Working remotely has several benefits, such as avoiding traffic and commutes, having more flexible hours, and being able to spend more time on hobbies. However, Quartz at Work notes how remote work can also have negative effects on an employee’s health and well-being. For one, working at home can dissolve boundaries, leading employees to work way past their office hours since they have the mindset that they’re just at home anyway. As a result, this can lead to stress and burnout. Another is that long periods of sitting down with limited mobility can contribute to back pain and even obesity.
Remote workers must make the effort to maintain their health. Here are a few ways remote professionals from different industries find helpful in their mission to stay fit.
The sudden rage of Covid 19 throughout the world led most companies and even educational institutions to work remotely from the ease of their home. Well, the ease of working from home has dramatically impacted our physical health for the worse. One of the advantages of working from your traditional office is that you are always on the move and you burn calories while commuting daily through the crowded streets to reach your office. However, the change in the working system has affected our daily schedule. Hence, you must stay fit if you are working remotely. Your health will falter if you do not take immediate steps and develop a healthy schedule for yourself.
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Contents
How to Stay Fit When You Work Remotely
Do Some Quick on-the-spot Cardio:
A job in the healthcare industry is demanding and many physicians are struggling to find a good work-life balance. As such, some physicians have transferred to telehealth where they can work remotely and gain more control over their time. The telehealth physician jobs on Wheel show how remote work has allowed healthcare workers to have a better working experience, as they get to design their own schedule and prevent over-committing to shifts. This is done using various telecommunication technologies like remote patient monitoring to do their job.
Still, physicians and other doctors must keep in tip-top shape—no matter the setting—in order to continue serving their patients. One doctor shared with US News how one easy way to get physical while working from home is to do “exercise snacks.” These are minute-long vigorous exercises performed throughout the day. It’s a quick way to get some movement in despite busy schedules. You can perform jumping jacks, squats, or even run up and down your stairs. The point is to perform quick, on-the-spot exercises that can quicken your heart rate between short breaks.
Establish a Time for Exercise:
Unlike campus learning, work from home teachers often sits in front of the camera for hours on end with little breaks in between, which can result in bad posture and body pains. The good news, however, is that teachers have fixed schedules. So, to ensure they stay fit, Edutopia recommends that remote teachers set aside a specific time during the day for exercising. This can be 15 minutes before clocking in or 5 minutes in between classes.
Likewise, set a daily reminder for fitness such as 10 minutes during lunch. Doing so ensures that you get some physical activity no matter how busy your schedule gets. One simple exercise you can do during this time is a deep squat with a thoracic rotation from our post ‘10 Thoracic Spine Mobility Exercises.
Go for a Walk:
Working as a remote lawyer involves spending long days navigating cases. This entails a lot of time spent sitting down to speak with clients, reviewing documents, and participating in meetings. In addition to this prolonged sedentary behavior, stress can easily result from the heavy workload, which can lead to heart disease and or high blood sugar levels if left unattended.
To combat this, one remote legal consultant shares with LinkedIn how she takes a walk before starting work since it’s a simple way to move the body, lift mood, and increase energy levels. Similarly, try walking around during your breaks or after you get work done for the day. Walking lets you stretch and move your body after sitting down for long periods. You can even walk while in a meeting, as long as you don’t need to have a camera on.
One of the disadvantages of working from home is that it makes your lifestyle sedentary. So, if you have to do small errands, it is better to use your foot than the vehicle. It is a great way to keep you physically fit. Though it takes some time to reach your destination, it will allow some stretching of your legs and muscles, which are otherwise inactive during the more significant part of the day. Walking will improve your fitness and overall physical health, improve your body’s metabolism, and make you active. You must be aware that sitting for long hours in one place can increase your blood sugar level leading to cholesterol and weight gain.
Join an Online Fitness Class:
Authors spend most of their time hunched over computers and papers. This can cause pain in their wrists, neck, and back. It also prevents them from getting any movement unless they intentionally choose to do so. This is why an author wrote on Medium that joining an online fitness class was a good way to stay active, especially for people like her who have a more flexible schedule compared to other remote professionals.
Doing an exercise with an instructor or other class members can motivate you to move since you’re technically bonding with other people. It also ensures that you do the moves correctly, preventing injury. There are many available online fitness classes today ranging from yoga to high-intensity interval training.
Staying fit is a must for remote workers in order to maintain their health. Try out some of these tips from fellow work-from-home professionals the next time you’re looking to get some exercise in.
Remain Hydrated:
If you are working remotely, cut down your coffee or tea intake. Though it makes you look cool, it deprives your body of water. Moreover, coffee or tea is not a substitute for water. Hence, if you do not want to face health issues, you must stay hydrated throughout the day. You will feel better and healthier if you increase your intake of water as it controls your body’s metabolism. So, it is time you remove the coffee mug from your table and replace it with a bottle of water. You will be surprised to see the positive changes in your health within some weeks.
Regulate Your Food Habits:
When you are at work, you need to follow specific company norms. However, the situation is entirely different when you are working remotely. You have the comfort of your house and the ease of having food at any time, and you will get into the habit of consuming junk food that is not at all beneficial to your health. Hence, you must develop a schedule for your intake of healthy food like your office and stop the temptation of your taste buds from munching unnecessarily. So, it is advisable that before you start your work in the morning, get your lunch packed and have it at the same time as your office hours. It is advisable to take short breaks between your work but do not use the breaks to consume junk food.
Perform Simple Stretching:
Since there has been a transition in our work culture, it has dramatically affected our mobility. It is because your flexibility suffers when you sit behind a computer all day. The same goes for educators, who are continuously on their feet in their schools or colleges. However, when you teach from the comfort of your house, you are rigid in one place for hours. It is a severe issue that can significantly affect your health physically. Therefore, you should get out of the clutches of a daily monotonous schedule. Try out some simple stretches like yoga exercises once in a while during the day.
Leave Your Chair To Breathe For Some Time:
It is essential that while working at home, you must take regular breaks, and it will help you to get out of sluggishness. Hence, the option is to move around for some time before returning to your desk, and it will help the muscles relax and refresh for the upcoming working hours. If you are unaware of the time passing by, set a timer on your desk so that you know it is time to relax your mind and muscles. You can stretch your arms and wrists and turn your head on either side, and it will bring comfort and relaxation to your otherwise stressed body.
Get Rid of Mental Stress:
You feel isolated when confined to a place for long hours, which begins your mental stress. You must find ways to return to your usual self at once. Since you are already taking care of your physical health, it is equally important to care for your mental health. Hence, you must ensure you get enough sleep at night and manage your stress level. Therefore, it is advisable not to allow the work pressure to control you, ultimately leading to mental stress. Hence, it would be best if you took time for yourself each day.
Set Exercise Goals That Are Logical:
Never try to set a goal that looks unrealistic for you. So, if you plan to wake up early in the morning to do some workout, disturbing your sleep, it will never happen. It may happen on the first day, but you will have an excuse on the following days. Hence, planning a time that will suffice your schedule is advisable. There are many other ways where you can plan out a fixed schedule for yourself for workouts. However, you shouldn’t bring in any other work during the specific schedule. It is time to give yourself some space and improve your overall health, especially if you are working remotely.
Stay Connected:
Working from home can be pretty depressing. You miss those small chats and corridor discussions with your colleagues. Moreover, since you are working in isolation, it can affect you mentally. So, it is better to be active virtually with your friends and colleagues. Discuss with them your whereabouts and problems. It will bring a lot of comfort to you mentally.
Set Up Your Home Working Table:
You must set up your work table in the correct order to maintain a good posture while working on your computer. Sometimes the workload is so much that you forget to sit in the correct position, and it causes tension in your muscles resulting in strains and back pain. The height of the computer also must be at a level to your eyes. So, please adjust it according to your convenience so that it does not strain your eyes. Hence, making simple adjustments while working at home, can significantly benefit. It will provide you comfort while at work and keep you away from strains and back pain.
Walk While You Talk:
There are some moments during your working hours when you need to take a call, and it is the time when you do not need your computer screen. So, instead of sitting on your chair walk while you talk. It is an excellent way to un-intense your muscles and legs as it significantly benefits your physical health and overall well-being. You can also encourage your co-workers to indulge in the same activity. These short breaks during work can normalize your body’s blood flow, resulting in less stress and tension in the muscles.
Use Fitness Apps:
In the present era, with several fitness apps online, you can easily track one according to your convenience. Hence, it is essential that if you want to stay fit, take some time to do a little research on the fitness app that works best for you. It can be a routine exercise like climbing stairs or walking several steps daily. However, you must remember to choose the right app you can perform. Moreover, just downloading the app and not using it is not viable. After all, it is your health that matters. If you are regular with your daily workouts, you will feel refreshed as it helps in the smooth flow of blood in your system and removes all the pains and strains of your muscles.
Get A Standing Desk:
We all are aware that working from home is sometimes quite stressful. Since there are fewer distractions, you will most likely be glued to your chair for hours. It tenses your muscles resulting in back pain and other health problems. The best solution to overcome the problem is to get a standing desk for you. It helps you to work while standing up, and it will help you move around and keep your body fit.
Conclusion
When you work remotely, you are depriving your body of regular exercise. Many are severely concerned as we are physically confined to one place. Therefore, you must adjust your work-from-home routine to maintain your health physically and mentally. Hence, it is time you take some time for yourself and indulge in small physical activities that will prevent you from feeling lazy and sluggish.
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