Good for the Body. Good for Business.
Get Your Recess Rolling.
Everyone knows that when you take care of your body, your mind is more productive. We want your team to access their potential. This is not complicated or expensive, but the need is real, and the results are impressive.
Make time for some work-n-roll. Take 5-10 minutes to roll sedentary or fatigued muscles during your recess… roll as a group, with a friend/co-worker, or solo in your home office.
Recess Kits
The Recess Kits Are Perfect For
Who doesn’t like to have fun, especially at work? One way to have fun and take care of our mind and bodies is to take a recess. Remember back to elementary school and we took a recess in the morning and afternoon. We ran around, played, stretched our muscles, and got some fresh air. How about doing the same thing at work? Playing games at recess as a kid was fun so it should be more fun as an adult. Our goal is to look at self-care as fun and an integral part of self-wellness program. We have the answer- Get Your Recess Rolling. So, what exactly is Get Your Recess Rolling?
Get Your Recess Rolling is a corporate wellness program designed to improve employee morale, fitness, motivation, increase productivity, and break the 9 to 5 monotony. This is a win-win for the employee and the company. Studies show that micro-breaks or recess at work lead to increased performance through relaxation and socialization (Kim, Park, & Headrick, 2018).
We can inject fun into the workday by engaging individuals, promoting behavior change, and creating a culture of self-care. This can be accomplished by taking 4 recess breaks during the day and incorporating self-myofascial release techniques. Breaks are 5-10 minutes in length and engage the employee by using self-care tools for muscle compression, foam rolling, and self-massage. What if we take this one step further and make a game out of it?
Gamifying at work is on the increase and can promote teamwork, goal-focused activities (Larson, 2020) and team building by setting up group challenges. These challenges can be set up in both the virtual and in-person setting. Get Your Recess Rolling is the perfect way to gamify self-care at work. Group challenges or reaching individual goals can promote intrinsic motivation (Johnson, Deterding, Kuhn, Staneva, Stoyanov, & Hides, 2016). The key to gamifying at work is reward. Rewards are at the center of the Get Your Recess Rolling program. Individuals and teams are rewarded for completing rolling sessions, participating in challenges, and completing activities.
So, what are you waiting for? Let’s Get Your Recess Rolling!
References
Bosworth, A. (2012). Keas: developing a successful game-based employee wellness program. Games Health Res. Dev. Clin. Appl. 1, 189–191. doi: 10.1089/g4h.2012.0020
Ferguson, B. (2012). Games for wellness—impacting the lives of employees and the profits of employers. Games Health Res. Dev. Clin. Appl. 1, 177–179. doi: 10.1089/g4h.2012.0023
Johnson, D., Deterding, S., Kuhn, K., Staneva, A., Stoyanov, S., & Hides, L. (2016). Gamification for health and well-being: A systemic review of the literature. Internet Interventions. (6), 89-106. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.invent.2016.10.002
Kim, S., Park, Y., & Headrick, L. (2018). Daily micro-breaks and job performance: General work engagement as a cross-level moderator. Journal of Applied Psychology, 103(7), 772–786. https://doi.org/10.1037/apl0000308
Larson, K. (2020). Serious Games and Gamification in the Corporate Training Environment: A Literature Review. Tech Trends. 64(2), 319-328. http://doi.org/10.1007/211528-019-00446-7
Self-Care: Good for the Body, Good for Business
The stress of working from home, sitting at a computer all day, and meetings can play havoc on the body and the mind. What is the answer? Self-care. Self-care means taking care of yourself so that you can perform at the highest level possible, prevent disease, and promote physical, emotional, and mental well-being. Incorporating self-care throughout the day can increase productivity, energy levels, and reduce burnout. Gina DeLapa (2021) suggests that creating a culture of self-care in an organization can prevent burnout and promote higher levels of productivity.
Taking a few minutes throughout the day to practice self-care can be beneficial for the employee and the company. Research shows that employees would like to take more frequent breaks throughout the day and 90% of North American employees feel refreshed after taking breaks (Tork, 2018). Other benefits include staying focused on the task at hand, process and retain information, and develop healthier habits. Promoting self-care and regular breaks throughout the day can promote healthy behaviors, reduce healthcare costs, and improve the bottom line.
The science behind self-myofascial release is to increase the parasympathetic nervous system to promote relaxation (Beardsley & Skarabot, 2015). Promoting relaxation or “rest and digest” as it is commonly known is good for the body. Kim, Park & Headrick (2017) further supported that relaxation activities such as stretching during micro-breaks further promoted relaxation and increased job performance.
What if we called these micro-breaks “recess” or “recess at work”? It sounds like a fun way to take care of the mind and the body while at work. One area of self-care that is beneficial and easy to do is incorporating movement, breathing, muscle engagement, and change of environment throughout the day. This promotes the same benefits as kids get during recess at school. Recess at work could include self-massage or self-myofascial release using tools such as a hand-held foam roller or compression ball. So, let’s get going by Get Your Recess Rolling and have fun. We can even make a game out of it to engage co-workers and promote a friendly competition.
References
Beardsley, B.A., & Skarabot, J. (2015). Effects of self-myofascial release: A systemic review. Journal of Bodywork and Movement Therapies, 19(4), 747-758. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbmt.2015.08.007
DeLapa, G. (2021, January 18). The Importance of Implementing Self-Care Into the Workplace. https://www.smallbizdaily.com/importance-implementing-self-care-workplace/
Kim, S., Park, Y., & Headrick, L. (2018). Daily micro-breaks and job performance: General work engagement as a cross-level moderator. Journal of Applied Psychology, 103(7), 772–786. https://doi.org/10.1037/apl0000308
Tork Take Back the Lunch Break Research Survey. (2018). https://cdntorkprod.blob.core.windows.net/docs-c5/763/185763/original/tork-takes-back-survey.pdf
About the Author: Dr. Julie Zuleger
Dr. Julie Zuleger has over 20 years of experience as a Licensed Massage Therapist, Certified Strength, and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS), Corrective Exercise Specialist, RYT-500 Yoga Instructor, and Human Movement Specialist. Julie promotes self-care using massage tools and stretching-based programs and teaches continuing education courses for yoga teachers, massage therapists, athletic trainers, strength and conditioning, fitness, and wellness professionals. Julie holds a PhD in Education and is the Director of Kinesiology and Education at Tiger Tail USA.
