Home Office Exercise

Working a sedentary job, whether at home or elsewhere, can have an adverse effect on your health. It's important to get exercise into your day. Research published in 2010 in the journal "Exercise and Sports Sciences Reviews" points out that people who take a frequent breaks from sitting at work have waists that are 6 centimeters smaller than those who sit for extended periods of time. Having an arsenal of healthy tools can help keep your home office job from making you unhealthy.

Use Your Chair

If you're like most home workers, your home office isn't equipped with exercise equipment --- so use your office chair to do a few basic exercises throughout the day. Do a chair squat by raising your bottom off the chair a few inches. Hold for three seconds and repeat. Use your chair as a support for leg lifts, or as a support for triceps dips. To do a triceps dip, stand in front of the chair with your back to it. Lower yourself down, and place your palms on the edge of the chair. Lower your body until your elbows are at a 90-degree angle, raise up and repeat.

Create New Routines

Change your routine to give yourself more opportunities to move around. For example, Brigham Young University's BYU Wellness website suggests doing two side lunges every time the phone rings before allowing yourself to answer it. Every time you get up to file a paper, do leg lifts while holding on to the file cabinet. Place your trash can well away from your desk so you will need to get out of your chair to throw away papers. Since you work at home, you won't have to worry about any nosy coworkers wondering why you're jumping in place while reading your mail.

Take an Exercise Break

Exercising for as little as a minute or two can increase your metabolism and get the blood flowing to your brain. Make a habit of taking short exercise breaks every hour. You can jump rope for a minute, do 30 jumping jacks or use hand weights to do a set of arm exercises. Since you're working at home, you could use your short break to spend two minutes cleaning a window, wiping down the kitchen counter or putting in a load of laundry. As long as you get moving, your body will benefit.

Use an Stability Ball

Buy a stability ball for your home office. The Mayo Clinic recommends using it in lieu of an office chair. (See Reference 4) Doing so will force your body to make frequent small adjustments to keep your balance. You won't be very aware of the work your body is doing, but you may find that you don't get the stiff feeling you may have when you sit in a chair for long periods of time. You can also use the stability ball to do quick stretching exercises or wall squats.