March 30th, 2024 – How To Stay Healthy While Working From Home

There are a myriad of advantages to working from home. Unfortunately, some very real possible issues need to be addressed. One of the issues is the ability to quickly lose track of your health. It’s easier than you may imagine to work past your scheduled hours or neglect things like eating good food for your body and exercising. Working from home can be excellent for your mental health, but make sure you’re not neglecting your physical health in the process. We must understand the importance of remaining healthy while working from home. Today, I want to discuss some of the ways you can keep yourself from slipping into harmful routines, and neglecting your overall health and wellness while working from home.

Schedule Your Time

Losing track of time is a killer. Not knowing how much time you’ve spent in one area means you can easily neglect others. Knowing how you spend your time and when to do certain tasks is an excellent way to remain healthy while working from home. I will always promote the use of schedules, and one way to implement a good schedule in your life is to use it to track your time.

When I was skydiving for a few years getting my license, my instructors always used to say, “Plan the jump, jump the plan.” Decide what you’re going to do, and then implement that strategy. You decide how much work you do in a day, how many deadlines you have to meet, and when you need to start other projects. You also know how long you need to take for a break to ensure you can stretch, walk around, or eat. Taking that time to recharge is necessary to fuel your brain and ensure productivity. So, put it in the schedule!

Then, put the schedule in a visible place. It does you no favors to put a schedule in your phone with no reminders that you can never see again. If you are a visual learner like myself, you’ll want the schedule somewhere you can always see it. Like, on your desk, or the wall next to your workspace. You will always want to set alerts and reminders on your phone or on a timer to make sure you’re not skipping anything.

Don’t neglect your breaks

I struggled with this one immensely when I first started working from home. I would be so inconsistent. If I took breaks, it was too many for too long, or almost no breaks at all. It was a terrible system, and it wreaked havoc on my body. Now, I know what works for me and I do what I can to implement this system.

Taking breaks is a method of sectioning your schedule. You should be practicing being in the moment, rather than body on break, mind at work. Taking breaks during the day is going to make your body and your mind feel better. Focus on a different task, take the time to actively recharge, and get the things your body and mind need to remain productive.

Don’t keep yourself in a perpetual state of anxiety worrying about what needs to get done. When you take your break, you’re on a break. You’re not planning the rest of the day, or trying to work from your phone. You have a break, so you’re on a break.  Make sure you give yourself an adequate amount of break time in relation to your working hours so that you can do what needs to be done, such as exercising, or eating. The importance of a work-life balance is a different matter to discuss entirely, but it is a big part of staying healthy while you work from home.

Stay hydrated

It goes without saying that water is necessary in all realms of health in your life, but it is especially important to remain healthy while you work from home. A lack of water in your daily life will already cause issues, but it can have a significant impact on your ability to work effectively. Dehydration can cause fatigue, brain fog, weakness, confusion, and spikes in blood pressure. You will suffer physically and mentally if you ignore the amount of water your body needs.

Keep a bottle of water close to you. If you want to keep easy track, get a water bottle with markers on it that indicate how much you have left. I found a really fun one in Thailand that I brought home with me. It has little inspirational quotes to keep you motivated to continue drinking. Mind you, I finish the water bottle more than once a day, but I still love the intention.

If you don’t know how much water your body needs in a day, there are a lot of great articles on the internet to help guide you. This one from the Harvard School of Public Health gives a good indicator of where you should be aiming for. But keep in mind that your body may need more or less than the average amount. Try the recommended amount and see how your body feels after consuming it. Adjust your intake over time as you become more aware of what makes you feel your best.

Exercise

It may seem obvious to mention that exercise is a necessary part of staying healthy while you work from home, but it is still something we have to talk about. Exercise is not one size fits all. What works for some people is not going to be what works for you one hundred percent of the time. Thankfully, exercise is an industry of incredible size. You are bound to find something that can meet your needs and make you feel good.

Exercise when working from home is important. If you’re not someone who enjoys the gym or has time to go to the gym, invest some time in looking up home workouts that you’re going to enjoy. The only bad workout is the one you don’t do. Keeping your body active is a great way to stimulate your brain. It will release endorphins and give you extra energy to complete your work.

I’m not saying you have to go to the gym and squat 300lbs. Although, if that’s what you’re into, all the power to you! If you’re into exercise with different transferrable skills, you may want to look into other forms of movement like yoga, running, or even dancing. You can find videos on YouTube and Instagram filled with influencers who make a great living showing you how to have fun and get your heart rate up. It is not necessary to do it for hours at a time, either. You can get an excellent workout from just 30 minutes of aerobics in your living room.

It doesn’t matter what you do, as long as you do it. I have recently taken to VR, and doing workouts at home during my breaks. It works up a sweat, it’s fun, there’s great music and best of all, it’s something I look forward to. If you’re not excited about it, you’ll have a harder time convincing yourself to do it. Life’s too short to be doing things you don’t like, so do the things that make you and your body happy.

Be mindful of your workspace

I have already discussed this idea in my previous article, “How I Set Up My Workspace For Maximum Productivity.” If you’re going to be working from home, you can’t underestimate how crucial it is to have a workspace you feel physically and mentally comfortable in. Think about things like ergonomics, motivational materials, and access to necessary resources. Your workspace should not stress you out.

Plan and prep meals ahead of time

It is necessary to take breaks, however, you shouldn’t be wasting that break time. Spending too much time on things like cooking food or trying to accomplish too many tasks at once will only waste your break time. It will stop you from achieving the relaxation and recharge time that you need.

One way to reduce this waste of time is to plan meals ahead of time.  Meal planning is an excellent tool for maintaining a good diet, and helping manage your time. It can limit the time you need during the day to cook and prepare food, and it can eliminate the stress of trying to decide what you’ll eat, when you’ll eat it, and how long you need to take to cook it.

Use your break time to actually take a break, not stress out over how long it will take to cook your food.

And Finally…

Don’t isolate

Humans are social creatures. There is a plethora of scientific evidence to back it up. In fact, a lack of social contact can cause an increase in stress hormones, elevated heart rate, and increased blood sugar and blood pressure levels. Loneliness can even make us susceptible to cancer (I didn’t make that up, check the link.) When working from home you are naturally going to find yourself spending less time with other people. Some people actually prefer this. However, no one can happily survive with absolutely no human contact. You’re going to need to talk to someone you love and who loves you eventually. Even if you need less than most people, even if you think you need none, it will catch up to you.

Take the time to talk to people you love. Set up coffee with your friends. Call your family. Don’t find yourself locked in your house for days on end with no human contact simply because you got caught up in your work. And don’t think your work is so important that you can neglect your inherent biological need to speak to other people.

Loneliness can have a detrimental effect on your mental health, and when your brain gets stressed like that, your body will exhibit the signs.

—-

I’m not saying I’m perfect at this, by any means. I regularly get caught up in my work and have to remind myself to be more conscious of my health. The alarm on my phone goes off constantly to remind me to stand up, walk around, go outside, and stretch. It is too easy to get caught up, especially when you work for yourself.

“Am I doing enough?” “Am I working hard enough?” “I should spend just one more hour on this thing.” “This shouldn’t take me so long, I need to work faster.” “I don’t have time to stop, I need to keep going.” So on, and so forth. But this is a slippery slope on a steep hill. Taking the time to plan what you need to do, how much you need to work, and scheduling the necessary actions to keep your physical and mental health in check are going to benefit you more in the long term than spending that extra hour at your computer will benefit you in the short-term.

—-

I hope you liked this week’s post. If you did, make sure to leave a comment down below and come back for a new post on the Next Step Scopist blog.

Home | Blog Home
Last Post: How I Set Up My Workspace For Maximum Productivity

Next Post: Why Sleep Should Be On Your Priorities List