How to Stay Healthy While Working from Home
It's easy to form unhealthy habits with a job that you can literally never leave the house for, so here are the things I try to maintain to keep my body and mind healthy while working from home:
1. Set Healthy Boundaries
Working from home blurs the lines between your career and your personal life, so it's important to establish your own boundaries to avoid burnout. Some boundaries to consider:
Specific "office hours" during which clients can count on reaching you and friends/family need to leave you uninterrupted
Turn off your work phone or log out of your email when you're not working so you're not tempted to do extra.
Don't give clients your personal phone number! Just don't do it. Learn from my mistakes on this one.
2. Create an Ergonomic Set-up
Ergonomics will go a long way toward supporting your longevity when you spend a lot of time at a computer each day! My husband has really helped me to get a solid set-up (and reminds me daily to type correctly, which I'm terrible at), and I've definitely noticed a difference in my wrists and fingers!
I love this keyboard by Logitech because it's super lightweight and comfortable. I also use an ergonomic mouse - it feels weird to use my laptop's trackpad now because the mouse is so much more comfortable!
Additionally, try to spend most of your work day at a desk, not on a couch. Your back and posture will thank you.
Get Blue Light Glasses!
I used to tease my husband for his ugly yellow lensed glasses that he wore when working at a computer all day, but OH MY GOODNESS THESE THINGS ARE AMAZING. I went from getting headaches and migraines almost daily to never getting them at all thanks to this one simple change.
Staring at your computer's blue light all day is really straining for your eyes and can easily give you a tension headache or trigger a migraine if you're prone to them like me. These genius little glasses filter the blue light, helping your eyes to not get strained so quickly by your monitor.
And the best part is, they don't have to be ugly and yellow anymore! I found this adorable pair on Amazon and they're super inexpensive.
Energize Your Body
I know it. You know it. We know eating healthy and staying hydrated are important - this isn't news to any of us. But when you work from home, that couch is so close and inviting. It would be super easy to just curl up for a few minutes and take a little cat nap…only to wake up groggy and unmotivated and struggle through the rest of your work for the day.
When you work from home, it's even more important to stay hydrated and eat foods that will keep you energized rather than leave you sluggish by 2pm. My routine is to start my day with lots and lots of water (getting a cute tumbler makes this more fun!) and then blend my go-to Fab 4 Smoothie recipe around 11am. If I need it, I snag a high-protein snack mid-afternoon and that's usually enough for me.
Just listen to your body and do what works for you, and don't eat ice cream for lunch. You'll crash and burn real quick!
It All Comes Down to Self Care
Ugh. What entrepreneur hasn't heard this before? Self care is so important though, because your business success starts with your own success. If you aren't able to take care of yourself, you won't have what you need to take care of your business properly.
I'd love to hear your tips for staying healthy and taking care of yourself while working from home! Message me on Instagram and let me know what routines and tools help you.
