Everyone dreads burnout.

Creating and maintaining healthy work habits can prevent burnout, increase job satisfaction, and increase productivity.

Here are five healthy work habits to keep you happy and healthy at work.

1. Take a Break

Forcing yourself to work with minimal mental breaks is a quick way to burn yourself out. Taking several short breaks throughout the day can help combat this.

A good break should get you away from your desk for a few minutes, whether it’s for a snack, some more coffee, or just a short walk around your workspace. Take a proper lunch, too – away from your desk.

2. Get Moving

Sitting at a desk all day isn’t a very healthy work habit. Adding a few simple stretches to your morning and evening routine, taking a daily walk (if the weather allows), and joining a weekly fitness class are all excellent ways to increase your physical activity.

There are even stretches you can do at your desk to prevent wrist pain from typing, help lower back pain from sitting for so long, and get the blood flowing in your body.

3. Snack Healthy

If you find yourself mindlessly snacking on chips or candy at work, consider preparing healthier snacks for yourself. Pack yourself some pre-cut vegetables, fresh or dried fruit, or some easy-to-eat seeds or nuts and you’ll have a snack that’s just as mindless to eat, but much healthier.

Before you start snacking, make sure you’ve eaten a healthy breakfast. It’s the most important meal of the day for a reason – eating a good breakfast gets your mind and body working and ready for the day ahead. Breakfast may even help improve focus and concentration.

4. Stay Hydrated

Sure, there’s water in your coffee, but too much coffee can make you dehydrated. Drinking a few cups of water throughout the day can keep you hydrated and ward off the sluggishness that even caffeine can’t help you with.

5. Maintain Your Work-Life Balance

One of the most important healthy work habits is to maintain a boundary between your work life and your home life.

You aren’t supposed to check your personal email or social media at work, and you shouldn’t check your work email at home. Obviously, exceptions can be made in both cases for emergencies, but your company can probably survive without you in the evening and on the weekends.

 

It can be hard to create new habits, but healthy work habits like these are important to stay productive and prevent burnout.