Working from home has its advantages. You’ll save money on transportation, work attire, and meals. In fact, you may be more productive with fewer distractions while getting some household chores done between meetings. These perks sound great. However, working from home can create unique mental and physical challenges.
Working from home can blur the lines between your work and personal life. Home environments can be distracting, and balancing them in the same space can be challenging. You’ll likely sit longer without a daily commute or short walks between meetings, and being in your own home makes it easier to snack while working. So, let’s look at simple strategies to mitigate the pitfalls of working from home and protect your mental and physical well-being.
Setting Yourself Up For Success
Fortunately, you can protect your mental and physical health while working from home. It just takes planning, communicating, and discipline. You can start by establishing a routine that sets boundaries and includes wellness breaks.
Create A Work From Home Schedule
Going to work every day establishes a daily routine. You wake up at a specific time and commute to your place of work. During the day, you take breaks, and at the end of the day, you commute home. You may not realize it, but that structure is essential to help separate work and home life. It also establishes clear boundaries where working at home after hours may be more voluntary and on your terms.
Creating a schedule can clearly define when you start and stop working, take breaks to eat, exercise, and connect with others. If you already have a calendar with your scheduled meetings, then add your breaks and exercise. Otherwise, create and maintain a calendar. You don’t have to share all your appointments, only the time blocks you will be unavailable.
Establishing Boundaries
A schedule is vital to establish a routine while working from home. However, unless everyone has access to it, they won’t know when it is appropriate to approach you during your workday. Establishing and communicating your boundaries is vital. Without clear boundaries, work can infringe on your personal time, leading to exhaustion and burnout. Constantly being available increases your stress, reducing your focus and productivity since there is less time for you to rest and recharge.
Without boundaries, you may not have the time to invest in your hobbies and relationships. As a result, it can negatively impacting your emotional well-being and the people around you. If you are always on, you’ll have less personal time to do what you enjoy.
Therefore, tell everyone you interact with frequently, personally and professionally, about your boundaries. Otherwise, your schedule may be thrown off, increasing your stress. You are important, and setting boundaries is critical to ensure you have time for self-care.
Take Breaks
Sitting is something you do for many reasons besides working from home, so it can’t be avoided altogether. Sitting for long hours can affect your posture. You may feel the strain on your neck, shoulders, and back, as well as stiffness in your hips and legs.
Even if you have time blocked off in your schedule for lunch and exercise, you’ll still be sitting for hours during your work day. Therefore, you should take a brief break every hour or so, even if it’s just standing up and stretching for a few minutes. You can easily sneak in a few push-ups, sit-ups, or squats to get your blood moving, fill your water bottle, and look away to help reduce eye strain. These small breaks can help boost your energy and regain your focus.
Dealing With Stress
Whether you work from home or in an office, you will experience stressful situations. Instead of letting your inner critic chip away at your mental health, take a moment to do some deep breathing for thirty seconds, go for a ten-minute walk, or do some yoga poses. These moments help reduce your stress, boost your mood, and revitalize you.
When working from home, snacks may be more accessible. You may eat more, especially when stressed, leading to unhealthy weight gain. Instead, eat healthy foods that will help boost your energy instead of empty calorie snacks that will leave you feeling tired and lethargic.
Stress is a part of life, no matter where you work and what you do. Managing your stress will protect your mental and physical health.
The Takeaway
Working from home has its benefits and drawbacks. On the one hand, you can save time and money and be more productive with fewer distractions. On the other hand, the line between work and personal life blurs, and you may experience feelings of loneliness and uncertainty because you are disconnected from your coworkers. However, learning to manage your schedule, maintaining a consistent routine, and dealing with stress will protect your mental and physical health and make you a better person for those around you.
FitTrend’s mission is to help you along your self-improvement journey, promote an active lifestyle, and help you achieve your goals. Our journal can help you track your workouts, weight, mood, calories, and more. Also, FitTrend allows you to connect supported gadgets to your account to make it easier for you to update your journal automatically. Create your account today and start using FitTrend for free!
Disclaimer: No content on this site should ever be used as a substitute for direct medical advice from your doctor or other qualified clinician.
