While we don’t work desk jobs, we can imagine working from home at a desk is a struggle for those that do. The biggest challenge with working at home is it’s easy to get distracted, to turn on the TV, to lose motivation and to slack off. On the other hand, because you are outside of your typical work environment you might find yourself working different hours than your typical business hours, snacking at different times throughout the day and more overall stress. So since we want to help you maintain a healthy lifestyle inside and outside of the office, we put together some tips to keep you staying well while working from home!
1. Start your day with meditation: Because you don’t have an exact time you have to be at the office, you can pretty much start your day when you want to, but we highly suggest making time in the morning for a 5 minute meditation to get you into the right headspace. Studies show that meditating for at least 5 minutes a day can reduce stress, chronic pain and levels of anxiety and depression. Start by taking care of your mental health first to get into the right mindset to be more efficient in your home office.
2. Know when to clock out: When working from home, it’s easy to continue to work through your lunch break or even into the late hours of the night, especially if you find yourself procrastinating. So give yourself a cut off time. At noon take an hour lunch, schedule in a 10 minute break to go for a walk and if you normally leave the office at 6pm, leave your desk at that time. Know when to step away and make sure your scheduling times throughout the day where you step away from your desk.
3. Stay active: Schedule time in your day to be active whether its going for a walk or scheduling in a 30 or 60 minute workout before or after work, just get your legs moving. It’s easy to get stuck at your desk, especially during quarantine, so don’t let yourself get comfortable there. Set an alarm on your phone every hour just to stand up and walk around. It will allow you to take a mental break from all the screen time and get your blood flowing.
4. Get dressed: This is a BIG one. I’m sure most of you have been rolling out of bed going straight to the desk in your PJ’s, because why not right? But think of going to your desk as a standard work day. We’re not saying to put on a suit or get fancy, but make yourself look presentable. Getting yourself dressed will give you a boost of motivation and help with productivity.
5. Healthy snacking: It can be really easy to get trapped in mindless eating of unhealthy food you might have around the house when working at a desk all day so make sure you have healthy snacks handy! Keep snacks that won’t make you sluggish and will give you energy when that midday slump comes along.
