Managing working from home and remaining fit

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Managing working from home and remaining fit

Most of us have been working remotely for the last few months due to COVID-19. This has posed a lot of new challenges in the work life balance. Especially now that gyms are closed it can be quite difficult to maintain an active lifestyle.  But remaining active while working from home should not be a challenge, it can be fun and even a timesaver! 

How can you do it?

Sitting at your desk all day within your home for weeks on end can make the boundaries between work life and personal life fade. For many people this causes them to fall into routines that are unhealthy and do not include exercise. Not only does it affect our physical health, but it will also affect our mental health. But how can you break these routines if almost all the lines between work- and private life have blurred. It’s all about routine!

Schedule a workout!

Your workday at home probably consists of scheduled time for work and for meetings. If you can schedule your work, you can schedule your workout as well! Treat exercise with the same priority as you would a meeting with your team. Block out an hour of your day for exercise a few times a week. You can play around with different times of the day to see what suits you best. If you’re a morning person you can do it before work for an extra boost of energy to get the day started! Get in a workout at lunch to get away from your desk or wait until after work to clear your mind. Pick a time that suits you best, forcing yourself into a routine that does not feel right will take all the fun out of exercising.

Setup your workspace for success

Maintaining a healthy lifestyle is not all about getting enough workouts in during the week, it starts in your workspace. Working in the private space tends to let your desk get more cluttered than it would at the office. However, studies have shown that this leads to less productivity and activity. Make sure you have a clean and organized workspace.

More importantly, it is important that you set up your desk ergonomically. In normal times your company provides ergonomic office furniture for you in the office. However, your furniture at home might not be as optimized as is necessary. Make sure your back, knees and hips are correctly supported by your chair and are at a 90-degree angle. Ensure your primary screen is at eye-level to remove strain from your neck and shoulders. In the long run this could prevent serious ailments! Making these simple adjustments to your home office can make a huge difference in your physical health. 

Move around 

Sitting in the same spot for an entire day is one of the main ways people start to feel sluggish. When at home, there is just less incentive to move away from your desk compared to the office. This does not mean that you should go out and buy an expensive standing desk. There are small ways in which you can stay active from behind your desk:

  • Take a larger lap around the house when getting up for coffee or water. Not only will this help refresh your mind, but it will also refresh your body!
  • Move your wrists, shoulders and ankles every half hour. You hold a lot of tension in these parts while at a desk. Moving them helps relax these parts of your body.
  • Try stretching at least five times a day. This will do wonders for build-up stress in your shoulders and neck.

Schedule an outdoor meeting

COVID-19 rules in Western-Europe allow for two people to take a walk together, use this to your advantage! Do you have a colleague that lives nearby? Schedule a meeting with them while taking a walk around the neighbourhood. Not only is it a great way to get active, but it will also provide some extra inspiration. Researchers from Stanford University have discovered that walking boosts creative inspiration by sixty percent (Oppezzo & Schwartz, 2014). But besides that, it is also a great way to catch up.

Set goals and reward yourself

An important part of sticking to a new fitness routine is setting realistic goals. If you set your goals too high, it can feel like a chore. Fitter can help you with that! Fitter can help you set goals with your colleagues. When working towards your goal, you can earn FitTokens. With these tokens you can save up for cool gifts. This will give you that extra boost that you need to earn your goals!

Appendix

  • Oppezzo, M., & Schwartz, D. L. (2014). Give your ideas some legs: The positive effect of walking on creative thinking. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 40(4), 1142–1152

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