As a leading provider of small business employee health plans in Canada, the Benecaid team would like to share some proactive health tips to keep limber around the office this winter.

It may have something to do with December’s shorter days, or maybe it’s some kind of natural hibernation effect, but tis the season for slouching, slumping, and straining in the office. Now’s the time to clean up your act around the computer before unhealthy habits leave you stiff and sore through the holidays.

Read on to learn some computer health tips from Canada’s small business employee health plan providers.

Ask for a raise.

If your monitor is resting directly on your desktop, it’s time to request a raise – of your computer’s display, that is. The top of your screen should be level with your eyes when seated with proper posture. You want your eyes to be looking downward at an angle of about 10 degrees. If your computer’s display is too high or too low, health problems arise. When forced to crane your head down, your neck, spine, and shoulder health is compromised. If you have to strain to look up too high, you could deal with persistent dry-eye syndrome.

Double chin for the win.

We often hear about the issues that poor posture in the office can cause; postural corrections and deep tissue massage are often sought in small business employee health plans for this very reason. If you need another cue for correcting your posture in the office, try “chin retractions,” or “giving yourself a double chin,” as it’s more commonly known. This funny-looking exercise will help keep your neck and spine aligned while seated for prolonged periods.

Get up, stand up!

The modern workplace is experiencing a radical postural paradigm shift: for the first time, “standing offices” are becoming a thing. After decades of seated work, health experts are starting to appreciate the health risks of prolonged desk work. Sitting is known as “the new smoking,” and has been linked to everything from heart disease to hypertension.

Stand up as often as possible. If you have access to a standing desk, use it. If not, give yourself frequently standing breaks at your desk. Your productivity will improve, your appetite will decrease, and you’ll go home feeling less tired at the end of the day. Save your small business employee health plan for something more serious than a chronic case of office chair-itis.

Pace yourself.

Everyone takes a quick mental-health break in the office, whether they prefer gazing out the window, or scrolling through a Facebook feed. These breaks are important for your mental health and morale, but did you know that they can be optimized to boost your productivity?

Try the Pomodoro Technique, named after the tomato-shaped kitchen timers you find in an authentic Italian kitchen. This method allows you to work in short, intensely productive bursts, broken up by tiny “pomodoros,” which are just 5-minute breaks. If you don’t have a tomato-timer on hand, just Google “free timer.” Break your day up in this way: 25 minutes on, 5 off. Commit yourself to those 25 minutes of work, and indulge during those 5 minutes of rest (which, by the way, are an excellent opportunity to stand up and stretch!).

These 4 tips should help you reserve your small business employee health plan benefits for more serious problems. If you’d like to learn more small business employee health plans, or find further articles of interest for general office health, please visithttp://benecaid.wpengine.com/.