4 Ways Yoga Can Improve Productivity at Work
How do yoga and business relate? According to some, they don’t. Unless you are in the business of yoga or work in the health and wellness sector, it’s unlikely you’ll regularly hear the words “yoga” and “work” spoken in the same sentence. However, recent studies show that yoga and work do in fact have a correlation– incorporating yoga into your daily routine can have a positive impact on your work.
Whether you are self-employed, work a 9 a.m-5 p.m job in an office, work remotely with a flexible schedule, or are working from home to ride out the current pandemic, you should consider scheduling some yoga into your daily work routine. Depending on your work situation and work benefits, you may even have access to a wellness program with on-site yoga and other workout classes, in which case you could squeeze in a yoga class mid-day. If you don’t have the luxury of doing yoga during the workday, try waking up an hour earlier to do it before work, or schedule some time in the evening to unwind from your day.
It can be tricky to find time, but the benefits are worth it. Here are 4 reasons why you should consider incorporating yoga into your daily routine:
1) Yoga Increases Energy/Reduces Fatigue
According to 13 different studies concluded at the Mayo Clinic, the average American adult now spends 8 hours a day sitting. Even more shocking, the normal office worker spends about 15 hours a day sitting–sometimes more, sometimes less depending on commute and other factors. All this sitting increases fatigue.
Yoga is the perfect antidote to workplace fatigue. You may not have time to go through an entire sequence, but even just standing up to stretch or move through some simple yoga moves every 30 minutes can greatly increase blood circulation and help you avoid fatigue.
2) Yoga Reduces Stress
It is no secret that stress negatively affects employee health and work productivity. According to a study conducted by the American Institute of Stress, 80% of workers feel stress on the job, with nearly half saying they need help in learning how to manage stress. Yoga is a tool that can help.
Yoga is a mind-body practice that combines physical poses, controlled breathing, and meditation or relaxation. Yoga may help reduce stress, as well as lower blood pressure and lower your heart rate, says Mayo Clinic.
3) Yoga Improves Concentration and Focus
Our minds are known to wander–the average person has about 48.6 thoughts per minute, which adds up to a total of 70,000 thoughts per day, according to the Laboratory of Neuro Imaging at the University of Southern California. Yoga challenges you to cancel out all the noise and be present, here and now. Mastering this aspect of yoga requires a significant amount of self discipline, concentration and focus, but when accomplished, can be translated into your work life. On days where your to-do list seems endless and you don’t know where to start, taking a short yoga break can help you find clarity in the tasks at hand. You may find that you’ll come back with a fresh mind and a new perspective on your priorities for the day.
4) Yoga Can Boost Creativity
Everyone experiences writer’s block, or creative blocks at some point in their life. Rather than forcing an idea, you might want to consider stepping away from your laptop or notebook to give your mind a break.
Mindfulness and meditation, key components of yoga, help liberate your brain from distractions. This boosts your ability to look at the things around you with a new lens. Fundamentally, creativity is just an outcome of taking a different approach via a fresh perspective.
These are just 4 of the many benefits yoga can have on your work productivity. If yoga is already part of your daily routine, great, keep it up. If yoga is something you have never tried before, consider giving it a try, you never know the impact it may have on your work life.
Rebecca Zimmermann
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