How to Stay Healthy While Working From Home

As many Americans continue working from home, we are learning how it may affect our health. Here’s how to stay healthy while working from home.

The idea of allowing people to work from home used to be considered a fringe benefit and a distant dream. The pandemic has changed all of this, and turned the possibility of working from home into a requirement for many. After the initial glow of freedom from office constraints wears off, many find that the technicalities of working from home are more difficult than the idea seemed to suggest. The following are some tips to stay healthy while working from home.

Tip #1: Create A Schedule

One of the biggest disruptions to the life of the average employee during this pandemic has been to our routines and schedules. Instead of getting up early to get ready for our morning commute to the office, many of us have learned that we can drag ourselves out of bed at the last minute, grab some coffee, and go to work in our pajamas. While this lack of structured routine can initially feel like a luxury, it can take a toll on our mental health, over time.

The importance of having a routine is instilled in us from the time we are children. We learn that, in order to stay organized, focused, and on-track, we need to have a game plan for our day and week. The work schedules that existed, pre-pandemic, forced many of us to keep up this structured approach during adulthood. Now, our adulthood requires even more maturity, as we have become responsible for restructuring our own daily work activities.

Rather than allowing the various events of the day to carry us along on the unpredictable current, we do well to take our days of working from home by the reins. Select a time to wake up each morning that allows for as much activity as you engaged in before working from home. Determine a specific time to take your daily shower and to practice similar hygiene routines as practiced when going into the office every day. Set your alarm to go off during regular lunch and break periods, and commit to stepping away from the computer and work phone during such times. Set another alarm to remind you when it is the end of the working day, and commit to leaving the remaining work for tomorrow.

Tip #2: Designate A Work Environment

Along with having a good work routine established, it is important to create a dedicated work space to help you stay healthy while working from home. Balancing home life with work life is challenging enough. Trying to separate the two worlds while occupying the same environment makes doing so even more difficult. Failing to find a way to erect boundaries between work and personal space can lead to stress, anxiety, and burnout for those working from home.

While our ability to create an entirely separate home office may depend on our available space and funding sources, there are ways to make the distinction without making drastic changes or purchases. Those on a laptop may be using the dining room table as a desk, but unplugging the computer and putting it away after 5 p.m. can change the feel of the space during dinner time. Those using their desktop for both work and leisure can similarly decide to remove all work papers from the desk at the end of the working day, and can make logging out of all work accounts into a symbolic gesture of unplugging from the office.

Tip #3: Value Ergonomics

Many of us who are working from home have noticed that we are moving around much less. Not only are we not having to take the short walk from the parking lot to our office, there are no office stairs to climb and no necessary treks across the office to drop off paperwork. This lack of required movement can take a toll on our bodies, and the importance of using proper posture is even more vital to stay healthy.

The study of ergonomics has determined, for years, that office workers benefit from using comfortable chairs, height-appropriate desks, and naturally accommodating keyboards. Just as these features reduce back pain and chance of injury in the office, they do so for those of us who are working from home. Consider putting some money into your physical comfort when designing your home office space.

Tip #4: Use Your Sick Days

It can be very tempting, when no one is actually around to observe our dripping nose or flushed face, to continue working from home when not feeling well. The removed burden of having to explain our sickly appearance to our office coworkers can be enough to convince us that we should soldier on and get our daily workload done, even though part of our mind is screaming at us to go back to bed.

While working from home, it is important to remember that what you are doing is operating on the clock for an employer. Just as you would not be timid about using your sick days to stay home from the office, use them to stay away from your work tasks. Taking care of yourself is just as important – and some might say even more important – while working from home.

Those personal hours are accumulating just the same as they were, before, and they are designed for you to use when you need a break. Don’t forget that mental health is part of the package, as well. The use of sick days as mental health days is increasingly supported by employers across the nation. It’s important to utilize these sick days to stay healthy.

Tip #5: Get Outside

For far too many Americans, the only outside time we see during the work week is during our commutes and lunch breaks. Work hours are designed to take up the bulk of our daylight hours, and this is particularly true during the winter months. Health experts have known for centuries about the health benefits of feeling sunlight on our skin.

With the lack of commuting taking place during the pandemic, and with the convenience of walking into the next room to have lunch, making sure that we spend some time outdoors each day requires concentrated effort to help you stay healthy. Dedicate at least one of your scheduled break times to going outside and soaking up some rays.