During a time when many of us find ourselves working remotely or working from home, it is important to recognise that being at home can result in less physical activity and more couch time. So what can you do to maintain a healthy lifestyle working from home?
Ways To Stay Healthy When Working From Home
The BOOooom Challenge, Set up reminders to move. One simple way to stay active is to set up Reminders to Move on your Fitbit device and get 250 steps in and mix it with another exercise. Every time your movement reminder goes off, challenge yourself to walk, jog or run on the spot to the and drink a glass of cold water.
Get dressed. Working in PJs is one way to chill, but it might prevent you from doing any extra activity. Get dressed as soon as you wake up to help your mind adjust from sleep to work mode. With video conferencing meetings you still want to maintain a presence in the team.
Schedule breaks during the working day. It can be tempting to stay glued to your computer to show you’re online, however this is not good practice. Organise your workday to get the important tasks out the way first. Taking breaks from your screen may even boost your productivity.
Time management. When working from home make sure you are strict with time management. Schedule a start and end time in. It is easy to forget yourself and carry on past your working hours. Make sure your diary is kept up to date and you make those Skype or Microsoft Team meetings. A mixture of discipline and routine is required to be effective when working from home.
Do you need to be online? With the current situation the increase and demand working from home has trebled. When using the Internet at home you maybe competing with other family priorities, such as children using the broadband for gaming, streaming or schooling. On top of this the health networks are also being over utilised, meaning email, access to share drives are slow. You can already sense the stress levels growing, now is the time to stay calm, do some activity and release the tension. Remember you have to try and get through a full working day under extreme circumstances.
4 weeks in and we may have to continue for a while yet, so it is important to stay active, get into your routine and look after your mental health. Even though we are in lock down, technology allows us to stay in touch with work colleagues, family and friends. Everyone will react differently to these conditions and we will at some point start to recover and start to return to lighter restrictions. Stay safe, look out for friends and family and stay active.