Five Ways to Stay Healthy While Working From Home
If you work at home, you are familiar with the long work days, usually seated at a desk, unlimited snacks available within reach, and the temptation to sleep in instead of working out. Working at home has countless perks including—and not limited to— no commute, working in pajamas, playing whatever music or playlists you want, and deciding what time works start. I work from home, and I love it! There are definitely the moments that I wish I had co-workers or motivation to get dressed in the morning, but overall I am incredibly thankful to be able to work at home. It really is the best! Now that I've added a baby to the mix, it's added challenges to stay healthy and active (aka very limited time for #allthethings).
Before I started working at home, I studied Health Science in college. Throughout my time in college, I spent countless hours teaching others about how to live a healthy lifestyle and easy ways to achieve that. Living a healthy lifestyle is attainable for everyone and doesn’t have to be complicated, scary, or overwhelming. In fact, I have five easy healthy habits that you can start implementing into your routine and you will be on your way to feeling healthier in no time! I practice these things daily and they help my mental, emotional, and physical health.
5 Easy Ways to Stay Healthy While Working at Home
Take daily afternoon walks. This is something I have been practicing for about 10 months and it has easily become my favorite part of the day. It gives me a mental break from work, but also gets my body moving. I usually head out the door with a favorite podcast and walk for 25-45 minutes. If it’s a busy day, I will walk for a shorter amount of time, but if it is a nice day and I have time, I will walk a little longer. In addition, on the evenings that my husband and I don’t have plans, we take a bike ride or walk together. This helps us connect and also gives us some extra exercise!
Keep a water bottle at your desk. Drinking enough water is one of the hardest elements of healthy living for me. I get sidetracked and forget to stay hydrated. I have tried setting an alarm every two hours to remind yourself to drink it and that seems to help! I can often get sucked into the “work zone” and forget to stay hydrated. Setting an alarm interrupts my day and helps me drink more water. I am definitely working on drinking more water—nobody’s perfect! Drinking more water will do wonders for your energy level, brain function, and metabolism.
Work at a standing desk. I LOVE working from my standing desk. I also keep a chair at the desk so I have an option to sit. I find that my minds works better when I am standing, so not only is it better for your health, it also seems to help your mental state (no science behind that though:)). Apparently sitting is the new smoking, so I try to do less sitting throughout the day. After about 2 hours of sitting I feel so “blah,” so I actually prefer standing. If I do have a day of sitting, I also try and take a break for squats, push-ups, lunges, and leg lifts. Get the body moving!
Work out first thing in the morning—or schedule your workout like you would a client meeting. I am the type of person who has to workout first thing in the morning. When I have tried putting it off until the afternoon, I always end up losing all motivation and making excuses. Since having a baby, I've become more flexible with this and I fit workouts in whenever I can. We go on a powerwalk (yes, I am 70) everyday and let me tell you, walking is fantastic exercise. I also run 2-3 times a week and do Pilates or Barre for strength training. Whatever works for you, stick with that. And think of your workouts as a mandatory calendar event. That way you can’t make excuses! No one ever regrets a workout, right?
Keep healthy snacks IN the house—and keep treats somewhere you have to drive and get them. In other words, make all the treats you have be something that isn’t easily accessible. If you open the freezer and see ice cream, of course, you are going to want to eat it. It is right in front of you! But, if it isn’t there, you won’t think of it as often. I am not against treats! I believe we should definitely indulge. But, make them that—a treat! Make it special. I keep healthy snacks readily available in the house! My favorite snacks are apple with almond butter, carrots and hummus, Larabars, Avocado and sea salt, rice cake with avocado or almond butter, or a smoothie! I also love these bars.
And one more thing to note—living a healthy life is not just about diet and exercise! Healthy living should be seen as taking a holistic approach to address all areas of health. These tricks are things that I implement into my daily routine and they leave me feeling energized and balanced! I know there are countless entrepreneurs who struggle with feeling energized or feel unable to make healthy choices throughout the day, so I hope these tips help you make small, manageable changes to your routine! I suggest picking 2-3 at first and try implementing them. As you feel you are able to master those, add more! I am cheering for you—you can do this!
You can also work on implementing healthy recipes into your meal planning for dinner. This is a roundup of my favorite easy, healthy meals!