The ability to work from home is great in so many ways, but like everything else, it has its downsides, and one of those downsides is that working from home can have negative health implications.
A big reason for this is the prolonged sitting involved since people who work from home tend to work on computers and sit at desks, and in recent years many studies have really started to show the major negative side effects of prolonged sitting, can result in problems later in life that may even require orthopedic surgery and some have even said that it decreases life expectancy by years and it’s also said to be right up there on a danger par with smoking.
Another downside of working at a computer and sitting at a desk all day is that it can cause things like bad posture, tension headaches, and even migraines. If you’ve ever dealt with a migraine, then you know they’re no laughing matter and can really impact your life in major ways, and even limit your ability to be around certain things like strong smells, and although there are plenty of remedies out there, we’d like to help you avoid migraines completely if possible, so in this post we’re going to share with you some of our top health tips for working from home.
Stay active:
As mentioned above, sitting for long periods really isn’t healthy, and we know that staying active is also part of a healthy lifestyle anyway, so make sure that you’re getting in at least 20 minutes of dedicated exercise each day – even if it’s just a walk around your block or a short round of yoga, it’s going to make a big difference to your body and your mind which will keep you more focused on your work and your ability to get things done and be productive.
Have starting and finishing hours:
One thing that people who work from home commonly struggle with is creating a work/life balance for themselves, and the best way to deal with this is to create set start and finishing hours for yourself just like you’d have if you were working for someone else. Not only will this make you more productive during the day because you don’t have an infinite amount of time to get things done, but it’s overall better for your physical and mental health.
Take proper breaks:
If you were working for an employer, then you’d be required by law to take breaks throughout the day, and there are real reasons for this – mainly it’s because the company don’t want to get sued because they didn’t follow the law, but the actual law is there to protect people from being unfocused and overworked which can result in accidents happening and cause health problems not to just the employee, but to others as well because both the body and brain need time to recharge, so give yourself at the very least a lunch break each day to eat something proper and healthy, and also a few breaks to just get away from the computer for a cup of tea or coffee.
