7 Tips to Stay Active & Healthy While Working From Home

Work from home and also being limited in where you can go and what you can do, has led to a more sedentary lifestyle that we were already leading. However, there are ways to combat this and stay active even with a more restrictive lifestyle.

Do you miss your morning rituals? The early morning sessions of jogging, running, or yoga before rushing off to work or various other errands has become more difficult. With work from home, there has been a break from these routines, and people are facing numerous challenges as a result. You’d think it’d be easy to get more done when you work from home, but often that’s not the case. With the social and physical isolation, it’s mentally more difficult to accomplish what you need to do, on top of trying to stay active and healthy as you used to be.

Here are some of the healthy lifestyle tips to stay active and happy while working from home.

7 Tips To Stay Active While Working From Home

1. Keep Exercise Equipment Handy

It’s easier to get in some activity and exercise if you have the equipment you need. Ask yourself which exercises you like and prefer and arm yourself the with right tools. For example, sit with resistance bands, dumbbells, push-up bars, and yoga mats. You can stretch yourself with a short break and frequently indulge in doing strength or other weigth bearing body exercises. If you spare just a few minutes for healthy lifestyle habits, and you will feel rejuvenated.

2. Get Into A Routine

Developing a regular routine can help you stay active. It takes time to really develop a new habit, so create and stick to a routine that works for you. Over time you’ll realize that staying active comes more naturally!

Some consistencies to keep in your routine include:

• Be regular with your work breaks and take them at around the same time each day. Small breaks can actually increase your productivity and help you stay fresh throughout the day.
• Go to sleep and wake-up at the same time everyday
• Regulate the amount of caffeine intake you have
• Make time to mental health checks, journaling, self-reflection
• Have a nighttime routine that truly helps you decompress

3. Make Healthy Food Choices

Along side exercise, make conscious food choices as well, and allow yourself time to actually eat and enjoy the meal. Don’t gulp down your lunch while on conference calls, and try not to “get stuff done” while you eat. It’s a break time, so utilize it to really disconnect for a little bit, and actually enjoy your meal. Part of feeling full and satisfied is being mindful of what you’re eating.

While you’re at it, avoid processed and pre-packaged meals as much as possible. Focus instead on nutritious, freshly made food. Having a healthy meal can go a long way towards avoiding the mid-afternoon crash you can get, and sustains your blood sugar levels so that you have continued energy to accomplish your tasks.

4. Walk While You Talk

When possible during your work day, you can stay physically active by choosing movement. On a call that doesn’t require video? Get up and take a brisk walk around while you talk. If you’re required to listen in and not participate, consider doing some weights while you’re at it.

Getting moving can help keep up energy throughout the day, improve blood flow, and helps you avoid bad posture and those aches and pains that build up from sitting at a computer for too long.

Make sure you invest in proper walking shoes!

6. Change Up The Scenery

If you need to work with people face to face, and its doable, schedule meetings outside your home. Better yet, plan to meet outside. You’ll not only get the benefits of fresh air, but the change in scenery can really motivate you to be more productive and can help you feel more accomplished.

You can combine this with the point above, where you can walk and talk, get your steps in and accomplish what you need to in the conversation. A win-win!

7. Practice Mindfulness

Whether through Yoga (try YouTube or DownDog app), meditation (apps like Insight App, Calm), or self-motivated mindfulness, practice calming your mind and emptying out all of your busy thoughts.

Before you sit down for the daily work, meditate or do yoga for at least 30 minutes. This can help you get to a place of calmness, more focus and increased productivity. In addition, mindfulness helps to reduce stress and improve sleep!  

Bringing It All Together

It is a fact that human bodies are not designed for continuous hours sitting in front of a computer. This can be exhausting and lead to physical strain. Over a period, it can also result in musculoskeletal problems or mental health issues. With so many alarms, you cannot ignore the need for healthy lifestyle habits. 

Nurture a beautiful work-from-home healthy lifestyle so that both your work and health stay in sync. If you are active and fresh, success and good quality work would surely come to you. Compromising your health at any cost is never worth it! What do you do to maintain a healthy lifestyle?

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TFP Thoughts: Making Changes To Your Routine

It can be difficult to adjust your routine, but you don’t need to make big drastic changes in order to develop a healthier lifestyle. Go for small changes, a little bit at a time. For instance, take the stairs over an elevator, start with short walks every other day for exercise, and make small changes with each of your meals so that you are including healthier options.

Change takes time, and the only way to sustain changes and truly make them a part of your routine is to do it slowly. In the process, learn what works for you and your particular work schedule. With time, the positive adjustments that you make will contribute to increasing energy levels, and you’ll feel better so that you want to continue on and stay active!

Additional comments: When it comes to working from home, it can be very isolating mentally and emotionally. I think everyone should consider connecting with a professional regularly to talk work through the mental pressures they are facing. Doing so can positively impact your overall health and also improve your ability to do all of the tips above. As we all know, mental health can control and affect everything else we do. So let’s not forget to nurture that as well!

Images courtesy of unsplash.