Office-based jobs, even those where you’re up and out of your seat for much of the time, can still really take their toll on your fitness levels. Especially when your days can be long and stressful, and when exercise is the last thing on your mind when you leave work for the day. Here are some useful tips on how to raise those fitness levels as a Practice Manager, but we’d love to hear your ideas on this too.

Stand Up

Cholesterol levels can shoot up by 20 percent – and the risk of diabetes also increases – after only a couple hours of sitting at your desk? Now you do! So why not take your business calls standing up, with a headset? Doing this will burn 50 percent more calories than sitting with the added benefit of making you far less likely to snack on the sly while you’re on hold to your suppliers.

Swap Your Snacks

Shake up your desk arrangement by introducing a fruit bowl where those cheeky biscuits used to sit. Set yourself a challenge to clear the fruit bowl by the end of the week, or to consume at least one piece a day. You could also make a tasty fruit bowl full of bananas, grapes and clementines the centrepiece for your weekly meetings alongside the jugs of water and glasses.

Walk

Obvious we know, but try to cycle or walk to work if possible. Wear comfortable trainers and carry your work shoes in a carrier bag, cycle basket or backpack. You’ll be amazed how much more refreshed you feel when you get to work having had a few lungfuls of fresh air beforehand – it’s as good for the mind as it is for the body.

Sit Pretty

Sit on an inflatable exercise ball rather than a regular desk chair for part of the day, if you can. These balls are fantastic for your abs, lower back muscles and core stability as your body has to work hard to stay stable. Not recommended for stints on the reception desk…