6 Tips For Maintaining a Healthy Lifestyle While Working From Home – 2024 Guide
A lot of us have started working from home these past few months. The pandemic has completely changed our routines as it brought our jobs to our living rooms. While working remotely seemed like a dream-come-true to many, the reality of it all is quite different. For starters, working from home has resulted in many people becoming increasingly inactive. The health risks associated with a sedentary lifestyle are well documented, with the basics covered really well in this article.
Secondly, our homes are also full of distractions, so we tend to procrastinate and spend too much time resolving even the simplest tasks.
All of this combined can affect both our mental and physical health, as nobody was prepared for such drastic changes to our lifestyles.
So, is there a way to make these changes more bearable and keep ourselves healthy?
In this article, we’ll share some of our favorite tips for maintaining a healthy lifestyle while maximizing our remote-working productivity! So, let’s get it started, shall we?
1. Keep a morning routine
One of the biggest mistakes we all made when we started working from home was probably getting rid of our morning routines. There’s no need to get dressed and commute to work, so why shouldn’t we snooze a bit longer? Well, there’s a couple of reasons why it’s such a bad idea.
If you have to get logged on to work at 8 am, and your alarm goes off at 7:50, you won’t have time to mentally prepare yourself for the rest of the day. Furthermore, it might lead you to skip your breakfast and leave you without any energy to get through those working hours.
Instead of taking those extra 40minutes to sleep, you should rather do a bit of exercise and eat a healthy breakfast. Your productivity levels will be much higher and you’ll keep your body happy and energized at the same time!
2. Remember to stretch!
Sitting in front of your computer for hours can be devastating to your lower back and your muscles. While you were working at the office, taking a break just to do some yoga exercises wasn’t exactly acceptable, but now when you’re spending your working hours at home, the possibilities are endless! Of course, you shouldn’t take a 30minute break while you’re in the middle of an important task, but stretching your muscles from time to time is of the utmost importance.
If you used to regularly hit the gym after work, don’t stop doing it now! Even if the local gym is closed, you can always find a good workout routine to do at home. Whatever you do, don’t forget to exercise daily since it is the best foundation for having a healthier lifestyle.
3. Stack up on healthy snacks
All right, nobody can resist the urge to have a little snack while working long hours. Instead of visiting your fridge every 15 minutes and taking whatever comes first, you should take your time to prepare some healthy snacks to munch on later.
Contrary to popular belief, healthy doesn’t mean boring! So, no, we’re not saying you should eat raw broccoli to stay healthy, but you should still stay away from those Doritos if you can! Instead, get some fruit you really like or bake some homemade protein cookies! You’ll feel much more focused and productive, all while keeping your weight as you want it to be!
You can find many healthy snack recipes online, or you can improvise with what you have inside your kitchen! Whatever you do, make sure to keep your snacks nutritious and well balanced.
4. Don’t forget about your beauty sleep!
Light from coming from your screen and hours of being inactive can cause you to suffer through some sleep troubles. According to a-lifestyle.com, the ability to sleep well at night boils down to what you do before bed. So, having a set routine before you go to sleep is of the utmost importance.
Drink some warm milk just before you hop into your warm blankets, and don’t browse the internet right before closing your eyes. Besides that, you can always do some moderate exercises or yoga in the late evening hours. It will tire you out, and you’ll sleep much better. Keep a set sleeping schedule, and never, ever pull all-nighters. Just one day of missed sleep can have severe consequences on your health!
Overall, once you fix your sleeping habits, you’ll perform much better at work, and your health will be preserved!
5. Invest in a quality working set-up
If you’re doing your job on the kitchen counter or in your bed, you can expect to experience a lot of discomforts. Where you do your job matters! It should be a place with minimum distractions, but also comfortable enough to keep you from slouching.
So, if you don’t have a comfortable ergonomic chair to sit in while you’re working, make sure you get one immediately! As irrelevant as it sounds, it could be a huge game-changer!
Also, make sure you work under adequate lighting, and keep your space properly ventilated.
6. Create a daily plan
Having a set schedule in front of you can do wonders for your quarantine lifestyle! The hardest part of working remotely has to be learning how to self-organize. While it might be tempting to just “wing it”, a good plan can keep you from procrastinating and letting your workload get out of hand. Of course, these plans shouldn’t include only the working part of your day. You should also plan your meals, grocery shopping, exercise, even your free time!
Other than that, make sure you give yourself enough time to relax. Having some me-time on the daily basis can improve your mental health in a major way. So, take up a hobby, learn how to meditate, take walks around the neighborhood, and talk to your loved ones! It will certainly positively affect your lifestyle.
The bottom line
Staying healthy while working from home can be a daunting task, especially if you go into it unprepared. Of course, as long as you try to follow the tips provided in this article, you’ll certainly be able to succeed! So, remember to eat well, sleep well, drink a lot of water, exercise a bit, and invest in a comfy work chair!
