Stay Healthy While Working From Home With These 8 Tips
Working from home is a reality for many people these days.
And, while some may love the flexibility and more relaxed nature of a work-from-home position, certain healthy daily habits may fall by the wayside when you are always in your home environment.
Below, we will go over a few ways to help keep yourself healthy, happy, and motivated when you are working from home.
1. Meal prep for the week
One of the easiest good habits that may get broken when you are working from home is to stop packing up that healthy work lunch, and just opt for whatever you have around — healthy or not.
Even though you are going to be at home for lunch, still take the time to plan out or even meal prep what you want to eat for lunch.
When you go ahead and prep healthy meals ahead of time, it will be easier to make good decisions when you are hungry and ready for lunch.
Meal prepping will also help you save time during the weekday to make sure you aren’t having to break too much with your work schedule to make lunch, or find yourself constantly in the kitchen.
2. Schedule in some exercise
Making sure that you are getting moving on the regular when you are technically just moving from room to room during the day will help you prevent weight gain, fatigue, and help to keep you motivated and fresh for the workday.
Whether that means that you wake up an hour earlier for a quick energy-boosting jog a few days a week, or that you hop on your exercise bike during that meeting.
Just because you may not be heading into a gym for a while, doesn’t mean you can skip working out. Pick out something that you like doing and consider it an unbreakable part of your week.
Integrate whatever exercise works for you and your schedule, but make it a regular occurrence and plan it out to make sure it doesn’t fall to the wayside.
3. Drink plenty of water
Proper hydration is a must to keep you healthy, energized, and sharp. It’s been said that
Even though you probably don’t have coworkers around to judge your 3rd soda of the day, doesn’t mean that you should be doing that.
Fill up a water bottle with water and keep it on your desk for a visual reminder to stay hydrated.
4. Make stress relief a priority
There are a lot of stressful things going on in the world right now, and transitioning into a work from home situation could add to that for some.
Be sure to include stress-relieving activities like yoga, meditation, stretching, regular exercise, and reaching out to friends and family, to make sure a more isolated work situation doesn’t make a toll on your mental health.
5. Get health concerns checked out
Working from home may mean that you aren’t as concerned about various health concerns like a bad breakout, rosacea, hair loss, or other cosmetic-type issues.
But, you should still let a doctor check out these less-intense medical concerns for the sake of your mental health and confidence levels.
Keep up with doctor’s visits for seemingly minor health concerns like usual, or schedule a quick online telemedicine visit to make sure those things don’t fall to the wayside.
6. Keep healthy snacks on hand
Sneaking into the kitchen for some munchies is extra temping and accessible when you are working from home.
Do a favor to your future self and overall health and keep the kitchen stocked with healthy items to snack on like fruit, hummus, sliced vegetables, and nuts.
Keeping healthy snacks on hand will help you make smart choices when the 3 pm hunger strikes, without sabotaging your health efforts or tanking your energy levels.
7. Get outside for a little bit
Being in the same environment basically all the time can take a toll on your mental health.
Since you aren’t trekking into the office every day, you need a change of scenery at some point in your day.
Take part of your lunch break to stroll around the block, or eat lunch outside in your backyard for a little sunlight, fresh air, and activity.
8. Set up a comfortable workspace
Set up a dedicated workspace for you to really get things done.
Make it clear to anyone else that may be home that you shouldn’t be disturbed when you are in your workspace, and designate some clear quiet hours to help preserve your sanity.
Pick out a comfortable chair, desk, and pleasant location so that you can work effectively without back pain, discomfort from a flimsy chair or desk, or being in a dreary corner of the room.