Research has proven that sitting for long periods of time is considered to be the new 'smoking', so we thought we would explore the standing desk phenomenon.
What are they really about and are they actually good for you?
This is what we found out…

Why You Should Consider A Standing Desk…
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1: Burn Extra Calories
You can burn extra calories in the day just by standing up! In fact, you can burn up to 50 calories an hour at a standing desk as you are engaging many of your muscles. You are also more likely to move around if you are already on your feet, burning even more kilojoules. These small movements can help reduce the risk of obesity.
2: Reduced Chance of Major Illnesses
Sitting for long periods of time can increase your risk of Type 2 Diabetes, Heart Disease, and other cardiovascular conditions. Research has proven that the movement associated with a standing desk can even reduce the risk of contracting certain types of cancer that are linked with inactivity.
 
3: Increased Energy

Stress management is a usual part of daily office life.
There are deadlines to meet, overbearing managers to deal with and annoying colleagues to face.
While we think massage is still the number one way to relieve office stress,
you can also do it through what you eat.
Did you know that some foods are known to cause stress?
​If you avoid them, it can help with your personal stress management. Want to know what they are? 

1: Refined Sugar
Oh, that 3pm choccie bar that you snuck out of your desk drawer tastes so good, but it can stress you. Majorly.
Sugar has a nasty habit of messing with your mood. Eating it will cause your blood sugar to spike and you will experience a high. But not long after, your blood sugar plummets and you will suffer a drastic low which can make you irritable. You crave more sugar and the whole cycle starts again. The more times you repeat the cycle, the more stressed your body becomes.

2: Caffeine
Say it isn’t so! The morning cup of java is actually contributing to your stress levels. Caffeine gives your body a hit of energy and gets you started for the day. But in doing that, it stimulates your nervous system, putting you on constant high alert. Drinking too much can also cause your heartbeat to quicken and your blood pressure to rise.
It makes sense that stimulating the central nervous system also raises your stress levels. The more caffeine you drink in a day, the more stressed you can become.

Do you come home from the office with an aching neck, a twinge in your back and tight feeling shoulders? If you do, it is time to look at your posture when you sit at your desk. It is incredibly common to sit in an unnatural position if you lean forward to squint at the screen, slouch in your chair, or don't have the right desk setup.
Bad posture can not only lead to aches and pains, but it can affect your mood too. It can increase your feelings of depression, completely zap your energy and cut off your circulation.
So let’s look at how you can improve your posture to minimize these things...


1: Ears To Shoulders
A really good way to ensure you are sitting up straight is to align your ears with your shoulders. It will make sure you don't lean too far forwards or backwards. Tuck that chin in!

The holiday season is not generally associated with looking after your body. Generally, it is known for over indulgence, pushing yourself to the limit and doing things you wouldn't do normally. None of those things are particularly good for your body.
​So here are our top 3 tips for having healthy holidays for your body...

Get Active
The best way to keep your body healthy is to eat well and get regular exercise. Over Christmas, eating well is pretty much out of the question. So instead, we recommend getting active instead.
Just some gentle exercise will do the job, so take a walk on the beach, explore the streets of your holiday destination, run about with the kids, or get swimming in the sunshine. It will keep your muscles moving, the endorphin's flowing and contribute to healthy holidays. 
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Bonus tip: Moving aids digestion, so you could head out for a wee walk after Christmas lunch.

On-site chair massage can be a great addition to a regular Wellness programme, or Wellness Day, and is usually great feature due to its simple set-up and high benefits (and enjoyment).
Here are my personal 3 'basic reasons' favorites, for having on-site chair massage in your workplace:

No equipment needed: On-site chair massage is mobile service, as we come to your workplace. The therapists bring their own portable ergonomic massage chair that sets up easily anywhere you want it. It doesn’t take up space, nor does it require heavy lifting. You don’t have to do anything, except provide a meeting room, and turn up when it is your turn in the chair. It is that easy.

Short time away from the desk: The sessions are short, only 15 to 20 minutes, so you don’t spend too much time away from your desk. However there is another important benefit from a shorter sessions, and that is that this kind of massage doesn't take you into a deep relaxing state (which is the autonomic nervous system) and won't make you sleepy or too tired. This means that you will feel all the physical benefits of the massage but your mind is still able to get right back to work.

Cost effective, from a company's point of view: You pay for the massage time of the staff only. You don’t pay for breaks, or people getting in and out of the chairs etc.
It is a small cost for a 15 minute massage session that has health benefits for the staff, can lower the amount of sick-days in the office, and also boosts morale all around.
Think of it as an investment into your team.
Talk to us today how we can help you get the benefits of chair massage  for your workplace!

Planning
Don’t let the end of year sneak up on you. It comes around every year, so don’t be surprised by it, leaving yourself completely unprepared. Work out a plan of what you have coming up, what needs to be completed and what can be left until the new year. This should be in all areas of your life - work, family and social.
Once you have your list of things to do, put a plan in place so you know when you need to do everything to avoid missing deadlines. It might be useful to add things to a calendar, have a to do list, or use a record management system to keep track of everything. Your brain can only remember so much...

First, you’ll have to decide how long you want the overall session to be (what massage package to purchase). This is usually dependent on the size of the company and the size of your event. For example, is it a weekly thing or does it go just over a day? Also, not everyone will want a massage so basically the best thing is that you decide how many people you want to fit in over the session, and what your budget would be.
As an example; our massage packages start from 2h and goes up to 6h per therapist. This means that a 4h massage package with 15-min sessions will cover 16 people, while the same package at 10-min sessions can cover 24 people.
The 6h massage package can cover 24 people at 15-minute session (for one therapist), but if you choose 10-minute sessions, one therapist could cover almost 36 people. This means that with 2 therapists, you would have almost 70 people covered.
We can help you work this out of course to make it easier for you, we have been doing Wellness Events since we started back in 2010 so we have a lot of experience to share.

Secondly, once you have decided what massage package you want, then you need to consider if you want 2 therapists to cover the time, or do you want to split it over more days?
After the big stuff is decided on, we will get down to the nitty gritty of the dates and times, to get your event booked in. We will want to know if there is parking available because there may be a parking charge (as per our T & C’s).
We usually send an invoice after the event but if you want the invoice to pre-book your session, you just need to let us know!
I hope this helped understanding the process of setting up chair massage for your Wellness Event a bit further. If you have any further questions or need more information, please contact us on info@bodyworkz.co.nz

 I bet you will be pleased to learn that you can get bonus energy from a chair massage. Sounds good?
If you want to know how that works, here is how…

How Can I Get Energy From a short chair Massage?
If you aren’t sleeping well, are working too hard, or are stressed out, then you can kiss goodbye to your energy. As you know, without energy it makes it hard to do anything. Not only things like exercise, and your day to day tasks, but just getting up and going to work too.
Massage can help you reclaim your energy in these three areas...

I feel just like John Snow when I say, winter is here. While we don’t have to deal with quite the same level of drama as the Game of Thrones families, we still have to deal with the increased chance of coughs and colds during winter. Once a cold takes hold of you, there isn’t a lot you can do about it. Prevention is the best method! So we have come up with our top three ways of how to avoid getting sick this winter.
 
How To Avoid Getting Sick: The Top Three Ways...
Sleeping
Getting enough sleep at night is one of the major factors for staying healthy. If you get you optimal 8 hours each night then you are giving your body the time to recover from the day before, and function at its best. When your body is functioning at its best then everything is working as it should, including your immune system.

Do you find yourself sitting at your desk with sore and aching muscles? What if I told you that you could spend the time that you sit at your desk giving your body a boost and healing any niggles or injuries? With heat therapy, you can do just that!

What is Heat Therapy?
It is literally as it sounds, applying heat to a localized area of the body for relief and relaxation. Heat helps your blood vessels dilate which increases the flow of oxygen-rich blood to the affected area. The increased flow of blood brings lots of nutrients and proteins to the area which help with better healing and quicker regeneration of damaged tissue.

How Does It Ease Pain?
Heat stimulates the pain receptors in your skin, decreasing the frequency of the pain signals sent to your brain.