5 Working from Home Health Hacks to Improve Your Wellbeing!
Working from home has become a part of many individuals’ new reality.
The pandemic opened up the opportunity for lots of us to work from home on a more regular basis.
But how does this impact our health?
In this blog, we’ll share 5 health hacks to help improve your health and wellbeing while working from home.
Contents
Video on Working From Home Health Hacks
5 Working from Home Health Hacks!
How Does Working from Home Impact Health?
Video on Working From Home Health Hacks
5 Working from Home Health Hacks!
Adopting these 5 health habits will help you to improve your health, reduce physical discomforts and support your wellbeing.
1. Hydration Hack!
According to USGS, the human body is approximately 55-60% water.
Water is a vital component of our bodies which means that it’s important we’re consuming enough of it to ensure our bodies function efficiently.
If the human body is approximately 55-60% water, how do we expect it to function efficiently if we’re not staying hydrated?
What about our brain?
What percentage of our brain is made up of water?
According to Dent Institute the human brain is approximately 75% water!
If we’re not staying hydrated, how do we expect our brain to function efficiently while working from home.
How do we expect to make those important decisions throughout our day.
So how much water should you drink?
According to Mayo Clinic, the average man should aim to drink 3.7 litres of water and the average woman should drink 2.7 litres of water.
This may sound daunting at first but the human body does absorb some of its water intake through our food.
We recommend taking on the 2 litre challenge.
Aiming to drink two litres of pure water from the moment you start your day to the moment you finish your day.
Using a water bottle like the picture below can help you to keep track throughout the day.
2. Neck Pain Hack
Do you know how much the human head weighs?
According to GW Osteopathy, the human head weighs approximately 5kg (11lbs).
While working from home hunched over a laptop, can you imagine the amount of pressure that you’re putting on your neck?
Especially if doing this for long periods, day after day.
(These are all things we talk about on our wellbeing webinars)
Many individuals working from home experience neck pain, and being hunched over a laptop is most definitely a contributing factor.
This is where a laptop stand can help.
Although this will not be the only factor causing your neck pain, reducing the pressure of your head on your neck can help to prevent the pain.
A key phrase that will help you to understand this concept is “vision drives posture”.
Wherever you look, your posture follows.
A laptop stand will allow you to look eye level at your monitor and reduce the chances of you being hunched over your screen.
Below are a few options that could help.
Gorilla Laptop Stand (Ideal for a set location working from home)
Bontec Laptop Stand (Ideal as a portable laptop stand)
While working from a laptop stand, you’ll also need a separate keyboard and mouse.
This will prevent you from raising your shoulders to type and help to keep you in a nice relaxed working position.
3. Online Meeting Hack
Online meetings can often take up a large part of our day.
Whether it’s a quick zoom call, presentation or catch up with a colleague, meetings can take their toll on our bodies.
The human body was built to move.
Hundreds and thousands of years ago, we weren’t sat at desks, hunched over our computers.
We were out foraging for food, running away from danger and doing our best to survive.
Now, sedentary lifestyles are contributing to our health negatively.
This is where walking meetings can help.
Instead of staying seated while on your meeting, why not go for a walk and dial in your phone?
I respect that this might not be possible for many meetings.
However, there are most likely meetings that you’d be able to dial into while going for a nice walk.
Walking can help to increase blood flow, and reduce the stiffness and tightness in your muscles.
This can help to reduce some of the physical discomforts experienced while sitting at a desk working from home.
4. Muscle Tightness Hack
Other than walking meetings there are other ways we can help to reduce the tightness in our muscles while working from home.
Sometimes leaving the house to reduce our stiffness isn’t always possible.
That’s where stretching can help.
Do you know the recommended amount of time you should hold a stretch in order to feel real benefits?
It is estimated that you should hold a stretch for a minimum of 30 seconds.
When we stretch, our body naturally resists stretching.
This is known as the stretch reflex.
It takes a period of time for our body to relax into the stretch, it is only then, that we start to get the real benefit of stretching.
There are a range of stretches you can do to help with muscle tightness, but it’s important you’re holding the stretch for a minimum of 30 seconds.
Check out our stretching playlist on YouTube.
5. Supporting Wellbeing Hack
Did you know that according to the Health and Safety at Work Act companies have the responsibility to support the health, safety and wellbeing of their employees, even those working from home.
This means that your employer should be providing resources and training to ensure your health and wellbeing.
From providing you with the adequate working from home equipment, such as desks, chairs, monitors etc, to providing training and resources they have a duty to support you.
That’s where we can help!
At Loving Life, we deliver a range of employee wellbeing webinars to help companies support the health and wellbeing of their employees.
Especially those working from home.
From working from home best practice, to coping with stress, or creating life-changing habits.
We’ve got a range of webinars that can help to support the health and wellbeing of any workforce who are working from home.
How Does Working from Home Impact Health?
The shift to remote work has been one of the most significant changes in the modern workplace, drastically altering our daily routines.
But beyond the convenience of skipping the commute, how does this new norm affect our overall health?
The answer isn’t as straightforward as you might think.
Working from home brings a mixed bag of health impacts—some beneficial, others challenging.
The Health Positives of Working From Home
Flexibility Equals More Time for Health: The flexibility of working from home can lead to more opportunities for physical activity.
Without the commute, many of us find we have extra time to squeeze in a morning workout, a lunchtime walk, or an evening yoga session right in our living room.
This potential increase in physical activity can lead to better physical health and mental wellbeing.
Customisable Ergonomic Environments: At home, you have the power to create your ideal ergonomic workspace.
No more one-size-fits-all office furniture.
You can choose a chair that supports your back, position your monitor at the perfect height, and potentially create he environment you want. (If living circumstances permit)
Proper ergonomics can significantly reduce the risk of repetitive strain injuries and other musculoskeletal disorders.
Control Over Your Diet: With full access to your kitchen, working from home makes it easier to prepare healthy, home-cooked meals.
This control over your diet can lead to better nutrition compared to the tempting fast-food options available near offices.
The Health Negatives of Working from Home
Blurry Lines Between Work and Rest: One of the biggest challenges of working from home is the difficulty in separating work life from personal life.
This blurring of lines can lead to longer work hours, increased stress, and burnout, negatively impacting mental health.
Physical Inactivity: While the opportunity for more exercise exists, the reality for many is a sedentary lifestyle.
The short walk from your bed to your desk does little to contribute to your daily step count.
Physical inactivity can lead to weight gain, cardiovascular issues, and a decline in mental health.
Social Isolation: Working from home can be lonely.
The lack of in-person interaction can lead to feelings of isolation and depression.
Human beings are social creatures, and the absence of daily social engagement can take a toll on our mental health.
Eye Strain and Poor Posture: Without proper workspace setup, working from home can contribute to eye strain from prolonged screen time and poor posture from inadequate furniture, leading to neck and back pain.
The impact of working from home on health depends largely on how we approach it.
With conscious effort, we can mitigate the downsides and amplify the benefits.
Regular breaks, a dedicated workspace, setting clear boundaries between work and rest, maintaining social connections, and prioritising physical activity can all help balance the scales towards a healthier work-from-home life.
While working from home has its perks, it also comes with its own set of health challenges.
Awareness and proactive management of these factors are key to ensuring that our health and wellbeing thrive in this new work environment.
Embrace the flexibility and control you have over your workday to make positive health choices.
Whether it’s squeezing in that extra glass of water or stretching regularly.
Our health is our wealth, especially in the remote work era.
Author
Tyler Lowe – Health & Wellbeing Speaker
BSc Sport & Exercise Rehabilitation
