Working at home is something new for a lot of people. Ever since the pandemic started, companies have asked their employees to work from home. Some companies have even indicated that they may continue to practice remote work protocols even after the pandemic ends.
But the question is, are the employees mentally prepared to work from home? Working from home means your schedule has changed, and it may affect your productivity.
Due to this, you need to take care of yourself while you’re working at home. Here are some health and wellness tips you can practice so you’ll be productive and happy while working at home.
Maintain a Consistent Sleep Schedule
While working at home, you may be tempted to put your alarm on snooze until midday. This may sound tempting, but you need to stick to your pre-pandemic daily routine. This means you should stick to the regular schedule you had when you still needed to go to the office.
Sticking to the routine allows you to reduce stress since you can finish things on time rather than putting them off for later. You will also have a better sleep since you’ll be compelled to stick to your regular sleep schedule. Following a routine is essential for self-care, and when you don’t follow it, you’ll end up with poor eating habits and lesser energy than you used to have.
Create a Commute to Work Situation
Since you’re already following a routine, you can also create a situation where you’re pretending to commute to work. While it may not be actual commuting, you’ll train your body to get ready for work. Due to this, you should also take a shower and change from the clothes you slept in. The commute to work situation may include having a cup of coffee on your porch. You can even take a short walk in the neighborhood.
Commuting to work has been overlooked by many people. The commute allows people to shift from home-mode to work-mode. It also allowed people to catch up on current events or even check on what’s happening in their industry. So, you can consider these activities when you’re preparing yourself to work at home.
Set Up a Work Station
Your remote work station may be a laptop and a computer placed anywhere in the house. But it’s advisable to designate a separate area as your work station. The work station should include a good chair, a stable desk, and suitable lighting.
Setting it up close to a window can also be a good idea if you enjoy nature. Natural light coming from the window also improves your health and wellbeing. It can reduce eyestrain, drowsiness, and headaches. Just make sure your window is clean. If you see many bird droppings outside the window, it may be time for you to call a commercial bird control company to help you with this issue. You wouldn’t want the bird problem to get worse later on.
Have a Break
Taking a break during your workday was important when you were working in the office. The same thing can be said at this time, even if you’re working from home. While you may have deadlines to meet, you should also take breaks to avoid getting stressed too much. Besides keeping stress levels down, you can also keep yourself motivated if you take breaks while working. You can schedule the breaks to ensure your productivity doesn’t suffer.
Follow a Lunch Schedule
In addition to breaks, you should also follow a regular lunch schedule. Aside from allowing you to have a longer break, lunch also allows you to eat right. Working at home means unlimited snacks. But these snacks may not be celery or a carrot stick. More often than not, you’ll find yourself having a cookie or two. You may even open a bag of chips.
You can even prepare your lunch ahead of time to ensure you’ll have something to look forward to while working. If you follow a lunch schedule and eat a proper lunch, you won’t be tempted to get into your junk food stash in the cupboard.
Set a Time to Clock Out
Another thing to do to keep yourself healthy while working at home is to set a time when you’ll clock out. This is essentially sticking to your work routine where you follow a regular work schedule even though you’re working at home. So, when it’s time to log out, you should close your work email, shut down the laptop or computer, and start preparing for dinner.
Working from home can be both a blessing and a curse. But if you handle it well, you’ll end up being productive while taking care of your health at the same time.
