Careers that can improve your health and wellbeing

Posted on 11:00am Friday 2nd Feb 2018

Our careers can have a profound impact on our health and wellbeing.

Sure, this is evident when it comes to particularly hazardous jobs, such as mining, dealing with asbestos, or tree surgery. But even the most standard office job can have a detrimental impact on our overall lifestyle.

Sitting in the same spot behind a desk for almost eight hours day, five days a week has consequences. It encourages a sedentary lifestyle and can lead to a lack of exercise and even obesity.

Repetitive activities such as typing can result in repetitive strain injury. Constantly looking at a bright computer, laptop, or tablet screens can result in strained eyes.

In short, there are very few careers out there that are actively beneficial when it comes to your physique and activity levels. However, if you’re absolutely dedicated to living as healthy and active a life as possible, there are a few out there that can help you make the most of your body. Here are just a few for you to consider!

Two careers that can improve your health and wellbeing

1. Personal trainer

Becoming a personal trainer is by no means an easy feat. After all, you have to be in peak condition yourself before you can begin to advise others. Being at the top of your game will give your clients faith in you, your techniques, and your training.

So, what exactly does a personal training role entail? Well, there are various elements to this profession, so let’s cut them down into bite-size categories.

Education

Perhaps the most important role of personal training is education. Every day, you will be educating your clients in different areas. From teaching them the best type of exercise for certain health benefits (cardio for improving your blood flow and stamina, weight lifting for stronger muscles, etc.) to stretches that they should carry out before hitting their main workout and how to hold certain poses and carry out simple tasks such as crunches, the plank, and jogging in the correct manner.

These small pieces of information could save the client from injury and ensure that they are conducting a safe and effective workout even while you’re not there. Carrying out examples will see you yourself completely stretched and engaged in exercise for extended periods of time throughout your working day, which is something that can’t be said of many professions.

Monitoring

A second essential factor of personal training is motivation and monitoring. Many people employ personal trainers simply because they don’t have the willpower and self-control to achieve their fitness goals alone. They need someone by their side, spurring them on every step of the way.

Not only will you monitor their progress each session (such as weight loss, muscle tone, or stamina), but you can also encourage them to do just a few extra seconds, steps, or lifts here and there to ensure that they get the most out of their time spent with you. A lot of the time, you will find yourself carrying out the activities yourself with your client to give them extra motivation. After all, running an extra lap with someone by your side is much more pleasant.

Organisation

The third and final facet of personal training that we’ll focus on for now is organisation. To guarantee results, you will have to help your clients to organise their life around their essential exercise sessions. You can also encourage them to take on better habits, such as eating well at allocated times. You will generally have to lead by example, taking your own advice!

You don’t need academic qualifications for this type of job, but you could greatly benefit from taking a personal trainer course. Not only will this qualification allow you to work professionally in a range of different health and fitness settings, but it will also be something that you can show off to potential clients in order to build their trust and faith in your competency.

After all, if you’re willing to study and work hard at your profession, you are clearly dedicated to helping them to achieve their goals. Alongside the satisfaction of helping others to stay in shape, you’ll also be working out on a daily basis, so will be at the top of your game at all times too!

2. Lifeguard

Lifeguards are required in a whole host of locations, so the position is a surprisingly flexible one. One day you could be working with children who are learning to swim at their school’s local pool, a few months later, you could be overlooking swimming competitions ranging from small scale to the Olympics, further down the line you could be spending your days on the beach, keeping a watchful eye over holiday goers. If there’s water, chances are that there will be a lifeguard position opening up nearby. However, flexibility and the opportunity to travel aren’t the only benefits that come hand in hand with a lifeguarding position. Here are just a couple of other benefits that you can expect to revel in with this kind of position.

Helping others

Your role could make the most profound impact on someone’s life. If someone finds themselves in trouble in the water, your presence could quite literally draw the line between life and death. It’s extremely rewarding knowing that you make people’s experience in the water more comfortable. They know that there’s somebody nearby who can help in times of need, so can relax and enjoy themselves.

Flexibility

Generally speaking, lifeguarding roles are offered on a part-time basis. This gives you great flexibility and means that it can even be a second career that gives you a good workout on the side where you can earn money at the same time. Think about it: rather than paying for a gym membership, you can get one for free and be paid for your efforts at the same time. Seems ideal, doesn’t it?

Qualifications

To land a position as a lifeguard, you will need specialist qualifications. These vary from one location to another, so do your research and see exactly what’s required in the area where you’re first going to be looking for work. Most qualifications, however, will see you having to meet similar criteria.

First, you must be fit. You will need to be competent in the water, travelling at impressive speeds and diving to impressive depths. There will also be a theoretical side to training with emphasis on health and safety: you will learn to perform CPR, first aid, and various other life saving skills.

Achieving your qualification shouldn’t take too long, meaning you can be rearing and ready to go in a relatively short period of time. What’s more? If you do change your mind about settling on lifeguarding as a career, for now, you can always return to it later, and the skills that the qualification teaches you can also often be transferred to other positions. This means that you won’t have wasted any of your time, effort or money in the process!

Final word

These are just two careers that can improve your individual health and wellbeing. As you can see, they are active, which is to be expected. So they’re not the kind of thing that the majority of us can dive into headfirst without any specialist training or practice.

But with time, dedication, and patience they are jobs that you could realistically land in the not-so-distant future if you please. So, start working towards them today! If these don’t suit your tastes, remember that there are plenty more active careers out there for you to consider too.