Bring positive pandemic habits into the office

I figured the first pair of sneakers I bought at the beginning of the pandemic would last until I returned to the office.

I figured wrong, it turns out. You’re only supposed to put about 500 miles on a pair of shoes, and I’m now on my fourth set since March 2020.

Sneaking little walks into my day has been the silver lining in a stressful, surreal year.

It started in March of last year, during a daily phone call with a writer on my team. I heard birds in the background and asked where she was. Walking, she said.

So I started walking, too. Now every meeting that doesn’t necessitate my face showing up inside a little Zoom box is taken with my headphones on, along the sidewalks of my neighborhood. On a typical week, these phone meetings tally up to between six and 10 hours of “walk and talks.”

A hundred or so miles a month.

And who cares if my hair frizzes afterward? Or if I break a sweat while working in my DriFit shirts and runner shorts? The politics of office beauty and hygiene don’t exist at the moment.

But they’re about to, as Americans return to work in the coming weeks and months. So for those of us who’ve found a way to eke out a little work-workout balance during this strange societal pause, the question now is: How can we keep these healthy habits as we return to the office?

“A lot of us have learned how to do these things intermittently in our workday because our workday was 8:30 to 5, or was it 8:30 to 9?” says Jill Chapman, a senior performance consultant for Houston-based human resources provider Insperity.

If you took an hour or so to exercise at 3 p.m. each day for the past year, Chapman asks, who cared?

“We have a lot of people who have to change their routines now,” she says.

Or maybe we just need to change the way we equip ourselves for the routines.

In Texas, “we’re already sweating — and if we’re not sweating, there’s an 80 percent chance we will be by the end of the month,” says Amanda Cotler, director of operations at Accel Lifestyle, a Houston-based athleisure brand. “The problem with sweating through your shirt is you have a lasting impact for the rest of the day.”

This hasn’t mattered so much at home; a recent study from England found that 17 percent of British people have done away with daily showers during the pandemic.

But while that’s one thing on your couch, the effects are totally different if you have to cram into a conference room later in

the day.

That’s where the fabric of your clothes could help, Cotler says.

“We smell because the bacteria is clinging to moisture that creates the odor,” she says. “Bacteria loves polyester, synthetic fabrics. They’ll cling to them.”

Natural fibers — such as supima cotton and even bamboo — are much more breathable and can allow the wearer to sweat for a few minutes midday without living with the consequences until 5 p.m.

For many women — and some men — midday workouts can also wreak havoc on the hair.

“I’m so glad scrunchies are

back,” says Nicole De La Garza, owner of DLG Styles Hair in Houston.

For years, women turned to thin, unforgiving elastics to tie back their hair during a workout — a practice that damages strands and leaves creases in your coif for the rest of the workday.

“My favorite hair tie is a satin or silk scrunchie,” she says.

“Then there’s the Invisibobbles, which look like the old telephone wires. I’ve noticed a lot of clients who work out in the middle of the day using those,” she says. “They’re very reliable, and they’re not as easy to break. Between those and the satin and

silk scrunchies that are making a comeback, you get to be fashionforward without having to worry about a crease.”

Don’t tie a tight ponytail at the crown of your head, which can lead to loads of breakage, she says. Instead, she suggests a loose braid, tied at the bottom, which will both limit creasing and damage toward the top of your strands.

If you break a strong enough sweat, pack a blow dryer and add another couple minutes to your routine before returning to your desk.

“I always tell people, hit yourself with a cold blow dryer at the roots where you think you might

have sweat, and then hit it with dry shampoo,” she says.

This can help you avoid excess heat from the dryer, while also nixing the need for a full hair wash.

Even if they skip a post-sweat shower, not everyone can squeeze a walk or workout into a typical workday.

“Walking for phone calls is great,” says Melissa Markofski, an assistant professor in the department of health and human performance at the University of Houston. “But we’re heading into summer here. Or say you work downtown; with traffic, you can’t hear anything.”

She suggests tiny tweaks throughout the workday if you can’t leave your office. Every time you have to get on the phone, take the call standing, she says. Instead of emailing colleagues a document or a question, walk to their desks to ask them.

“The guidelines recently were revised. They used to say you need to have at least a 10-minute block of movement at a time to see positive health outcomes, but now it’s changed to say whatever amount is good,” she says. “Even if it’s taking the stairs instead of the elevator, which is only a minute.”

Go to the bathroom on a different floor or ask to hold meetings on different floors as well, she suggests. These little moments add up.

“We won’t be able to do 250 steps every hour and then do a 5K,” she says. “But something is better than nothing.”

Getty Images photos Many people working from home increased the time they spent walking. With planning, that routine can follow you back to work.

Incorporate activity into the workday by getting up from your desk and walking over to co-workers instead of emailing or calling them.