Work from home has become a new norm of society, especially after the Covid pandemic. Although companies have returned to their regular work schedules, telecommuting, virtual jobs, and home-based businesses such as freelancing are on the rise and require you to work from home.
Though the work from home model has many benefits, it certainly has a few disadvantages, and the most significant one is your health.
Challenges of Being a Remote Worker
Commuting to work, socializing with co-workers, sticking to a routine schedule, friendly chitchats during lunch breaks, and direct interaction with your colleagues are top reasons behind productivity.
But lack of productivity is not all that you miss when you work from home. As a remote employee, your work health can get affected due to the following challenges:
- Lack of physical activity and movement.
- Developing unhealthy eating habits during work.
- Discomfort due to uncomfortable furniture.
- Unable to maintain a work-life balance.
- Increased feelings of isolation.
Healthy Tips to Help You Tackle Work from Home
Your physical and mental health gets compromised when you manage work from the couch of your living room.
But you can be productive, feel motivated, and stay healthy with some simple work from home tips we have outlined below for you:
1. Consistent Daily Routine
The best way to remain energetic throughout the day is to design a schedule and stick to it. Designate working hours and try to wind up work during the set period. As soon as your working hours are up, shut down the laptop, turn off your email notifications, and give your brain sufficient time to relax.
Being consistent with your daily routine will help you manage your personal and professional life as well. This will also allow you to maintain a healthy lifestyle with your work and keep your sleep cycle well-maintained.
2. Exercise Keeps You Healthy
Your home-to-work commute is supposed to transit your mood into a working mood. But since you can’t do that, you can utilize those hours to boost your health.
Create a morning routine for yourself. Let a hot shower and a cup of coffee alleviate tension from your mind, or do yoga, meditation, or a simple morning walk to warm up your muscles and give an active start to your day.
Physical exercises not only keep you energetic but also improve your mood, relieve stress, help you stay focused, and assist you in sleeping better at night.
3. Create a Home Office Landscape with an Ergonomic Chair
People working from home usually do not have well-organized and comfortable workstations. Create an office landscape in a small corner of your home with no to minimal distractions. All you have to do is invest in an ergonomic chair.
An ergonomic chair is adjustable and designed to provide support to your lower back and neck, ideal for work whether it's from home or in the office. More health benefits of investing in this simple piece of furniture are:
- It alleviates pain in the back, neck, and shoulders.
- It gives your body the correct posture.
- Help you feel comfortable during the long working hours.
- Prevents joint pain.
- The correct sitting position leads to better blood circulation.
- Ergonomic chairs also enhance moodand productivity levels.
As per experts, an ideal ergonomic chair has armrests, with feet flat on the floor and your elbows bent at a 90-degree angle.
4. Get a Standing Desk
When creating a work from home setup, pair up your ergonomic chair with a standing desk that can be adjusted according to the chair's height. Getting a height-adjustable desk for your home office will bring many benefits to your health, such as:
- It allows you to burn calories by letting you avoid sitting all day long.
- Since you will be at home, you will be munching all day. This could lead to increase blood sugar levels. But not when you are working on a standing desk after eating meals.
- Prevents sore legs.
- Relieves tension in the back.
- Boosts productivity.
5. Take A Break and Relax
Sitting and working for long hours on the workstation negatively impacts your mood and efficiency level. It even increases pressure on your mind, causes stress, and puts immense pressure on your eyes.
Giving yourself a 10-20 minutes break after every 1-hour is the best medicine for tackling all these problems. Stand up, move around, take a stroll in the house, water the plants, anything to help you feel relaxed and more focused. You can also do visual exercise or get some fresh air through the window.
6. Do Visual Exercises
Getting puffy, dry eyes is a common problem after staring at the screen for hours straight. This can impact your eyesight and leave you with a severe headache at the end of the day.
So, let your eyes wander away from the screen every few seconds to avoid eye strain. Or look outside the window at something 20 feet away after every 20 minutes and focus on it for at least 20 seconds.
7. Develop Healthy Eating Habits
Munching on snacks, eating junk food, and grabbing sugary items every time your stomach growls with hunger is not a good approach towards self-care.
For a healthy body, you need healthy and balanced food with every nutrient in just the right proportion. Eat memory-boosting food such as dark chocolate, eggs, nuts, yogurt, seeds, and nuts. Eating seasonal fruits and vegetables will also keep you healthy and energetic.
Lastly, keep yourself hydrated by drinking a sufficient amount of water throughout the day. After winding up your work, you can also have a cup of green tea. It boosts your memory, relieves stress, increases focus and alertness.
8. Socialize With Your Colleagues
Do you feel isolated due to constantly being at home? Feeling lonely and desperate can seriously impact a person's thinking capacity, followed by anxiety, depression, and a sudden stroke. According to research, about 50% of people suffer from dementia because of being socially isolated.
So, stay connected with your co-workers or friends. You can do the following:
- Arrange Zoom or Skype meetings with friends every weekend.
- Have short chats with your friends and catch up on each other’s life during breaks.
- Schedule a virtual lunch with your co-workers.
Manage Work While Being Healthy
Working from home may sound like a glamorous idea offering you the freedom to eat, sleep and work. But you need to be productive and have a healthy body and an active mind to do your job right.
By incorporating some simple health tips such as investing in an ergonomic chair and following a set routine, you can protect your health, boost productivity and enjoy your work from home.
