The Best Exercises for Active Breaks

Active breaks consist of a short pause to rest during working hours. These work like quick resets that help recover some energy, improve our circulation, boost performance and efficiency at work while avoiding pain and injuries caused by bad posture or by holding the same position for long periods. We can help our body reduce stress, musculoskeletal issues and fatigue among other issues through different kinds of exercising techniques, during active breaks.

These active breaks usually go up to ten minutes per session, and these include cardio, strength and flexibility exercises. If you would like to incorporate active breaks into your workdays, here are some examples of exercises that can help you make the best of your break time. 

While working long hours in front of a computer, it is common that we hold bad postures or that we keep our bodies in the same position for a long time. The body parts that are the most affected by this are the neck, the back, the shoulder and the arms. Therefore, we will go through an exercise that you could do for each of these body parts during your active breaks.

Neck: the first exercise covers the neck. It consists of a soft head nodding that will help you stretch the neck. In the first step, you will slowly bend your neck to the front without letting your chin touch your chest. Followingly, you will move it to the back stretching it carefully as much as you can. You can do the same but from side to side instead of front to back.

Back: for the back, you will place your hands on your hips while standing straight and tall, and you will move only the pelvis area from one side to another, flexing your spine as much as possible as you repeat the movement. Then do the same from the back to the front and finally the whole circular motion, clockwise and counterclockwise.

Shoulder: for your shoulders, you will take your arms to the back, fingers intertwined behind the lower back and from this position, try to raise your hands while pulling your arms to the back. Hold this position for fifteen minutes. 

Arms and hands: extend your arm to the front with your palm looking to the front, and slowly, with your other hand pull each finger to the back of the hand stretching it carefully. When you get to the thumb, pull it to the back while keeping it sideways. 

These exercises could be repeated three to five times each. Be careful with every exercise and if you suffer from any physical condition, make sure to consult with your doctor before deciding to do them. 

Orthopedic Corner | Leon Mead MD Orthopedic Doctor | 730 Goodlette Road North, Suite 201  Naples Florida 34102 | Phone: (239) 262-1119