Last year, we shared some tips for our occupiers to use at work to help maintain positive health through desk stretching, breathing techniques and brain exercise. In the current climate, with the majority of people working from home and settling into a new routine, we thought it was a good time to remind you of some of our previous tips, and give you some extra ones to consider, including some useful online apps which could help you stay on top of your physical and mental health ?

We created three downloadable documents with tips and exercises for how to improve your memory, breathing and muscles at work – check them out in the downloads bar to the right. They cover the below topics:

Desk stretching –

We all know how difficult it can be to find time to exercise when you are busy with work. So download our desk exercises and stretches to try at home! Don’t forget, you can also follow Virgin Active on Instagram and see some of their recommendations for stretching routines you can do at home.

Brain exercises –

Exercising your brain can help to improve memory and even improve your attention span! Download our brain exercises, with five exercises you can try during your working day. There are also lots of apps available which can provide you with brain training daily, but here are a few you can try out:

1. Peak:

   Peak hosts a collection of mini games to hep challenge and stimulate your brain covering subjects including memory, language, mental agility and attention.

3. Lumosity:

   Lumosity features games designed to improve your memory, cognitive abilities, and problem-solving skills, through a daily mental training program.

5. Fit Brains Trainer:

Fit Brains Trainer provides a collection of fun brain games, personalized training sessions, and visual tools to help you improve your brain’s performance across a variety of subjects like memory, concentration and language.

4. The Memorado Brain Training:

   Calling itself ‘the gym for your brain’, this app combines brain training with mindfulness. It features 24 mind games over many levels to improve your memory, logic, concentration, reaction and maths skills. It also includes mindfulness exercises to lower stress and restore mental balance.

Breathing exercises –

The benefits of breathing exercises are endless, some include reducing stress and anxiety. Download our breathing exercises with three exercises to try and help de-stress. There are lots of apps available which can help you to manage your breathing, here are a few to try out:

1. Calm:

Calm is an app for meditation, relaxation and sleep and provides a wide range of breathing programs, meditation, tips of mindful movement, and even sleep stories to help you get more restful sleep.

2. Stop, Breathe & Think:

   Stop, Breathe & Think is all about mindfulness and meditation. The app offers tailored experiences for adults, teens, and kids as young as five years old and customised surveys and guided meditation to help you understand and bring mindfulness into your everyday life.

4. Breethe:

Breethe is set up to act as your own mindfulness coach. You can choose from a wide variety of content from guided meditation, breathing exercises, hypnotherapy sessions and soothing music playlists to help you get restful sleep.

4. Headspace:

   Headspace was created to helps users learn about the techniques and benefits of meditation. The app includes guided meditations, animations, articles and videos which help you to understand the benefits of mindfulness and practice it often.

We hope that some of these tips and recommendations can help you to continue to maintain positive mental and physical wellbeing whilst in your own home!