How To Maintain Good Health When Working From Home

Although most people who work from home will certainly admit that they’re lucky to have such a  flexible position that allows them this luxury. However, as much as we know it comes with so many benefits, we also would be the first to admit that it has it downsides, and one of the main downsides of working from home is that those who do it tend to neglect their health a little, so in this post we’re going to share with you some of our top tips for how to maintain good health when working from home.

Take breaks

When you’re working from home, you need to get into the mindset of treating it like you’re working outside of the home and be able to allow yourself to take proper breaks. Although this is definitely something that many business owners who work from really struggle with because they have good intentions of working to get things done in their business, it really in the long run can have negative consequences and not help your business at all, so even if it’s just a 30 or 40 minute lunch break and then a further 1-2 breaks throughout the day, depending on how many hours you work, you’re going to find that taking breaks will really make a big difference to your energy levels, productivity and output.

Get some exercise

Staying active through getting regular exercise is something that’s important for overall physical and mental health, but it’s even more important when you work from home since you’re likely going to be sitting a lot during the day, which has been proven in recent years to be extremely bad for health and even considered to be worse than smoking. Even if you work long hours, one of the benefits of running your own business is that you’re going to be able to set your own schedule and so you should be able to fit in some exercise, whether that’s using one of Aaptiv’s fitness apps, hitting the gym, or even just going for a walk around the block – what you do doesn’t matter nearly as much as the fact that you’re doing something and that you get into the habit of doing it regularly.

Eat lunch

When we say eat lunch, we don’t mean quickly shove a pot of microwave noodles down your throat at your desk whilst continuing to work, we mean actually get up, preferably go outside, but at the very least get away from your desk and eat something healthy and nutritious and take your mind off of work for the duration of that lunch break.

Of course, it’s a lot easier for us to sit here and tell you this than it is to do it, but like every other good habit that’s worth building, it’s definitely going to be worth the effort to try and get into the routine of taking a scheduled lunch break. If you want to save time on this, then a good idea is to prep your meals either for the week or just the night before so that you have something fresh and healthy to eat instead of being tempted by something you can just put in the microwave for 5 minutes.

Stay hydrated

Water is one of the most important things for human survival, so it’s something that we should be drinking a lot more of, and whilst this doesn’t mean that we aren’t allowed to enjoy other drinks or even indulge in the occasional soda or have a few cups of coffee during the day, if you’re looking to maintain better physical and mental health when working from home as well as being more productive and having overall better energy levels, then drinking water is going to help you with that. If you’re not into the taste of plain water, then you can try adding things like berries, chunks of other fruits, or even things like cucumber to add some more flavor and also more vitamins.

Have start and finish times

One of the biggest mistakes that people who work from home make is working basically around the clock, and this can be pretty easy to do when you live in the same place as you work, so although it can be a challenge to draw the line between the two, it’s really important that you’re able to, so by having a separate work space – even if it’s just another corner of the room or your dining room, and then having set start and finish times as you would do if working outside for someone else is really going to be a lot of help in maintaining that work/life balance needed for good health.