- Corona , Sports , People
- 20/11/2020
Vitality Week breaks the routine of working from home
Two enthusiastic participants in the Vitality Week, show how certain activities help them break their work-from-home routine. Still indoors for now, unfortunately, because everything takes place online, but master’s student Ali Sanaei and policy officer and information analyst Rianne van Eerd came up with a creative solution to that problem. And let it be clear that anyone can take part: “You can do the wrist and breathing exercises in between tasks or calls, you don’t even have to change into sports clothes.”
Master’s student Data Science Ali Sanaei from Iran didn’t hesitate for a moment: he registered for no less than nine activities. “I like to take part in a program like this and I believe it increases your knowledge of (mental) health, an important topic. Especially during these strange times. Take the ‘goal setting’ workshop for example. It dealt with setting goals, how to follow through on them, and the challenges you meet along the way. That’s not something you can apply to your studies only, but to all facets of your life.”
From a professional perspective, he was interested in ‘data enabled running'. Sanaei: “My field of study is Data Science, so this is perfectly in line with that. Data can help us with our (sports)activities, for instance when we use a sport watch. But privacy and data protection are also very important. When someone can get to that data, they can access your location, for example.” Apart from theoretical workshops, there were also some physical activities on his list, such as ‘Synrgy HIIT.’ There was a small problem though, unfortunately. “We were sent the wrong link, and there were a lot of people waiting together in the digital meeting room without the teacher. A bit of a shame really.”
New to the Netherlands
“Starting a new study program in a new country during times of corona (Sanaei started this academic year, ed.), is no fun. I don’t know that many fellow students yet. We have a group chat to discuss the course material, but it’s not that easy to get to know people better. And communication between students and lecturers has gotten more difficult as well, which hampers the learning process.” Still, Sanaei isn’t discouraged. “I always look for things besides my studies that give me energy. I enjoy spending time outdoors, running or cycling, for example. That’s extra important now, especially in this strange situation. Otherwise, we spend all day indoors. That can get really tough and could lead to mental health problems. That’s also why I try to take part in activities that take place on the campus or outdoors as much as I can. Study association GEWIS, for example, still organizes hybrid lunch lectures on a regular basis. This means that a limited number of people are allowed to attend the lecture on the campus. Today, I’m one of those people,” he says.
On the mountain bike
Rianne van Eerd, policy officer at General Affairs and information analyst at Business Intelligence, is enthusiastic about the Vitality Week. “I really promoted the Vitality Week among my colleagues, during our joint start of the week for example. I believe that it’s very important to alternate between work and other activities. Personally, I prefer to exercise outside, but we’re currently bound to online activities during this year’s Vitality Week. That is why I will still go out on my mountain bike later.”
Van Eerd registered for ‘yoga,’ ‘beyond breath,’ ‘Synrgy HIIT’ and ‘sleep well, feel fit.’ Yoga was the opening activity this week. “I’m still a beginner at that and need to practice a bit more. But the exercises in that class were particularly useful to people with an office job. There were many wrist exercises, for example. You had to sit on your mat and lean on your knees and hands. You then had to rotate your hands outwards and back again, and lean on the back of your hand. There was another exercise where you had to alternate between opening and closing your hands. I felt some muscle acidification as a result. You might not expect these kinds of exercises during a yoga class, but they were well tailored to people’s work situation.”
No need for workout clothes
The ‘beyond breath’ workshop turned out differently than Van Eerd had expected: it was more theoretical than practical. “I expected more breathing exercises. That is, perhaps, a point for improvement. But in general, these workshops keep you physically occupied with something else for a moment. And you can do the wrist or breathing exercises between work tasks or calls, you don’t even have to change into your sports clothes.”
There is a sleep workshop scheduled for Thursday evening. “Not everyone realizes that sleeping makes you feel fit as well. When you’ve been active, you need enough sleep to be active again the next day. So, yes indeed, my eight hours of sleep are sacred to me.”
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