A healthy work-life balance is key

HAVING work is a good thing. It gives you financial independence and of course takes away the anxiety of wondering where the money will come from to pay rent or the bills.

But that said – it’s also important to have a healthy work-life balance and have the opportunity to do things you enjoy and spend time with family and friends. If your job dominates your life, it’s not a positive thing – no matter what you earn – because the whole point of work is to earn money so that you can have a life.

Nowadays, however, many workers are spending too much time in front of a screen, jumping from meeting to meeting, eating lunch on the run, or just grabbing a coffee to keep energy levels up, and then, worrying about work at night when they arrive home. Such behaviour can be detrimental, so here are a few ideas to stay healthy at work.

On your bike: Try to introduce a little bit of extra exercise into your working day by cycling to work. Or, pack your office shoes in a backpack and put on your trainers and take a brisk walk to work each morning. The mixture of exercise and fresh air will do wonders for your overall wellbeing.

Tune out: Many workplaces nowadays have somehow managed to convince their staff that being on call outside office hours is a normal state of affairs. However, the fact that you are only getting paid for 40 hours though probably working 50 never seems to enter the equation! Remember you’re an employee not a volunteer, so work as hard as you can during working hours and then step out of the office and turn off your work mobile and leave checking work emails until the following day.

Give your eyes a break: Many jobs are computer dependent so employees spend hours on end glaring at computer screens. This is really bad for our eyes and induces tiredness.

So remember to regularly look away from the screen and look into the distance to give your eyes a well-deserved rest.