Senior Director of Sports and Fitness at Herbalife
Even if you haven't heard the term "Millennial", there's a strong chance you are one - belonging to the group of people born between 1980 and 2000. By 2020, one in three adults around the globe will be millennials, forming half the workforce, and with 60 percent of them living in Asia.
If you are indeed a millennial, you're a member of an influential generation, set to have more spending power than any generation that has come before, and at the forefront of workplace changes: seeking more choice, mobility, and work-life balance. While this may seem impressive, there are downsides, notably as employees are spending more time in the office than ever, making it more challenging to maintain health.
Surveys like Aon Hewitt's Consumer Health Mindset Study 2016 indicate millennials see being healthy as important, notably to "help me look and feel my best". Yet they also struggle more than other generations to stay active at work.
Herbalife's Asia Pacific Nutrition at Work Survey, which was conducted in March 2016, with 5,500 respondents aged 18 and above, found that 58 percent of millennials find it difficult to stay active during the work day - compared to only 49 percent of non-millennials who think it's tough to stay active in the office.
In Thailand, 8 in 10 millennials spend 6-13 hours a day at their work desk each day, and more than a half of them typically get less than 30 minutes of physical activity at work per day. This is in spite of 8 in 10 of the Thailand's millennials saying they strive to live a healthy, active life, and most having a strong understanding of the health risks that can arise from sedentary lifestyles, including weight gain, poor digestive health and stress.
Clearly there is great room for improvement in the workplace, and companies can play a pivotal role in achieving this - through setting the right tone and helping employees achieve healthy, active lives. This can be especially effective in the Asia Pacific region, where workers tend to be more open to workplace changes, and Herbalife's Asia Pacific Nutrition at Work Survey showed that 71 percent of millennials would be more encouraged to stay active if this was part of their company's culture.
There are several ways companies can foster an overall culture of health. For instance, they might provide convenient internal fitness facilities, organize regular group workout sessions, and plan team building activities with active lifestyle themes, such as sports days or biking.
Companies may also hold friendly competitions, such as to make use of fitness apps to see which department's staff walked the most steps in a month. Social media can help, too - perhaps by sharing information on the intranet about how to get moving at work, along with inspiring stories of employees who manage to combine work with getting in motion and in shape.
Of course, nutrition is important too, and companies can encourage healthy snacking by stocking the pantry with foods such as products with dietary fiber, which better support weight management.
But even if your company shows little interest in promoting a healthy workplace, there is still much you can do to ensure you maximize wellness during office hours. This is especially true if you're like the 48 percent of millennial respondents to the Herbalife Asia Pacific Nutrition at Work Survey who said they exercise just once per week or less.
One of the most basic and yet important things you can do is avoid sitting for long periods. Take short breaks, when you might simply stand up and stretch at your desk. Walk within your office - maybe to the pantry, or even to talk with colleagues rather than messaging via the telephone or computers. Rather than eating at your desk often, try to head out for lunch, maybe taking time for a walk in a nearby park. And walk or cycle at least part way to and from work.
You can check your progress by sticking a workout calendar or plan to your office cubicle. For added encouragement, see if you can enlist colleagues to join your quest for better health, such as by exploring new lunch places that are a few blocks away.
Even if your workday office routine is gentle, sports nutrition can help you achieve your fitness goals. Even if you aim to lose weight, you have to eat enough to maintain energy levels, including for your workout. But you should of course avoid junk food, and instead choose bananas and other fruits, along with drinks with caffeine and nitric oxide precursors such as protein shakes. You might also adopt "smart snacking" – eating smaller, healthier potions, which is convenient yet not detrimental to your waistline.
It's not just your waistline that will benefit from pursuing a healthy active lifestyle, even while at work. Exercising and eating well will help you look better, and will boost your energy levels so you can also work better. Who knows - along with ensuring you're healthier, this new regime might help you gain a promotion!
Dr. John Heiss is the senior director of sports and fitness at Herbalife, and one of the scientists behind Herbalife24, a line of high-end sports nutrition products. As a former category 2 competitive cyclist, Heiss has a keen understanding of the nutritional needs of endurance athletes. Born in the early 1980s, He earned his Ph.D. from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) in biological chemistry.