Sitting in front of a computer for hours on end with minimal movement is not what nature had in mind when she designed our bodies. Limited movement day in day out effects our posture, energy levels, body, eyes and muscle tone.

A sluggishness sets in. Bodily needs get ignored such as thirst and hunger not to mention the aches, twitches and pains that start appearing from prolonged sitting and restricted movement. Your eyes, back and legs are probably craving for some variation and blood flow stimulation.

I certainly spend hours and hours writing and working in front of my computer but due the complaints of my body I have needed to develop a few healthy habits and mini workouts to give my body the attention it deserves.

Sure I do yoga and walk on the beach most days, but long stretches on the computer definitely require some mindful additions during computer time. The following are some ideas I hope will inspire you to add a few mindful healthy living habits to your hours spent in front of your computer.

Stick Out Your Tongue
Practice being Gene Simmons from Kiss. Extend your tongue down as far as it can go you and say “AHHH!” just like you would for the doctor. This helps in the release of tension being held in your jaw and neck area. It also encourages relaxation of your cheek and face muscles. In case you didn’t know, the jaw can be a hot spot for holding onto loads of tension. Even just having your mouth open slightly instead of fully closed while you work can make all the difference to relaxing your jaw and neck. Try it now and notice the difference between having your mouth totally closed or just slightly open.

Body Twist
This is my favourite. Body twists squeeze your organs releasing toxicity whilst massaging the muscles up and down the spine. Simply sit in your chair take a breathe in and twist your body to the right. Place your right hand on the back of your chair to encourage a deeper twist. Breathe out as you move into the twist. Repeat for the other side of your body. I generally do at least five either side

Wall Push Ups
This was recommended by the lovely Jennifer Jefferies at a workshop she gave here in Queensland which I was lucky to be a part of. Give your upper body muscles some exercise by taking a five minute break from the key board. Stand about arms length away from the wall with your hands against the wall at shoulder width. Treat your body to ten or twenty wall push ups.

De-Stress and Nurture Your Hands, Fingers and Wrist
Keep some hand cream or massage oil close by and give your hardworking fingers, hands, joints and wrists a little treat a couple of times a day. The perfect time to do this is when you stop to read an article. Gently massage along each finger individually including the tips, press firmly into your palm with your thumb and massage in a circular motion, then massage over your entire hand and around your wrists. Be mindful of any sore or stiff spots spending a bit more time over those areas. The fleshy part between your thumb and index finger when pressed firmly can help alleviate headaches. In fact if you do have a headache you will notice how sore that spot will feel.

Dance Your Fingers to Relieve Shoulder Tension
Dance your fingers happily up and down along the top of your shoulders. It’s a bit like playing the piano as your fingers pitter patter along any tension held in your shoulder muscles and up along the sides of your neck. This will increase blood flow and bring awareness into your shoulder area allowing you to relax the muscles, drop and spread your shoulder blades.

Fall in Love With a Golf Ball
This little trick is like a mini reflexology session. Take your shoes off and place a golf, ping pong or smallish ball under the arch of your foot. Now roll the ball around as it massages the bottom of your foot. There are pressure points in your feet which relate to specific organs in your body so in effect your whole body is getting a treatment. For a deeper massage you can stand whilst moving the ball around the soul of your foot.

Alternately fill a small box with marbles. Roll your bare feet over the marbles while you work and enjoy the bliss that follows. A couple of drops of the essential oil peppermint is blissful for your feet.

Strengthen Your Biceps
Another great suggestion from Jennifer Jefferies.

You can do this whilst sitting at your desk or standing and looking out the window for a 5 minute body break. Grab a can of tinned food and hold in one hand. Keep the elbow and top of your arm close to the side of your body whilst pulling the can up towards your shoulder and then dropping back down towards the ground again. Repeat as often as you like.

Breathe
Breathing correctly is hugely beneficial to your body, lungs, blood stream and brain. Empty old stale air from the bottom of your lungs and release all the carbon dioxide. Five gentle yet slow deep breaths periodically throughout the day will help detox your body, improve your thinking and eliminate stale air from your lungs.

Eye Yoga
Make sure your eyes don’t suffer from eye strain by being fixed on a computer screen for hours on end. This eye exercise is from Deepak Chopra about 15 years ago. Look straight up into the ceiling with your eyes then move them to the right looking as far as your eyes can reach then move your eyes gently to look down as far as they will go, then across to the left.

First start in clockwise direction then repeat in an anti clockwise direction. I personally feel this is an interesting exercise to do as you soon realize how little movement your eyes are often given when sitting in front of your computer.

Drink Water
Yep, your body is predominately water. Your muscles are 75% water, your blood is around 83% and your bones are around 22% water and because men have more muscle than women they generally need to drink more water. Drinking regularly not only hydrates your organs, it detoxifies your body and improves your concentration. Dehydration clouds your thinking. At least two litres of water per day is the recommended dose.

Eat Energy Snack Foods
Whilst eating at the computer is not the ideal scenario sometimes when your on a creative roll a high energy snack can be just the thing you need. A small handful of raw almonds offer protein and a good dose of stress relieving magnesium. I often have raw natural almonds and dried figs to snack on when driving and at the computer.

Oxygenate the Room
Static electricity and radiation from electricity can easily build up in a room which lacks good airflow. Make sure you invite fresh air into the room often to remove the build of electrical bi products and improve the oxygen flow in the room. If you live in a cold climate and opening windows is not an option, oxygenate your body by going outside into the fresh air for a few minutes. Your body will thank you for it.

在電腦前一坐幾個小時一動不動可不是自然母親在創造我們身體時所能想到的。日復一日沒有足夠運動會損害我們的體態、精力狀態、身體、眼睛和肌肉骨骼。

惰性出現，你的身體需要，像饑餓和焦渴都被忽視，更不用說因為長時間的坐著不能動而出現的疼、痛和痙攣。你的眼睛、后背和腿可能渴望著能換個姿勢、刺激一下血液流動。

我自然也花了一個又一個小時在電腦前寫作和辦公，但是因為身體的抱怨我需要養成健康的習慣，做些小鍛煉來讓身體有點必需的活動。

多數日子，我確實是在練瑜迦、在沙灘散步，但是長時間在電腦前的確需要一些有意識在電腦前做些額外運動。下面就是一些小辦法，希望能夠鼓勵你在電腦前的時間里，有意識的增加幾個健康生活習慣。

伸舌頭

像吻樂隊的吉恩·西蒙斯所做的練習，把舌頭盡可能向下伸，并發出“啊”的音，就像你看醫生時那樣。它能幫助釋放積累在下顎和頸部的壓力，它還能促進臉頰和面部肌肉的放松。假使你不知道這一點，告訴你，下顎是積累緊張的熱點地區。即使只是工作時輕輕地張開口，而不緊閉著嘴，也能對放松下顎和頸部有天淵之別的影響。

側彎曲身體

這是我最喜歡的活動。彎曲身體擠壓你的器官，釋放有毒物質，同時上下按摩脊椎肌肉。就坐在你的椅子上，吸口氣，把身體向右彎；右手放到椅子背上，讓運動更充分。彎下去的時候呼氣。重復做另一側的身體。我一般每側至少做五次。

推墻運動

這是可愛的詹妮弗·杰弗里斯推薦的，她是在昆士蘭辦的一個工作室里提出這個鍛煉的，我有幸做為那里的一員。讓你的上身肌肉做一些運動，離開鍵盤休息五分鐘。站好離墻一臂遠，手按墻上，與肩同寬。做上10或20次推墻運動。

減輕壓力，營養你的雙手、手指和手腕

身邊準備一些護手霜或按摩油，每天給你辛苦工作的手指、雙手、關節和手腕一些優待。做這項鍛煉的最好時機是在你停下來讀材料的時候。輕輕地一個個地按摩手指、包括指尖；用拇指使勁地按掌心，劃圓圈按摩，然后按摩你的整個手掌和手腕。留神看哪里痛和僵硬，就多花幾分鐘按摩這些地方。使勁按拇指和食指間的肌肉區能夠緩解頭痛。實際上，如果你頭痛的話，你會注意到按那點時會有多痛。

跳手指舞緩解肩膀緊張

延著肩膀上下拍動你的手指。這有點像彈鋼琴，手指延著肩膀肌肉緊張的地方和脖子拍打手指。這可以增加血液循環、讓你肩膀警醒，使你放松肌肉，松弛肩胛骨。

愛上高爾夫球

這項小把戲就像是種迷你反射療法。脫了鞋，把一個高爾夫、乒乓球或小球放在你的腳弓下；用腳轉動球，球就按摩你的足底。在你的腳下有同身體各器官相關聯的壓力反射點，因此，實際上你的整個身體都得到了治療。要進行你能忍受的深入的按摩，用腳心滾動球。

另一種方法是在小盒子里裝上鵝卵石，工作的時候光著腳踩鵝卵石，享受按摩的幸福。點上幾滴薄荷精油，讓你的腳獲得無上的幸福。

加強你的肱二頭肌

這又是一個詹妮弗·杰弗里斯提的好建議。

你可以坐在桌旁或站著向窗外望，讓身體休息5分鐘。抓一個食品罐頭在手里攥著，讓手肘和上臂緊貼體側，把罐頭向肩膀舉起，然后落下。想重復多少次都行。

做個深呼吸

正確的呼吸對你的身體、肺部、血管和大腦都有好處。排干凈肺中的廢氣，釋放所有二氧化碳。一天隔一會做五個輕松的深呼吸能排出身體的毒素、改善你的思維、消除你肺中的廢氣。

眼部瑜迦

別為了盯上電腦屏幕幾個小時而讓你的眼睛疲勞。這個眼部鍛煉是迪派克·徹布拉在十五年前提出的。用眼睛盯著天花板，然后盡可能讓眼睛向右看，再讓眼睛使勁看下面，然后再看左邊。

首先按順時針方向活動眼睛，然后逆時針方向活動。我個人覺得，這是一個有趣的鍛煉，因為你很快就會明白坐在電腦前時，你的眼睛運動的是多么少。

飲水

是的，你的身體主要是水：肌肉中有75％是水，血液中水大約是83％，骨骼中水約為22％。因為男人比女人肌肉多，一般需要喝更多的水。經常喝水不僅使你的器官得到滋潤，還能排出身體有毒物質，改善你的注意力。脫水會使你的思考陷入云霧。推薦量是每天至少喝兩升水。

吃點高能零食

雖然在電腦前吃東西不是好方法，但如果你在進行創造性工作，一份高能量的零食可能恰是你所需。一小把生杏仁提供蛋白質和不少量的有緩解壓力作用的鎂。我經常在電腦旁和開車時吃些生的天然杏仁和干無花果。

給屋子補充氧氣

在缺乏良好氣流的屋子里，靜電和放射很容易積累。要保證經常給屋子補充新鮮空氣，這經常就免去了電子副產品的積累，改善了屋子里氧氣流動。如果氣候寒冷不宜開窗，到戶外呼吸幾分鐘新鮮空氣，讓你的身體獲得氧氣。你的身體會因此而更舒適。