It’s easy to romanticize working from home, especially if you’ve had many years of having to drag yourself to the office each morning. Still, while there really is much to love about working from home, it’s far from perfect.
Left unchecked, WFH can negatively impact physical and mental well-being, with many remote workers complaining of “tech neck” and loneliness/isolation.
The good news is that, while these side effects can occur naturally, they’re not inevitable. By making a few adjustments and taking a few actions, remote workers can reclaim their mental and physical well-being, ensuring they can get the benefits of working from home without the drawbacks.
Invent a Morning Commute
The morning commute to the office is often viewed as unwelcome, but there are advantages. For one thing, it gets you out of the house early, which can play an important role in helping to regulate the body’s circadian rhythm.
When you work from home, there can be a temptation to stay in your pajamas until lunchtime, but that can have a subtly corrosive impact on mental well-being. A smart approach is to invent a commute to your home office, even if that’s just an extended walk around your neighborhood before you get to work. Aside from waking you up, you’ll find that it helps to put a clear line between “home mode” and “work mode.”
Book an Appointment With an Osteopath
There’s a level of casualness about working from home that can often feel enjoyable, but which is actually damaging to your body.
For example, while working from the couch can feel a lot more appealing than sitting at a desk in the office all day, it can wreak havoc with your body. Humans are simply not designed to work in such a position for 8 hours straight.
In this sense, you could argue that working from home is even more damaging to the body than being in the office, especially since we’re more likely to spend the day sitting down when we’re working from home. Integrating stretching into your day can help, but for the best results, make an appointment with an osteopath. Osteopaths can help to minimize body-related pain induced from working in front of a computer, realign the body, and provide guidance on healthy changes you can incorporate into your workday. It’s recommended to make an appointment every few months for the best results.
Connect With Others
It can be tempting to view working from home as a way to avoid annoying colleagues, but the truth is, humans are a social species. Over time, isolation can lead to a sense of loneliness that may not have been an issue if you were still working from the office. Connecting with others is key to keeping mental well-being in check. You can do this by making a point to meet friends for a coffee throughout the day, speaking to colleagues on Slack, or even considering joining a co-working space near your home, which can be a great way to interact with others without pressure to socialize.
