Taking Breaks from the Keyboard

I have a desk job. Not a horribly thrilling desk job, though I hope to change that soon to a slightly more thrilling desk job. Almost every night I go home exhausted, I’m sure mostly from the lack of sleep of being a new mother. The rest of that exhaustion generally stems from sitting on my bum all day staring at a computer screen.

It seems so counter intuitive that a sedentary job would tire you out, but there you have it. I get the tight shoulders, achy neck, tired eyes, etc, then there’s the mental gymnastics (even if they’re just somersaults on slow days) and stress, the inter-office drama and stress… Well, I’m sure I’m not the only one that is exhausted after a day of sitting at a desk.

Today I’m feeling pretty good, and I have a feeling it’s in part because I made a point to get up and walk laps around the interior of the building (it’s cold outside) twice in the morning and twice in the afternoon. Getting my blood flowing makes me feel better, and if I get odd looks from my coworkers, oh well. If they were really interested in what I was up to they’d ask me.

I also have been stretching my arms and back today. I picked up a couple of good moves from my Zumba class (that I only attended three times, though I totally loved those three times). The standing cat and cow stretch. Essentially, you’re doing the cat and cow but standing, leaning over with your hands on your knees. Such a great move, and you don’t have to look like a complete idiot on your hands and knees next to your desk. You just look a little silly.

My back and neck already feel better from the stretching, and I feel more energized from pacing the halls. If I got really ambitious I suppose I could do laps on the stairs, but let’s not get crazy.

Below are a couple of articles from MSN Health on dealing with the desk job.

My Desk Job is Making Me Fat

Workouts for Desk Jockeys

Happy Friday!