, everyone working out together will create a sense of cohesion and add to the overall group feel of the office space. A mere action such as spotting someone in the gym is enough to build a bond in the office that helps create teams and makes for a better work environment.
Two of the most significant impediments to joining the gym are cost factors and distance. You can address both of these issues by finding a gym nearby and one that offers a company discount.
Change things up
Advocate for company trips, dinners, and events because coming to work and having less of it is a charm of its own. This way, employees don’t need to cash in on their days off; they can take it easy at work and sail through the day without using official leaves.
It’s also a great way to encourage time together. You spend eight hours of your day with your work family, so the least you can do is try and get along with these people and build a relationship with them. Be the one who takes the initiative and talks to the management about easy days at work.
Lead by example
One of the best ways to act as an advocate is to lead by example. No one will take you seriously if you don’t practice what you preach.
Office leaders are the best people to start wellness movements and encourage others to follow.
Simply eating a healthy meal, hitting the gym after work, and being there for others can encourage others to do the same.
Humans are susceptible to modeling, take the first step and let people model your positive behavior by encouraging a healthy lifestyle.
Takeaway
Living healthy isn’t as complicated as people make it out to be. The only difference is that it’s different. There’s nothing tricky about it; the reality is that we simply aren’t used to living this way.
If you’re ready to make the change, start by being a health and wellness advocate at your office. We hope things work out well for you and get your point across to your colleagues.
Dennis Relojo-Howell is the founder of Psychreg.
