Working from home can be hard to have a work life balance or even have the power to step away from the computer since that is your life now. If this sounds like you, don’t panic! There are solutions to help you get moving and have a better relationship with your new reality of working from home.
Walk it out
Now that you are at home all the time, chances are your step count is significantly lower than it was when you were in the office. You aren’t getting up to ask co-workers a question, no more socializing in the break room and everything is now at your desk in your home office. To help get some steps in and get away from sitting 10 hours, try going for a walk around the house while you are on a call or during a meeting! Give your eyes a break from staring at the computer, stretch out the legs and walk around to get some steps in.
Sit on a stability ball
At the beginning of working from home, many of you just thought you needed to figure out how to get by for a few weeks until everything calmed down and went back to “normal.” This may have included sitting at your dining room table, on the couch, or at your old computer chair that is so worn down and not supportive at all anymore. No matter where you ended up, chances are it isn’t the same as your office chair from work and it can get uncomfortable after a while. Sitting on a stability ball can really change the game. By sitting on a stability ball, you are forced to sit in a better posture, improve balance, engage your core muscles and help you walk a little taller. This is a great option to switch things up during the day, but make sure to take breaks from this as well as it can be too much if you just jump right into it all day long.
Set daily move reminders on your phone
Like we mentioned previously, chances are you are not moving around quite as much as when you were working in the office. It can be easy to get in the work mode and not realize you have been sitting down for half of the day without getting up at all. Setting timers on your phone throughout the day can help you remember to get up and move around, get a glass of water, healthy food choices, and stretch it out before getting back into the grind of things.
Get a standing desk
Standing desks are all the rage these days especially with people being more aware of how much sitting we do as a society. These desks allow you to do your “desk job” standing up instead of sitting at a chair all day. There are many benefits to standing desks including but not limited to: improved posture, decreased back pain, improved mobility, improve productivity and lower blood sugar levels. While there are many benefits, like anything there are side effects. If you go from sitting all day to standing, you run the risk of increasing low back pain initially, increasing foot pain, and increasing soreness. Like anything, start small and do a combination of sitting and standing throughout the day because too much of one thing can cause more pain. Start with standing for 30 minute increments multiple times a day in combination with sitting.
Get a watch to keep track of your daily movement
Chances are you don’t realize how little or how much movement you get throughout the day. With “smart watches,” you can track how many steps you take during the day, how many exercise minutes you get per day, how many times per hour you get up and so much more!! These watches are great to have a better idea of what kind of movement you get during the day and know what you need more of each day. They can also send you reminders to get up each hour to move if you have been sitting for a while, updates on your exercise minutes and calories burned.
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