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Staying motivated during a pandemic – a personal reflection

BeUpstanding Stories

This personal piece was written by Jade Lim – a 4th year psychology student at UQ as part of her placement with the BeUpstanding team As we are all practicing social distancing rules, the majority of us are working from home. While doing university remotely, I felt like I have been stuck in a continuous loop where the concept of time and space were merely a distant dream. Okay, maybe my situation during this pandemic isn’t that dramatic, but honestly I have been so unmotivated to do anything and I am sure many students feel the same way. With the transition of classes from being offline to strictly online, I find it even harder to keep up with the tutorials and lectures than when I had to go on campus. The lack of face-to-face communication and accountability allowed procrastination to occur easily. Alas, being at home calls for distractions or the endless amount of ways you can preoccupy yourself besides actually doing something productive. The fridge, TV and bed all seem to call out my name whenever an assignment deadline is closing in. Besides that, being extremely reliant on technology and the internet has made me prone to having strained…

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Virtual Workouts You Can Do From Home

Key resources

With social distancing regulations in place and gyms forced to close you are likely finding yourself adjusting to life indoors. But just because you may not be able to do your usual forms of exercise, it doesn’t mean you should stop altogether. Exercise not only has multiple benefits to your physical health but it is also a great stress- reliever. Continuing to maintain some sort of a routine is so important in times likes these where we can feel more stress than usual. We’ve put together a selection of online exercise platforms with on demand fitness content who provide free access to workouts you can do at home that cover a whole range of exercise styles.  You can access the content via a smartphone app, YouTube or live streams on social media and you don’t necessarily need any equipment. All you need to do is find a space and get started. The best thing is no one is watching! Just as you schedule your diary to organise your workload and meetings, you should find time to exercise. Treat exercise with the same priority as a phone call with a client. Blocking out time away from your desk means that you…

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It is a marathon – not a sprint: perspectives from quarantine

BeUpstanding Stories

This personal post is written by guest blogger Meg Grealy – who speaks of her experience of returning from overseas and into quarantine.   Had you asked me in January, or even the beginning of March, what my April days were looking like they would sound achievable, nothing too extreme, just the routine of a twenty-something who had just moved to the UK on a working visa.  I would have said a morning run (so I could make it across the finish line of the 10k I’d signed up to run on May 3rd) a 3-day work week, and an exploratory beer in various pubs across my new city. In hindsight, the only thing I managed to get right is the daily run (although it’s purpose is now to harness endorphins for the day). And yet the daily run is maybe the only thing that has kept me sane and allowed me to stay present in a period where everything is confusing. It seems the only effective strategy of taking control is to muddle through conflicting emotions and anxiety-inducing news cycles. As we started this year during a bushfire crisis, I feel as if there has been a delay in…

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3 Tips from a Health Coach to Staying Active and Healthy when Working From Home

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One of the biggest problems from working at home can be inactivity. There’s no walking to get a cup of coffee, visiting a nearby colleague, taking the stairs to the bathroom or those incidental types of activity that come from being in a workplace with people and areas spread out. Everything is within easy reach at home. Couple that with a busy workload and this can mean sitting for as long as possible until the task is done. Suddenly hours have gone by and we’re still sitting hunched over the desk. Remaining in one posture for hours at a time can affect the muscles in your back, neck, hip flexors, hamstrings and calves. Excessive sitting can affect your metabolism, increase blood pressure, blood sugar and cholesterol – and that’s just the tip of the iceberg! Staying active when working from home may seem easy. Without the daily commute and perhaps having more flexibility in your working hours, surely being at home affords you more time to spend on exercise? Whilst this may be true in theory, we may quickly fall into routines that do not prioritise healthy activity and the boundaries between work and personal life become blurred. The best…

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Some quick ideas for your team to BeUpstanding when working remotely

BeUpstanding Stories

One of the core principals of BeUpstanding is to build a supportive team culture that supports more movement, more often. But, how do you do that when members of your team are working from home or offsite? At team BeUpstanding we are working on a bunch of new resources to help support you and your team to sit less and move more – no matter where you are working from. While you wait for them, here are some quick suggestions on how you can BeUpstanding as a team while working remotely: Stand up and stretch during teleconferences: have this part of your remote etiquette that you support movement during meetings! Build in team reminders or prompts to stand and move through shared calendars and project management software Set team strength goals where everyone’s light resistance exercises (like calf raises, wall push ups) contribute to the daily team goal Send email reminders to take regular movement breaks like filling up your water glass

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Suddenly Sedentary: How I Learned to Move More in Medical School

The Evidence

A personal story of sitting less and moving more by Connor Soles Before coming to Queensland to study in the Doctor of Medicine program I considered myself an active person. I commuted by bicycle to my then-job as a medical scribe where I followed physicians into consultations and composed hospital charts on a mobile workstation. The hustle and bustle of the Emergency Department meant that I would cherish the rare moments that I would roll to a stop near the physicians alcove, cleverly positioned adjacent to the insta-coffee machine, and slump into a swivel chair to polish my notes. I had never experienced what it was like to be chained to a workstation seated, unmoving, for long periods of time before beginning medical school, and I’d never had to learn how not to be. In my newly (half) furnished apartment (in Brisbane) I found that I could not escape our IKEA table turned desk, which was the only assembled piece of furniture aside from the couch. As a medical student studying now consumed and overwhelmed the majority of my waking hours, that and maintaining my relationship with my fiance who had accompanied me to Australia, left little time for my…

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How You Can Sit Less and Move More When Working From Home

Bite size facts

These days many workplaces have flexible working arrangements that enable staff to work from home (telecommute) one or more days a week. Telecommuting can reduce business expenses significantly and increase employee satisfaction and productivity. The advantages for staff working from home are many: You can wear comfy clothes A custom environment with as little or as much noise as you like It’s easier to make calls No office distractions Zero commuting Save money However, even when you are working from home, the majority of your time is likely to still be spent sitting at a desk or table. Our main reaction to a busy workload is to sit for as long as possible until the task is done. Before you know it, hours have gone by and you have not moved from your chair. Excessive sitting can affect your metabolism, including your blood sugars and fats, putting you at increased risk of diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Remaining in one posture for hours at a time can also affect the muscles in your back, neck, hip flexors, hamstrings and calves. Here are some tips to sitting less and moving more on your telecommuting days: Take regular breaks during your day to…

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Surprising Data on the Cost of Sitting in the UK

The Evidence

Get Britain Standing’s page on costs of prolonged sitting for the employer has some surprising facts. The page breaks these down into three categories absenteeism, presenteeism, and costs to engagement and wellbeing. What is presenteeism you may ask? I’m sure we’ve all felt it before. I can recall showing up to work feeling “out of it.” Even when employees are present the tolls of prolonged sitting can impact the quality and quantity of work. Absenteeism is easier to quantify. Average sized employers (250 persons) loose an estimated 4800 GBP/week due to absences with all businesses forgoing a total of 15 billion GBP annually. Of this 1/3rd (5 billion GBP) is due to low back pain, an ailment directly related to sedentary behaviour. The financial boon of wellness programs in part accounts for their eager adoption overseas and here in Australia. Trades Union Congress (TUC) of Britain estimates that wellness programs can reduce absences by as much as 42%. Reorienting the workplace to support dynamic movement with sit-stand desks, walking meetings, and active breaks may seem daunting to employers but resources like Get Britain Standing and Australia’s own BeUpstanding have the tools to get your workplace started. This article was written…

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Get the Commonwealth Standing

News and Events

I was perusing the British movement blog Get Britain Standing when I came across their solutions page. Get Britain Standing is a resource for employers much like Australia’s BeUpstanding, which focuses on a healthier Britain by reducing the prolonged hours of sitting that accompany many jobs. Their upcoming nationwide event On Your Feet Britain is set for April 24th 2020 with a reported ~2 million office workers participating. Get Britain Standing accounts that Briton’s working hours contribute ~70% of the daily sedentary health burden. Dr. Stuart Biddle, a professor of Active Living and Public Health is quoted on their website acknowledging the growing body of evidence that to be healthy we must move dynamically throughout the day. Which leads me to what excited me about their Solutions page: the balance board section! The benefit being, as long as you don’t fall off, strengthening your balance and your core muscles at your standing desk. They come in a variety of styles from the simple sea-saw, the log roll, and even the expert level half dome or as I like to call it the danger dome! (see image) Maybe don’t tell HR about the nickname when you bring one to the office.…

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The Goldilocks Zone for Movement

Latest evidence

It takes no large leap of the imagination to see that the human body was not shaped for a life in an office chair, car, or couch. Our ancestors were habitual movers constantly engaging in mild to moderate exercise. That is all well and good you may say, but as westerners with lives dominated by sedentary behaviour exercise must be supplemented back into our lives.  A recent meta-analysis on movement lays out guidelines for a “Goldilocks” zone of exercise for maximal health benefits. This approach bestows maximal benefit with as little as 50 minutes per week (equivalent to running just 5-6 miles). The study emphasised diminishing returns from daily high aerobic exercise in favour of more frequent low to moderate exercise such as walking or yoga. The study references of cohort of daily endurance athletes over the age of 45 who were measured to have an increased risk for cardiovascular events as compared to those with a more moderate activity profile. Key Take Aways: Sitting should be limited to 30 minutes at a time punctuated by a “brisk” 5 minute walk Use a sit-standing desk when possible to alternate postures regularly There is no upper limit for mild to moderate…

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