When the Covid-19 hit the world, “Work From Home” culture gained popularity all around the globe. Working from home brings us tons of convenience and joys of life, such as working from the comfort of your bed and spending extra time with loved ones.
But at the same time, staying home all day also comes with cons such as a blurred work and personal life balance that can poorly affect our physical and mental wellbeing. Exercising has consistently been proven to not only keep us fit, but positively boost our mental health.
A study by the Leeds Metropolitan University tracked a variety of factors in over 200 employees as they went about their day[1]. The study found that on days when employees exercised, their mood and performance was boosted, allowing them to concentrate better for the rest of the day.
Knowing this, every remote worker should know about the practical ways that help them stay active while working from home. Let’s look at the article to learn the most convenient tips that help maintain a balance between wfh and our health.
9 Ways to Stay Active While Working from Home
It’s important to take care of your body and not fall into bad habits during wfh. It can be tempting to stay in our pajamas and start snacking, leading to less movement and extra calories. To stay active, here are six things you can do to get moving at home.
1. Setting an Exercise Schedule
Whether you plan to leave the house and hit the gym a few times a week or just do some quick exercises in your living room, it’s important to set a routine for yourself.
A 2019 study published in the journal Obesity found that consistently exercising at the same time each day increased the amount of time that participants devoted to exercise each week [2]. The study followed 375 participants who exercised at least twice a week. 32% of participants varied when they would have their workouts throughout the week while 68% exercised at the same times and days each week. The 68% that stayed consistent with their workout times were able to log more workout and keep at them for longer than those who varied their exercise schedule.
Based on the results of this study, it’s clear we should try and be consistent with our exercise schedule. Blocking out a specific time for exercise helps us cement our workout habits and makes sure we have enough time set aside. You can’t make the excuse of being too busy if you have your exercise routines already scheduled on your calendar!
2. Clean Your Home
Cleaning in and of itself is a great workout, plus it keeps your space tidy and free of distractions! Our schedules can get hectic and make it hard to get a proper exercise routine in everyday, so finding activities like cleaning that double as high calorie-burning activities are important.
Here are some examples of cleaning you can do and how many calories it will burn in an hour:
Cleaning Activity | Calories Burned per Hour |
---|---|
Vacuuming | 170 |
Mopping | 170 |
Washing windows | 136 |
Ironing | 88 |
Washing dishes | 102 |
Bathroom cleaning | 190 |
Raking leaves | 204 |
Try increasing the speed or intensity of these activities to further increase the amount of calories you burn while cleaning.
3. Keep Up Your Energy with a Healthy Breakfast
If you don’t have enough energy it’ll be difficult to do your work, let alone get moving! Not having to commute means you have extra time to prepare yourself a hearty breakfast. Use the extra time to experiment and try out some new recipes to find what gives you the most energy and enjoyment.
According to this Harvard health letter, skipping the first meal of the day throws off your normal circadian rhythm. This forces your body to tap into your energy reserves, encouraging unhealthy snacking later in the day to replenish itself. You may not consider yourself a breakfast person, but make sure to refuel your body each morning. If eating first things in the morning doesn’t appeal to you, consider a homemade smoothie such as this one to keep from running on empty.
4. Get Active Between Meetings
Even 5 minutes of high-intensity can help you burn more calories for up to 48 hours afterwards [3]. Dubbed the “afterburn effect”, this phenomenon helps your body burn more calories and fat even after the workout has ended. So even if you’re stuck in meetings all day, leaving just a few minutes early to do a five minute routine, like this one from Fitness Blender, will give your metabolism a hearty boost.
Just getting up and stretching will also produce beneficial results. It’s important to not stay sitting for too long; leading a sitting-down lifestyle can lead to all kinds of detrimental healthy effects such as increasing the chance of heart disease and diabetes [4]. According to WebMD, even working out 7 hours a week can’t reverse the effects of sitting for 7 hours at a time.
To get moving between meetings, you don’t even need cardio machines or weights; here are a few resources for exercises you can do from the comfort of home:
- 30 Office Exercises to Try Right Now
- 50 Exercises for a Bodyweight Workout You Can Do Anywhere
- Your 10-Minutes, No-Equipment, Total-Body Workout
- 15-Minute Full-Body Workouts You Can Do at Home
5. Take a Lunch-Time Walk (and take your dog with you!)
Remember what I said about sitting in the last tip? Another way to break-up a day at the desk is to go out for a walk. You’ll get a change of scenery for a bit, fresh-air, and chance to burn some extra calories (especially if you go at a brisk pace).
According to Public Health England and the Royal College of GPs, just 10 minutes of brisk walking per day can reduce your risk of premature death by up to 15%. If you prefer low-intensity exercise, then walking is one of the best ways you can get some beneficial movement in and reset your body from sitting.
As a bonus, are some ways to spice-up your walking routine:
- Listen to an audiobook or podcast
- Practice photography by taking a camera (or just your smartphone) with you
- Destress with walking meditation
- Complete errands within walking distance such as the bank, library, or grocery store
6. Try a Fitness Challenge
If you’re looking for some tougher motivation, consider joining a fitness challenge. This can be anything from training for a 5k to closing the fitness goals on your Fitbit or Apple Watch everyday for a month.
Here’s an example of a 30-day fitness challenge from Women’s Health:
By committing to a fitness challenge you set a clear, short-term goal that feels easier to meet than trying to permanently change your work-out regiment (or lack thereof). If you manage to stick with the challenge until the end, you’ll find that you’re already well-along the way to cementing these new workout habits for the long-term.
7. Use a Health/Fitness App
Whether you’re looking for new exercises or want to follow-along with instructors, there are hundreds of health apps and services to choose from. They can help you track progress of your fitness goals as well as monitor your general health. Here are a few apps we’re partial to:
- Sworkit: You can choose from workout categories such as cardio, strength, yoga, and stretching or join a curate monthly class. It’s very flexible, letting you choose how long you want your workout to be, what equipment you have on hand, and create custom workouts.
- MyFitnessPal: This app has both physical and nutrition tracking for the best of both worlds. Over 350 workouts are provided, and the nutrition tracking allows you to log food from restaurants (a convenient feature).
- Fooducate: Unlike the previous two apps, this one is focused primarily on nutrition. You won’t find any workout, but you instead have a robust food tracker with barcode scanner, recipes, and easy-to-understand macronutrient charts.
- Medito: I personally love this meditation app for one key reason: it’s free. While Calm and Headspace are more popular in the meditation app market, Medito offers a wide-range of meditations, sleep stories, and nature-sounds without any fees or subscriptions.
8. Give Morning Meditation a Try
A lot of advice so far has been about how to get moving, but in this step we ask that you sit down. Meditation has a plethora of proven health benefits from reducing stress to increasing creativity [5]. Even better, it can convey these positive effects with only a 5-minute session.
There are a few different kinds of meditations you can try to see what works best: guided meditation has you follow along with an instructor as you progressively relax your muscles while mindfulness meditation specializes in increasing awareness in the present.
9. Invest in a Proper Ergonomic Office Setup
Last but not least, it’s vital that you invest in the wfh setup you’ll be using. Whether you freelance part of the day or you work a standard 9-5 remote, you’ll be spending a lot of time sitting at your desk. A good ergonomic office chair can easily surpass $1000, but just like your mattress, you’re going to be spending a good chunk of your life sitting on it.
I personally made this mistake when buying my work from home setup; I bought a cheaper chair for form over function and ended up with discomfort and back pain in just a few weeks afterwards. A good chair is a must to keep your spin healthy and prevent hunching at your desk.
Other factors to consider are the height of your desk and whether or not you’re using wrist cushions. Keeping your wrists at the proper angle can help prevent or reduce the symptoms of carpal tunnel. If like me you, already experience wrist pain at the computer, then consider a vertical mouse. It’s angled to the side so that your wrist doesn’t put as much pressure on the nerves that cause carpal tunnel. I personally found this to be a great help when working at the desk for hours each day.
Related Posts:
Smart Techniques for Productivity & Time Management
References
[2] https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/oby.22535
[3] https://www.verywellfit.com/5-minute-exercise-routines-to-lose-weight-3495389
[4] https://www.webmd.com/fitness-exercise/ss/slideshow-sitting-health
[5] https://www.mayoclinic.org/tests-procedures/meditation/in-depth/meditation/art-20045858
[…] exercise in. It boosts my productivity and refreshes me after having been sitting for too long (check out my article on how to stay healthy when working from home). On rare occasions I use lunch time for doctor’s appointments or quick errands to the post […]