Last Thursday, I mentioned some of the benefits of exercising in your home office. Today I’d like to offer some tips for exercising while in your home office.

1. Take a break. Take a 10 minute break every couple of hours to do something active: walk up and down the stairs in your house, get up and do some jumping jacks, go through the sun salutation (yoga), play on the Wii with your kids. Find some activity that you can do. This will not only help you boost your metabolism, but it will also get your blood flowing and help out with the problems that can come with prolonged sitting.

2. Start your day with exercise. Get up 15 - 20 minutes earlier and start your day with exercise. This will get you going in the morning. Sometimes I just do five minutes (I like the sun salutation) before I get started with work. It usually helps me be more productive right off.

3. Exercise in the evening. This is actually what I do. If you do this, it should be done at least three hours before you go to bed. I exercise for half an hour right after my son goes to bed. My husband is either doing schoolwork, watching a game on TV or playing video games. So he does that for half an hour and I exercise. Sometimes, I ride the stationary bike while we both watch TV.

4. Incorporate exercise into your routine. Sometimes I put ankle weights on and do little leglifts under my desk. Another thing I do every now and then is take the bus to a cafe with Internet. I walk to and from the bus stop, and I do my work in a different place. Another thing I do is swim twice a week at the university. Afterward, I just set up with the wifi access.

Do you have exercise tips for the home office?