Working from home has many benefits in terms of convenience and workflow flexibility.
One problem that comes with this flexibility is the fact that people eventually stop neglecting their self-care. They sometimes lose the habit of commuting to work, interacting with others, and even keeping their personal hygiene at a decent level.
Still, this doesn’t have to be the case. With the right amount of self-discipline and the right plan, you can easily avert the majority of these problems. So, here are some tips on how you can maintain health while working from home.
Get a Good NIGHT'S Sleep
While you may not feel like the morning person, the truth is that humans are diurnal creatures. A biological clock endogenously controls your activity-rest pattern.
This is why even people trapped underground or prisoners locked in windowless cells could sense (in a way) whether it was day or night.
For a lot of people, a chance to work from home means an opportunity to work at night, especially if they’re on deadlines (instead of fixed work hours). Just keep in mind that night and day are not interchangeable and that you’re biologically programmed to rest more effectively while sleeping at night.
So, the best way to improve your health while working from home would be to develop a healthy routine. Getting up early in the morning (like if you actually had to get up for office work) should definitely be on your to-do list.
Also, there’s a lot of scientific evidence indicating that the first two hours in the morning are your most productive period of the day. This is why a healthy morning routine may improve your productivity, as well.
Find a Hobby That Will Keep You Physically Active
Since you don’t have much reason to go out, the chances are that you’ll use this opportunity to stay indoors during your least productive days. This is not really a healthy choice for a lot of reasons. First of all, a lack of fresh air and sun will create all sorts of immunity problems on their own.
Second, you risk getting out of shape, which will not only harm your health but also impair your cognitive abilities. Gary Kasparov, one of the greatest chess masters to ever live, used to run for miles to stay sharp. He mentioned that he was bound to lose even to an inferior opponent the first time he felt back pain during a chess match.
Regularly exercising, swimming, running, or cycling are just some of the ways to help avert this problem. For those who find this type of cardio too boring, a fun sport like racquetball might be the best solution.
At the very least, you could try some deskercise or get up and walk a lap around the room every hour or so.
Eat Healthy
As you can see from this list, staying healthy while working from home seems to be challenging; however, there are some advantages to this. For instance, it becomes a lot easier to maintain healthy eating habits, seeing as how you’re free to prepare (home cook) all of your meals.
This means that you’ll no longer have to:
- Rely on fast food and sandwiches for sustenance
- Wait for a breakfast break in order to have a meal
- While working from home, you’re the master of your own time. This means that you can:
- Schedule meals more efficiently
- Control all the nutrients in your meals
- Count calories more effectively (if you plan to lose weight)
As you can see from the list, working from home doesn’t have many advantages (health-wise), which is why you should use this one as effectively as possible.
A potential problem is the fact that you have more opportunities for snacks and no one to supervise you. With no supervisor monitoring you, you could potentially make as many trips to the fridge as you like.
Invest in Ergonomic Furniture
One of the misconceptions about working from home is the idea that you’ll just sit in your underpants on a living room sofa, with a laptop on your lap all the time. Sure, you have more flexibility in terms of the actual work posture and position, but a bad choice may affect your productivity.
The best way to get both productivity and comfort is to invest in ergonomic furniture. The first thing you need is the right office chair. Second, you need a desk that’s of the appropriate height. Even the position of the monitor is incredibly important for your eyesight.
Lastly, you need to keep in mind that the proper seating posture can make a massive difference to your back’s health.
Buy a standing desk
Another excellent idea for your health would be to get a standing desk. Standing desks help burn calories, benefit your overall circulation, and keep you alert and focused for a lot longer.
The way this would work is in combination with the interval working model. You work for 20-30 minutes, and then you rest for 5-10 minutes (ideally sitting on a sofa, armchair, or lazy bag).
Tracking time is generally one of the best ways to improve your business performance, so why not get really innovative with it.
Don’t Forget to Socialize
Keep in mind that your physiological health is not the only thing that’s in danger. Social isolation can leave a mark on your mental health, which is why you need to go out regularly. Invite a friend over or meet them over a coffee.
Even if you’re not an outgoing person or introverted by nature, maintaining at least some form of social contact with people is extremely important. Since it’s so easy to lose track of this while working from home, it might be best to simply schedule it.
In Conclusion
A healthy work-life balance is important for maintaining your physical and mental health. The first step in taking care of yourself is identifying all the deficiencies of your current lifestyle, seeing as how this will allow you to come up with methods to make up for them.
Everyone’s living/working situation is different, which is why your plan needs to be custom and tailor-made for your needs. We merely went ahead and made a couple of suggestions.
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