THE WELLNESS WORKER

Outside of the office you can easily find everything you need to help you eat well, train well and live well, but during those other 40+ hours per week, your wellbeing shouldn’t have to suffer.

Workplace wellness might not be a concept that every employer is embracing just yet, but fostering the ideas of a healthier work space could radically improve your everyday experience.

Recognising the importance of the interaction between health, wellbeing and our indoor environments, pioneer of wellness real-estate, Delos, has created a ground-breaking system for measuring and certifying features that impact our health.

According to Delos, treadmill desks, stretching stations and visible forms of nature can all help to tip the scales when it comes to our wellness. But if your company budget doesn’t quite stretch that far, these healthy hacks will help you to transform your drab office space into a healthy and happy hub.

From superfood snacks to health-enhancing apps, we’ll show you how to boost your energy, correct your posture and decrease your stress levels, long after you have left the gym.

Stock up on healthy snacks

If you’re prone to getting ‘hangry’ and reaching for the first snack you can get your hands on, the chances are you’re filling up on sugary treats that will leave you feeling fatigued and irritable.

Instead of leaving it to chance, keep a stash of healthy snacks in your desk drawer, and graze little and often throughout the day to avoid sudden cravings.

Deliciously Ella’s new energy balls are free from gluten, dairy and refined sugar, and come in a variety of flavours including cacao and almond, and cashew and ginger, while Rude Health’s sweet potato snack bars are full of fruit and veg with seeds and nuts thrown in for good measure.

If you’re heading for a post-work gym session, consuming a protein-packed snack before you leave the office will give you the extra boost you need to take on whatever your workout might throw at you.

Try Pip & Nut’s nut butter sachets or Mighty Bee’s coconut jerky for innovative snacks that won’t derail your diet.

Grow Your Own Wellness

Spending time outdoors can help to reduce stress, but if you can’t get away from your desk why not bring a taste of the outdoors inside?

According to research by NASA, plants including the Spider Plant, Boston Fern and English Ivy can clean their surrounding air space, making it free from pollutants and toxic chemicals, which are bad for the immune and respiratory systems.

Surrounding yourself with visible plant life can also help to lower stress levels, and increase productivity. And, if you’re still not convinced, studies have shown that cacti can help reduce the risk of spikes in computer radiation.

Stay Hydrated

That you should be drinking water might seem obvious, but remembering to do it is a different story – especially when you’re busy at work.

Lack of water consumption can affect both your mental and physical wellbeing, so invest in a stylish reusable bottle like S’well’s cult stainless steel must-have, set desktop reminders or keep a large jug on your desk.

If you really want to take your hydration levels up a notch, the LVL band by BSX uses an infrared light to analyse information from the wearer’s bloodstream, and alert them when they need to drink.

Tracking hydration, heart rate, and activity to help the wearer optimize everyday hydration as well as during exercise, the band prompts the user in real-time, letting them know exactly how much fluid they need (based off of current levels and sweat rates) and what type of performance boost they can expect.

Get Technical

If the thought of perching on a stability ball doesn’t do it for you, there are other ways of protecting your lower back and promote better posture.

Featuring stretching exercises, programmable reminders to help you time your breaks, and tips on how to setup your desk, chair, monitor and keyboard, the Ergonomics app will help you enhance your health, even while you’re stuck sitting down.

In fact, a whole host of apps are available to help you turn your desk into a certified wellness zone. 3 Minute Mindfulness will help you to feel happier, reduce your stress and relieve your anxiety in yep, you’ve guessed it – three minutes, while Australian yoga teacher Fiona Patterson's app, Salute the Desk, will take you through a series of yoga poses that you can do at your desk.

Take a Break

Ok, so technically this might be cheating, but if absence really does make the heart grow fonder, then wrenching yourself away from your desk could be the best move you make when it comes to your relationship with your working environment.

The 20 minute ZUU class at Virgin Active will help you power up your body and get moving as you lunge, crawl and sweat your way through your lunch break. Or, if you’re after something a little less intense, take a relaxed swim where your body and mind can unwind.

Call it an ‘active meeting’ – we won’t tell if you don't.