5 Wellness Tips for the Work-From-Home Lifestyle

During the past few months, many of us have been able to take advantage of the perks of physical workspaces and the social benefits of working from the office.  However, with the current global events happening in our world, and in accordance with the recent Alert Level 5 lockdown in NL, most of us have now been asked to combine our work and home lives once again. 

Though we’ve been through this before, and some of us have been enjoying remote work throughout the whole pandemic, adjusting to a complete work-from-home lifestyle can be a challenge for anyone – whether you’ve been practicing it since last March, or have recently been asked to work from home again. During these challenging times, we all need a few reminders to help us stay well. With that, here are 5 tips to help you manage your wellness while working from home. 

1. Stretch it out!

Sitting at your home office, or even worse – on your couch at home – most of us do not have the same ergonomically advanced technology such as chairs, mouses, etc. that ensure that we are properly taking care of our physical bodies. Taking a 5-minute stretch break every couple of hours to ensure we are giving our bodies the break it needs from our less-than-practical sitting positions is super important. 

So take one right now – be sure to give special love and attention to your wrists, hands, neck, back, and shoulders especially if you’re on a computer all day.

2. Don’t cut the chit-chat.

People are social beings. If you are currently now working from home, chances are the amount of socialization you are getting while you are working from home is significantly less than it would be working from an office. But scientific studies show that socialization is an essential part of staying happy and well. 
So don’t feel bad for taking a few minutes out of your zoom/phone call to ask how your coworker’s day is going, how their weekend was, or for just asking how they are coping in general. If your workplace doesn’t have regular video/phone meetings, it might even be worth scheduling a phone call break with a friend or co-worker throughout your day anyway. 

This is actually extremely important for everyone involved, as we are all in this together, and taking this time can overall positively impact your organization’s well-being.

3. Distractions – they happen! Forgive yourself.

Whether you have children or family interrupting your work flow, social media notifications blowing up your phone, or you simply just can not focus on the work in front of you, distractions are inevitable – especially while working from home. The important thing is to not get too hung up on them when they do happen. 

Sometimes all you need to do is take a minute to centre yourself and refocus, while other times you have to completely switch tasks and come back to that one later. Either way, self forgiveness is essential in this respect. Just remember that almost everyone else is in the same boat, and distractions happen at physical workspaces too… don’t beat yourself up over them.

4. Hydrate – like… right now!

We know you remember to drink your coffee/tea/caffeinated beverage in the morning (and afternoon. Well, pretty much all hours of the day… let’s be real) but let’s not forget the most important beverage! That good ol’ H20! So do it… Drink your water. Right now. You’ll thank me later!

5. Turn off your work self.

When the day is done and it is time to switch off, it may be wise to set a daily routine intention to move from your work self to your home self. This means to purposefully do an activity or two every day to switch off – whether that means going for a walk or drive after work, changing out of work attire, or simply taking a few moments to shut down your computer for the evening. 
This will help your brain wind down for the day, and can help with that tricky work-life balance that so many of us struggle with, especially while working from home.