Formerly a rare exception, today a new standard: the home office is here to stay. So it pays to establish healthy routines for working at home. We’ll show you one of them.

The media regularly confirm that we are not physically active enough with new studies. This is reinforced by the home office. According to a recent study, almost 50 percent of people do not meet the recommendation of the WHO to exercise at least 150 minutes per week at medium intensity.

One finds oneself again and again, how one prefers professional as well as private activities, instead of being active for one’s own health. Often with the reason that the other tasks cannot be postponed or are simply more important at this moment. But actually it is rather the lack of motivation and the inner weaker self that prevent us from becoming active.

The power of little habits

It doesn’t have to be. With the tactic of small habits – the tiny habits – it is possible to firmly integrate new routines into our everyday lives. Because small steps are less intimidating and require significantly less motivation. The likelihood of maintaining them increases.

An important factor in this is to link the new little actions to existing everyday routines. This can be brushing your teeth, morning coffee or the daily meeting. To put it simply: After a “after me” there is a “I’ll do”. A simple method that has a great effect with constant repetition.

Because there are no ways to the office or between meeting rooms in the home office, we move around our home Work place significantly less. The time at the desk increases. This lack of exercise does not go unnoticed to our back, neck, and shoulders. It’s not just about movement, but also about activating our muscles. A deficiency can lead to back and joint problems over time, which become a constant companion in our everyday life.

We have 1,600 people asked: The t3n home office survey is here

Meeting over – time for a short break for movement

Activating our muscles regularly during the day is an extremely important preventive measure for maintaining and promoting our health. With the concept of Tiny Habits, we have the ability to do just that – and with a high probability of success.

Ultimately it is very simple: you choose a daily recurring event as a kind of anchor. You then attach your short break from movement to this. This can sometimes only be 60 seconds long, on other days maybe five minutes.

The following six exercises are ideal for activating and stretching the Muscle groups that suffer most when working at a desk. This includes our neck, shoulders, back, arms and hands as well as the hips. At the beginning, you can simply choose three favorites and repeat them throughout the day. If you do this every day, it is such a valuable routine that you do a lot of good for your body.

Exercise 1: From the hunched back straighten up

With this exercise you move your entire spine and activate the deep muscles.

Position A : Start in an upright sitting position and place your hands on your thighs. Now you consciously hunch your back and move your hands towards your knees. Hold this position for two seconds.

(Photo: Senseble)

Position B : Then straighten your upper body vertebra by vertebra and ride your hands on your thighs again back. Straighten your head, pull your elbows back and do a double chin.

(Photo: Senseble)

Repeats do this exercise three to five times at a controlled speed.

Exercise 2: Rotate upper body 1

This exercise serves to mobilize your thoracic spine and at the same time activates the right muscles in the shoulder and neck area.

Position A : Starts in an upright seat and supports one arm on the inside of the thigh. Take the other arm up and place your fingers loosely on the back of your head.

(Photo: Senseble)

Position B : Actively turn your elbows and upper body backwards and follow the movement with your gaze

(Photo: Senseble)

Repeat this exercise three to five times. Then the side changes. Again, move at a controlled speed.

Exercise 3: Piriformis

Because we sit a lot, we lose mobility in the hips. With this exercise you not only do something good for your sacroiliac joint, but also stretch the often tense muscles in your buttocks.

Position A : Start in an upright seat and place one of yours Ankles on the other knee. Keep the knee out.

(Photo: Senseble)

Position B : Lean slightly forward with your back straight and increase the tension in your buttocks.

(Photo: Senseble)

Repeat this exercise three to five times. Then the page changes.

Exercise 4: Loosen the wrist and forearm

At the workplace, hands are heavily used every day. The following exercise helps to mobilize the wrists and stretch the muscles in the forearms.

Position A : Start in an upright seat and place both palms in front of your chest on each other. The fingers point upwards, the elbows outwards. Then turn your hands and fingertips forward.

(Photo: Senseble)

Position B : In the same position you now turn your hands and fingertips towards your chest.

(Photo: Senseble)

Repeat this exercise five to ten times.

Exercise 5: upper body rotate 2

This exercise is a real treat for the back. You mobilize your spine and stretch your core and chest muscles. So you can specifically prevent tension.

Position A : Start in an upright seat. Now bend forward slightly and support one forearm on your thigh. Again at a moderate pace.

(Photo: Senseble)

position B : Then you turn your upper body together with your free arm towards the ceiling and stretch yourself.

(Photo: Senseble)

Repeat this exercise three to five times. Then the page changes.

Exercise 6: stretching the thoracic spine

With this passive exercise you can really relax and improve mobility improve your thoracic spine and shoulder joints. In addition, you stretch the often tense chest muscles and the lats – our largest back muscle.

Position A : Take a little distance from the table. Lean forward with your back straight and support both elbows on the table. Put your palms together.

(Photo: Senseble)

Position B : Dive your chest and head between your arms. And hold the stretch for ten seconds.

(Photo: Senseble)

Repeat this exercise three times.

Thomas Kirchner

Thomas Kirchner is the founder of the Munich startup Senseble Health. He was previously co-founder of the digital therapy app Kaia Health. Inspiring people for a healthy lifestyle is not just his job, but above all his passion.

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