Looking After Your Health Now You Work From Home

September 21, 2020

Many of us have been thrown in the deep end with the need to work from home suddenly. Although some people have been able to return to their normal workplace, it’s a standard operating procedure for many companies to have their employees working from home for the foreseeable future, meaning many of us don’t know when we will be returning to normal working life.

Something that we need to ensure we are focusing on during this time is our health while we work from home. When we’re in the office we have hidden things that remind us to keep moving like going to get a coffee, to have a break away from your screen, or know the ideal standard desk height

Let’s have a look below at some of the ways you can stay healthy while working from home: 

Look At Your Working Setup

You need to make sure the working area that you are using is set up correctly. Think about things like good lighting, the right height for your desk and chair, no-slip or trip hazards, your screens being the right height, and a window to let in the fresh air. When you’re in the office, it is likely that these will be looked after for you so, now you are working from home and responsible for your working area it’s important for you to make it healthy yourself. 

Take Regular Breaks

When you are working in an office you will most likely be on top of your break times. You will take your morning break, lunch, and go for regular tea/coffee breaks, but when you are at home it can be very easy to forget to take the breaks you’re entitled to and overworked yourself. Think about setting yourself an alarm to remind you to take a break or grab some lunch, and remember to take a break away from the screen especially if your eyes are feeling strained. It might be a good idea to go for a walk on your lunch break to ensure you are getting your daily exercise. 

Look After Your Mental Health 

When you work from home it is essential for you to look after your mental health and wellbeing. It can take its toll not to have social interaction with your colleagues, and some people’s mental well-being can really take a knock when they are working and living at home. There are ideas online about ways to help with this some of the most popular include using Zoom to hold virtual coffee mornings or breaks with your work colleagues. Not just a meeting, but instead a little time to catch up, have a chat and bring a little normality back to the working day. It’s been proven to dramatically help boost moods and keep people positive through this difficult time, it’s far to easy to become and start to feel as though you are a little cut off when you work from home. 

These are three ways that you can look after your health now that you are working from home. What have you been doing to make sure you stay healthy? Please share some ideas in the comments below.

Mark Asquith

That British podcast guy, Mark is co-founder of Captivate.fm, the world's only growth-oriented podcast host. A Harvard, TEDx, Podcast Movement and Podfest speaker (amongst many more!), he's a wildly approachable Brit and Star Wars/DC Comics geek.

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