Can You Stretch Between Meetings?
Work travel sounds productive, even glamorous, until you realise you’ve barely moved all day.
Between taxis, trains, planes, and conference rooms, it’s easy to spend 10 hours “on the go” without actually being on your feet. The longer you stay seated, the more your body tightens, your focus drifts, and your energy tanks.
Finding a way to incorporate movement into your schedule when you are travelling is just as important as on the days you are working from home or in the office.
Benefits of Stretching:
Sitting for long periods without breaks can lead to:
Reduced circulation and muscle stiffness
Mental fatigue and sluggish focus
Increased reliance on sugar, caffeine, or snacks to “perk up”
A general sense of feeling crumpled, compressed, and strangely jetlagged, even if you haven’t left your time zone
According to the World Health Organization, physical inactivity is the fourth leading risk factor for global mortality. Yes, even on “productive” workdays.
Even short bursts of movement can:
Restore energy and improve mental clarity
Boost circulation and reduce aches from sitting
Help you feel more awake (without another espresso)
Create a reset between meetings, improving focus and tone
Join the Challenge
We all know work travel isn’t exactly a wellness retreat. Long stretches of sitting, in taxis, planes, meeting rooms, make it easy to slip into “survival mode,” where caffeine becomes a food group and movement gets replaced by micropauses to check email.
Find five minutes. Shake off the sitting and Stretch your body out.
Active Break Challenge: Take 5-minutes to stretch
Find your five minutes.
Not for email. Not for networking.
For movement.
How to Do It:
Take a moment between meetings, even if it’s on the pavement, in a corridor, or in the time it takes your colleagues to check in.
Stretch discreetly (or dramatically, if that’s your style) : arms overhead, shoulders rolled, a subtle twist here, a quiet calf raise there.
Use any plausible excuse: phone signal, calendar check, deep contemplation of the horizon.
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