Over the last year, many workers have been forced to work from home, with many now choosing to stay at home for work. That also means a lot of people aren’t moving around as much as they used to, here’s some advice on how you can stay fit.
Take Short Breaks To Walk
One of the most important things you need to bare in mind when working from home, is that you can’t allow your body to not be mobile. It can be difficult to get out of the routine with just sitting and working, but you should take occasional short breaks to walk around, stretching out your legs, either in your home or outside.
Join An Online Fitness Class
There are a variety of different fitness classes available online that you can look into, with a lot of them free. You can either sign up to live ones where you all workout together at the same time, or do pre-recorded ones.
There are worker specific classes, that are designed to start around lunchtime, allowing workers to have a workout during their break. The benefit with these classes, is that you don’t have to travel like you would for work, meaning you can jump into your own shower straight away.
Move Every Hour
In order to avoid muscle pain or eye strain if you work with screens, you should get up for a few minutes each hour, in order to keep moving. If you’re not moving for too long, then it could potentially damage your health. Even if you have done a decent amount of daily exercise, if you sit at your desk for hours afterwards, you could be increasing your risk of heart disease, obesity of diabetes.
There is never an excuse to not move for a few minutes, even in a busy work schedule, as it only takes a tiny amount of time. Employers are also party responsible for your own wellbeing, so they will be happy to let it happen if you were worried, just maybe not in a meeting.
Eat Well Even At Home
Working from home means you will have your own food on hand for meals throughout the day, so you won’t have to rely on office snacks, or ordering food in from local places. This gives you complete freedom to eat whatever you want from your kitchen.
There are a range of healthy options you could consider, from custom made salad lunches, or leftover dinners from the evening before. There is no one around to worry about stealing your lunch, apart from anyone you share your home with, so there is less anxiety surrounding food and meals within your work.
What many people make the mistake of when it comes to working from home, is utilising a food delivery service to order in bring in unhealthy food from a takeaway, as it’s convenient. This is not only bad for your health, but it can ruin your work schedule as you’re feeling more slumped from the food.
Whereas if you eat healthier and avoid snacks, then you may be setting up your work day to be more productive. It can be extremely difficult to avoid the temptation of snacking, especially because you know you’ve got all your favourite snacks in.
There are ways to get around this, such as by consuming meal replacement shakes. These shakes are designed to be both a tasty and nutritional boost to your body, packed full of vitamins and positive proteins. Shake That Weight offer different shakes that come in different flavours such as white chocolate and raspberry, as well as classic traditional strawberry and caramel. Here’s a range to get you started.
Consider Combining Exercise Into Your Work
What you can do, is combine your exercise into your work life, such as with an under the desk cycling system. This is a simple machine that enables you to pedal whilst sat at your work, which you can do at intervals during the day, or whilst you’re working in general.
You could keep some weights by your desk, that you can use during calls or waiting for files or other systems to upload. This ensures that you’re keeping active whilst working, at times when the business has slowed down. You can pick up free weights that are a variety of different types, sizes and weights to get you started.
This way, you can work and do exercise all in one. Don’t overexert yourself, as you may impact your work afterwards, which can be awkward to explain to management.
Start Your Day With A Stretch
Before doing anything work related for the day, you should consider engaging in some stretching to prepare you for the day. There are a variety of different stretches you can do, even from within your bed before getting up.
Classic stretches include knees to chest, which helps to stretch out your lower back, or the cobra stretch, which involved you laying down on your stomach, placing your hands flat beneath your shoulders, raising your head and chest.
In order to be best equipped for a day of work, you need to feel able to move, and not sluggish, aching or filled with tension. This is happening to a lot of workers at home, as they are doing less physical activity during the day.
Even just a few minutes of stretches each morning will help stretch out your major muscle groups, with each stretch lasting anywhere from 10-30 seconds.
Workout In A Different Room From Where You Work
Depending on the space you have available, it can be a bonus if you’re able to workout in a different room from the one you work in. That’s because of the phycological effect it can have on your mind, where you will associate certain rooms for tasks.
It also offers a nice breakaway from work, as if you’re in your work room, you may be constantly thinking of work, not enabling you to focus. It also may be the case that you have more room to play with in a separate room, or even using a garden.
Utilise A Standing Desk
With more workers now working from home, they have more freedom in what their workspace will look like. That’s why standing desks have become more popular, especially the adjustable ones. This allows users to sit at desks and adjust them to be taller, allowing you to stand at them whilst you work.
This gives more options, enabling you to switch between them at will. Being able to vary the position in which you’re sitting, offers a much-improved difference to your overall wellbeing. Standing has been proved to help burn off extra calories compared to sitting, which helps break up the sitting cycle.
Get Occasional Fresh Air
Often times, people who work at home wake up, work throughout the day, and stop, without ever stepping outside of their home. You should try to break up your day where you can, such as stepping outside for a few minutes to take in fresh air.
Even if you live in the middle of a bustling city, it will be better for you than sitting at your desk all day with a window slightly ajar. If you have a garden, then of course that is a big bonus too, but it’s not always possible.
