15 Tips for Working From Home in a Healthy Way
In the near future, many people will not open their work laptop at the office, but at the dining table. The USA remains at home en masse because of the coronavirus and thereby follows the advice of the government and RIVM. But how do you work from home in a healthy way? These are the golden rules of healthy working from home.
The advice is to work from home as much as possible in the near future because of the corona virus. What’s up with that? It’s all about ‘flatten the curve.’ In order not to overload the care system, the number of infections should increase as slowly as possible. So working from home. Only: how do you do that without ending with a laptop hunchback, loneliness, and rattling stomach?
- Don’t forget to eat breakfast.
A good breakfast gives you the necessary energy to get started focused. For many people, this habit comes up when they suddenly start working at home. Start your day the way you would when you go to the office. So you leave that laptop closed for a while; it’s time for a sandwich first. Here you can read how to make every breakfast healthy (er).
- Provide a quiet workspace
Do not work from bed or in a busy living room, but choose a quiet and tidy place. Make sure your desk is neat, and you can lock the room so you can get focused. Children at home? They can then play, learn, or sit in the living room.
- Keep your workspace clean.
To give the coronavirus as little chance as possible, it is also essential to pay extra attention to hygiene. That means not only washing your hands well but also removing door handles, cleaning your keyboard, and opening the window every morning.
- Think about your back
The workplace that is adjusted to occupational health and safety at the office can sometimes be exchanged for the bank a little too quickly at home. Do not do that. Provide an ergonomic workplace. How? You can work with a separate keyboard, mouse, and a laptop stand – or a stack of books. Also, your screen is at eye level and preferably choose an adjustable chair. Do you still have problems with your back? Get started at home with these yoga exercises to reduce back pain.
- Dress yourself
Also, very tempting: roll out your bed and crawl in your pajamas behind the laptop. Unfortunately, it does not work productively. So even if you stay at home because of the coronavirus, get up, take a shower and get dressed. Chances are you immediately feel a lot more productive.
- Change your posture
Sitting all day is not the best thing to do for your health. Where you get a coffee faster at the office, walk to a colleague or plop down on another chair for a meeting, your buttocks will soon be in the same chair at home. So change your chair or position regularly, walk back and forth and do some micro-movements.
- Create a routine
Try to follow the same order every day as much as possible. For example, breakfast first, take a walk, and then start up the laptop. Have lunch at noon, and make a schedule for the next day at the end of the day. A regular routine provides structure and peace of mind because you know what to do.
- Work in blocks of up to two hours
The danger of buffeting all day long when you work from home lurks. Organize your day smartly and plan blocks of up to two hours. Take a short break.
Go into the garden or do a short meditation.
- Put a jug of water next to you.
It is also essential if you work at home all day: drink enough. You now have no colleagues who make a cup of coffee for you. Tip: put a jug of water next to you instead of a glass. We bet it will run out quickly? With these recipes, you can make every glass of water tastier. Do you forget to drink? Set a timer or keep track of how much you drink in an app.
- Provide daylight
Because of the coronavirus, the advice is to work from home and stay indoors as much as possible. It is essential to follow that advice. Also necessary: make sure you have enough daylight. For example, go to work near a window, take a short break in the garden or take a lunch walk. Do what you feel good about; In any case, sitting in a dark room all day is not conducive to your work.
- Plan sports
When you work at home, you organize your working day. Take advantage of that by scheduling sports moments. This provides a clear mind and more energy. Choose a fixed time of day for your sport session and stick to it. You can also spread it over the day and do an exercise every two hours, for example.
- Prepare lunch in advance.
Prepare for lunch and avoid having to go shopping before you can start working. So think about what you are going to eat for lunch during the weekend. You can also prep a meal! Also, make sure you have healthy snacks because it is a lot easier to sniff at home.
- Take plenty of breaks.
The pitfall of working from home all day is that you lose the balance between working from home and being at home. So you may have a tendency to work non-stop all day without taking enough breaks. So plan your rest moments well to relax or eat a snack. If necessary, put a timer on your laptop or phone that will remind you.
- Avoid isolation and keep communicating.
The fact that you work at home because of the coronavirus does not mean that you no longer have colleagues. Your colleagues are still your colleagues, even if you don’t see them physically. So mail them, especially when the working day starts, wish each other a good weekend and email or call to discuss. In order not to get into social isolation, you can also choose to organize a virtual lunch, for example, or to call someone during the lunch walk (so that you do walk together a bit).
- Make a schedule every day for the day after
Do you have a list of what you are going to do today? Make a list of appointments and tasks and determine your priorities. You can do this in the morning, but it often works better to do this at the end of your working day for the next day. This way, you can use this moment to close the working day and avoid being behind the work laptop all evening.