The busy lifestyle of a self-employed individual can sometimes lead to long hours behind a desk, or at least confined to the same room. With all of that time spent in a nearly-sedentary lifestyle, your health can be impacted far more than you realize. In my last article on this topic, I discussed five ways to make sure you’re keeping healthy while working at home. Today, I’m going to take a look at five more:
Get Enough Sleep
There’s nothing worse than a bad night’s sleep – it leaves you feeling half-awake all day and pretty much ruins your productivity. Make sure you’re scheduling your day in such a way that you can get to bed at a decent time, and don’t try to wake up earlier than you need to. Somewhere in the general vicinity of the “accepted” eight hours of sleep is great. More or less, and you’re looking at the start of a sub-par day.
Drink Water, Not Coffee
While it may be tempting to grab a coffee every time you need a pick-me-up, you may want to consider replacing that cup of joe with a glass of water instead. Not only has it been shown to be a great way to wake yourself up in the morning, but it also has a plethora of health benefits, including helping with weight loss, digestive health and increased energy throughout the day. Another way to ensure you’re staying hydrated is by starting your smoothie cleanse, which is an excellent way to fill your body with nutrients as well.
Check Your Posture
When there’s nobody around to see us working, we sometimes have a tendency to “get comfortable” in our chairs, and that usually means bad posture. This is very bad for your health, and, if not addressed, can lead to tons of problems. Make sure your chair and desk are at the right heights to help you achieve good posture, and that your tools, whether they’re a keyboard or a pen and paper or whatever they may be, are properly positioned as well.
Create A Good Environment
One important thing that can sometimes get overlooked is your working environment. If you don’t enjoy working in your home office, it can be a big blow to both your physical and mental well-being. The solution is simple though – make your workspace a place that you enjoy. If you don’t like the furniture, change it! If you don’t like the color of the walls, repaint them! Invest in your workspace, and you’ll be happier and healthier in the long run.
Leave The Stress Behind
Running your own business can be stressful, and even more so if you’re the only one doing the work. The problem, however, comes when you call it a day and go off to do other things, but take your stress and worry along with you when you leave. Instead of doing that, take a few minutes at the end of the workday to unwind, take some deep breaths, and reset yourself for a night of normalcy. Your problems will still be there when you get back to work in the morning, but you’ll be far better equipped to deal with them.
What things do you do to keep yourself healthy while working from home? Share them with us in the comments section below.
