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How to work from home, the right way
- Tips for Successful Remote Working -
How to work from home, the right way: Tips for Successful Remote Working
Part three: Take care of your physical well-being
Most of us have dreamed of working from the comfort of our homes, but in reality, it can be a challenge. Even without kids, pets, and our significant others, there are plenty of distractions and inconveniences that can ruin our productivity.
I’ve collected you my best tips in this 4-part series to help you keep your sanity, stay healthy and productive.
Part one: Set up your perfect home office
Part two: Boost your productivity
Part three: Take care of your physical well-being
Part four: Mind your mental health
Image source: Unsplash.com
Physical well-being
Working from home is not just about finding the right tools for work, productivity and effectiveness. Your mental and physical well-being should be just as important. When your home turns into your workplace the chances are high that it’ll hurt your work-life balance and your fitness too.
Originally I’ve planned to cover physical and mental well-being in one post, but it turned out so long, that I divided it into two. This one focuses on your physical well-being. All of these tips are easy to add to your day and with a little creativity, you can even combine them for the best results.
#1 Stay hydrated
Sounds easy, right? I have to admit, I’m pretty bad at drinking 2 litres of water per day, even though I should. And you should do as well because keeping your body hydrated is one of the cheapest, easiest and the best thing you can do for yourself.
If you’re living in a warm country that you’ll probably need it even more, than us in green and chilly Ireland. Water keeps every system in the body functioning properly, including flushing bacteria from your bladder, aiding digestion, cushioning joints and protecting organs and tissues.* So as you can see it has almost endless benefits besides keeping you safe from a throbbing dehydration headache.
*Source: www.health.harvard.edu
There are several methods to achieve this from having a 2l bottle on your desk or 8 glasses of water on your kitchen counter that you have to empty by the end of the day to track it with an app. If you’re home with someone else make them a favour and remind them too.
Photo by Canva
#2 Get some fresh air
When commuting means walking from your bed to your desk within the house it’s hard to get enough fresh air without consideration.
If you have a window next to you, that you can keep open you’re already a step closer to achieve this, but it’s better to spend some dedicated time outside.
Try making a coffee to go for yourself and have a walk or if it’s raining since the morning at least open your window and pull your chair next to it while drinking it.
#3 Exercise regularly
It’s well-known that desk jobs harm our health. Actually, sitting too much is often called the ‘new smoking’ as studies began to link it to an increased risk of obesity, diabetes and a higher chance of heart disease and cancer. Combine it with the lack of natural exercise – like walking or running for the bus – and the picture is even worse. At the end of the week you usually have back and neck pain, stiff muscles, and just in general a low energy level. Ouch…
Luckily, exercise can come in many colour and flavour! You don’t have money to spare? Find an outdoor gym. You don’t like gyms at all? It’s also fine, you can try dancing, yoga, basketball, wall climbing or pole dancing. Many things can be done at home with no tools. Probably all you need is internet and a little motivation.
Try one of these no-equipment cardio workouts, 5-minute dance tutorials or my favourite form of exercise: Just Dance videos.
Photo by Michael Browning on Unsplash
During exercise, your body releases endorphins. These chemicals heavily contribute to the feeling of happiness and they also reduce your perception of pain.
Trust me, the hardest part is to start it. A good way to do it is by joining an x-day challenge or creating a YouTube playlist, that you commit to doing from beginning to end. Once you’re on track it’ll come naturally and you’ll feel the positive benefits almost immediately.
#4 Stretch those stiff muscles
Besides the activities that we discussed above, I suggest incorporating stretching exercises in your daily routine.
As sitting all day is especially hard on your neck, back, hips and hamstrings search for exercises that helps you loosen up those muscles or Google for deskercise, desk – or office stretching. Try stretching at least 5 days a week to keep your muscles loose.
#5 Eat Healthy Meals & Snacks
It is just too easy to get snacky when you’re home all day… And as time goes – and you get a bit lazier – pizza and frozen meals start to seem like a good option for dinner. The other extreme is when you simply forgot some of the meals and you realise at 6 pm all you had today so far is 3 mugs of not too nourishing coffee.
Photo by Ola Mishchenko on Unsplash
Having regular, nutritious meals is essential for your health.
I highly recommend cooking at home. It can be a great hobby, it makes you stand up from your chair for a bit and it’s also good for your wallet 😉 I see it as a way to relax and have a break so I usually cook fresh every day. On workdays only a quick 20-25 min dish, while I try the more complicated ones on weekends. If you’re not into that idea try batch cooking and prepare meals for multiple days. Cooking double amount and freezing half of it can serve amazingly well too. Planning is key here, but you’ll find it also makes it easier.
Buying or preparing healthy snacks, like carrots, hummus, fruits or lentil chips instead of stocking up on chocolate will benefit you as well. Don’t get me wrong, you don’t need to be extreme. I always have a jar of Nutella at home, but by putting it in a box under some other stuff in a cupboard makes it harder to just snack on it. The bottom line is: always have healthy options at home and store your less healthy treats in a place where you can’t see it all the time and make it just a bit harder to get it.
Read the other parts of the series:
Part one: Set up your perfect home office
Part two: Boost your productivity
Part four: Mind your mental health
Hi, I’m Reka,
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