I like the “If you’re sick, stay home” tip - this is one that I adhere to and wish other people would do the same.
I live and work in Germany and we have this “wonderful” handshaking culture over here (i.e. you shake hands with your colleagues every day). When people are obviously ill, then shaking hands is a nice way to pass the bug on. I have consequently resorted to saying “Let’s be British about this” and waving at ill colleagues.
Unfortunately, this is changing in Britain. More and more people here are adopting the French habit of kissing each other on the cheeks whenever they meet. It hasn’t yet crept into the office, but it is getting regrettably common in social circles.
Regrettably? There’s nothing to regret about that. And I know, I’m Spaniard. And we always introduce ourselves with two kisses (well, at the office it will depend on the situation but yes, you can end up with a kiss on each cheek too)
Regarding health, I don’t have any tips that I can share. If I eat healthy is because I like salads and sea food and fish and meat and eggs… and everything. I don’t have to do any effort to do that
In Australia, the tradition is to sneeze on each other. Australians are a very generous bunch—especially in terms of sharing germs. I always cover my mouth with my arm or a kerchief when sneezing, but people look at me like I’m really strange.
I go for a run three times a week, of about 6 km (~ 4 English miles). I make sure not to eat too much junk food, and all day long I only drink tea and sparkling water with a little lemon added. I stay away from coffee, and almost never drink soda.
I’ve adopted this life style about one and a half years ago, and I’m not looking back!
Great to see so many replies so far… What are people’s thoughts on the ‘sitting is killing us’ debate? I am paranoid about it, but it seems to have died down a little this year…
Reading the first few replies makes me glad I’m American.
Don’t touch me and I won’t touch you. Thanks.
Me and my wife try to stay active. She rides horses and I golf. We go hiking and things like that, this spring we’ll probably invest in a couple bikes. We met in the Army, so both of us like the outdoors.
I don’t work out, but I should. I have tried a few times but I keep getting demotivated one way or another.
I’ve been having some severe back muscle pain in the last 3 weeks which was caused by poor posture sitting for so many hours. It’s kept me up at night and been as bad as making me think I was going to pass out from the pain. So… once this settles down I’ll definitely start doing more. It’s starting to die off a bit, the Dr said it will take a few weeks to months. Can’t do the standing desk thing because I have high arches and standing in one place causes stress fractures, which is probably the only pain I’ve felt worse than my current back pain.