Looking for wellness tips for working from home?
Want to improve your personal wellness while working from home?
Do you need tips for developing good work-from-home wellness habits? You’re not the only one!
This year has brought on unexpected professional and personal changes. Everything that was once normal was abruptly altered back in March and hasn’t been the same since. The environments we live and work in have largely become intertwined. This makes juggling a job, as well as home and family responsibilities, very difficult.
With so many responsibilities in your daily life, it can be difficult to take into consideration your own personal wellness. However, prioritizing your own mental and physical well-being is fundamental in succeeding in all other aspects of life. There are many things you can do to stay productive while working from home, and ensuring your own wellness will only help.
It shouldn’t feel selfish to take the time and energy to focus on yourself. Here are some tips and tricks on how you can be mindful of your own well-being so that you can best accomplish all of your other daily responsibilities and goals.
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How do you take care of yourself while working from home?
Wellness incorporates both physical and mental health. Because of this, you not only need to form habits that are vital in keeping you from falling ill but you need to maintain a healthy mental state as well.
With many of us likely to be working from home for the indefinite future, forming a routine full of healthy habits is incredibly important. Your home office likely looks vastly different from your old one, with an abundance of new and different distractions than you were used to.
If you want to prioritize wellness while working from home, there are several things you can do to start:
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7 Emotional Wellness Tips for Working at Home
#1. Start and Maintain a Daily Routine
The start of the pandemic threw off many once-normal routines. Our schedules consisted of mostly the same tasks: work, commutes, the gym, dinner, etc. These events largely occurred in the same order, allowing for a feel-good routine. In March, most of this came to a halt and continues to look very different today.
Maintaining a steady schedule can positively influence our well-being. Having a regular bedtime, eating healthily, and exercising regularly are all necessary for optimal wellness.
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Working from home can make it much more difficult to maintain a steady schedule, however. Office life provided an easy structure to build a schedule around, and without it, it can be easier to become ungrounded.
Counteract this work-from-home effect by creating a strict daily schedule that incorporates many of these healthy habits. Set a bedtime not only for your kids but also for yourself and your spouse.
Meal plan ahead of time so that you can save time at the store, and include plenty of fruits and vegetables. Use a planner or a productivity app, like Trello, to put your schedule into writing.
By sticking to a routine, you will help your mind stay organized, and find yourself better equipped to tackle your daily tasks.
#2. Manage Your Time Wisely By Minimizing Unnecessary Chores
After a long week of work, nothing seems less appealing than completing household chores. During the first few weeks of lockdown, it was more acceptable to put off these undesirable tasks. However, as we are adapting to this new normal, we must accept that cleaning and shopping must go on.
While it’s necessary to do these household chores, why not make it easier on yourself? Fortunately, with technology, we have so many apps and services available at our fingertips that not only make our lives easier but also can save time.
For example, take going to the store. Instead of spending the time commuting to the store and shopping, you could easily have your daily essentials delivered. Not only will you have more time on your hands, but you will also avoid going into crowded public places during the flu and cold season.
Are you feeling overwhelmed by your cleaning to-do list? You can create lists that breakdown tasks by room so that you can easily tackle fall cleaning. Rather than spending time procrastinating, you can get the job done, and spend more time doing things you actually enjoy.
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These are just a couple of examples of how technology can help you save time. With most tasks, you can find tips, tricks, and possibly an app, that will make it easier to finish these dreaded household chores.
#3. Check-In With Friends and Colleagues
Not being in the office means that you no longer are around your coworkers for eight hours a day. This can be a positive or a negative, depending on how you look at it. Gone are the days of the enjoyable small talk at your coworker’s desk or at the vending machine. But you no longer have to worry about getting stuck in a twenty-minute long unproductive conversation either.
These social interactions are vastly important to our general wellbeing. A study has even shown that small amounts of socialization can prevent dementia in the elderly. As social beings, interactions with one another are vital to our mental health.
While your weekly team meetings to discuss work are certainly good and necessary, you should strive to engage with colleagues on a more personal level as well. Try to set up a time to catch up with your coworkers over virtual coffee or schedule a happy hour with your team.
Find time to interact with each other when work isn’t the only topic at hand. Not only will this make you feel happier, but you will likely find that it helps you build more confidence in your team members at work as well.
Outside of work colleagues, try to find time to connect with family and friends. With FaceTime and Zoom, it has never been easier to have virtual face-to-face interactions with loved ones, allowing for a more personal connection.
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#4. Make Physical Activity a Daily Priority
Working from home gives you the luxury of working from your couch, your bed, or your favorite living room chair. It also probably means you are on your computer all the time, leading to a more sedentary day than you might have had in the office. This is especially true for those whose gym memberships were put on hold.
Challenge yourself to add exercise to your daily routine. This does not mean you have to start running ten miles every day. Instead, add in attainable goals: start doing 15 minutes of yoga or pilates or go for a 10-minute walk in your neighborhood. You can even set a timer every hour to remind yourself to get up and move so that you avoid sitting still all day long.
Additionally, many gyms are having virtual workouts that you can take part in to motivate yourself to move. Find a workout buddy at work, and hold each other accountable so that you both make time to stay active.
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Lastly, consider creating a standing desk in your home office. Alternate between standing and sitting, as sitting all day has detrimental effects on our health. Adding these habits to your work-from-home life will not only keep you from getting sick but will also help improve your emotional well-being as well.
#5. Define Your Work-Life Schedule
While working from home, it is easy to stay in work-mode well past the typical 9-5. To avoid burnout at work, it is important to set boundaries for when you will start and end your workday. We all need time to relax and decompress after a busy day of work, so giving yourself time in the evening to do that will help you avoid unnecessary stress and anxiety.
Start by setting up a schedule that works for you. Decide what time you will start working and what time you will end, and don’t deviate from it. Then communicate this schedule with your team, so that they know not to call or email you when you are not working.
Be sure that you are working reasonable hours. While working remotely, it is easy to overwork yourself, which can be taxing to your well-being. By keeping a strict work schedule, you can largely avoid straining yourself, which will ultimately help your productivity during appropriate working hours.
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#6. Keep Your Immune System Strong
During the flu and cold season, it is extremely important to take the necessary precautions to stay healthy. Make sure to practice these healthy habits:
- Wash your hands for at least 20 seconds with soap.
- Eat healthily by incorporating enough fruits and vegetables in your meals. Try to eat plenty of foods that are high in vitamin C and D.
- Be sure to get plenty of sleep. The CDC recommends that adults get at least seven hours of sleep.
- Avoid crowded public places and interacting with sick people when possible.
Fortunately, if you do not have to go into the office, you can largely avoid interacting with people who are ill. Practice these good health habits and hopefully, you will stay well all fall and winter long!
#7. Prioritize You By Practicing Self-Care
Your personal wellness journey starts with you. Life can throw so many curveballs your way. Sometimes it feels as if the journey is as difficult as it could be, which makes good self-care tactics of the utmost importance.
With remote work eliminating your daily commute, you suddenly have many more minutes, if not hours, added to your day. For as long as you are able to work from home, you can redirect this commute time to be used for self-care. Use the extra time to do something you enjoy: read a book, go for a walk, practice yoga, play an instrument, or do anything that makes you feel better and less stressed.
This has been a stressful and unprecedented year. Take the time you need to process everything that is going on in your life and in the world, and use whatever tactics that work best for you to destress and relax.
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You Can Find Ways to Improve Your Wellness While Working from Home
Practicing good wellness habits while working from home can be challenging. Because of this, prioritizing these habits is a great start to achieving greater well-being, all from the comforts of your own home.
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Please remember to be sure to seek professional help if you need it.
No matter how busy and overwhelming life can feel while working from home, take time for yourself. Take time to take care of yourself!
Maintain that balance between work and home life as much as possible.
You deserve it!
Want to take care of yourself while working at home? Click here for 7 wellness tips for working from home that prioritize your emotional health. #Wellness #MentalHealth #EmotionalWellness #WorkFromHome
What wellness tips for working from home do you like best?
Last Updated on December 9, 2021
