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published on August 22, 2022

Most of us have experienced working remotely and chances are that some of us will do it again, some will always. The most important thing that we don’t pay attention to while working remotely is observing discipline. We may stay late at the office sometimes but when we get to home we stay present, more engaged with our family and our home feels vastly relaxing, on the other hand while working remotely the boundary between work and personal time blurs out significantly.

Being in the same environment makes our relaxing time a little less effective, as the same setting can induce work mode inertia and we can keep thinking about it. Sitting for too long, juggling your laptops between work desks, sofa and bed, remote workers are more prone to musculoskeletal problems like neck and back pain. While these factors impact our health greatly we accept them as part of our remote work lifestyle and seldomly take any steps to counter them.

Mental health issues are the most common outcomes of work from home lifestyle. These issues not only affect our happiness quotient but also can become disabling while manifesting physical symptoms. When we work remotely we are isolated, not in the physical company of our friends and colleagues, there is constant pressure to respond to messages, our screen time increases manifold, and our movements are restricted to bathroom and food breaks. This takes a toll on not only our physical health but also mental. Let’s dive into what steps can we take to keep ourselves fit while working remotely:

Setup office space: Setting up a dedicated office space helps increase your focus and productivity. Choose ergonomic furniture to set up the workspace. Uncomfortable furniture can lead to wrong posture which can make you feel tired, irritated and in body pain( especially back and neck.(Link to exercises and Yoga poses for back pain in 3rd point). Follow tips for a proper setup like keeping the monitor at or below eye level and using a chair with armrests and seat height such that your feet can rest flat on the floor.

Also, having a clean and organized work area is essential. An uncluttered space immediately lets out a positive vibe and not only your productivity increases but your times get saved manifold.

Some links to articles for setting up an optimum remote work office setup:

Form a Routine: The most underrated reason of why working remotely can give rise to health challenges is failure to set up a routine. While at home we mold ourselves according to the work calls and house chores as and when they come instead of organizing and setting up a system in which we can balance our time dedicated to work and time for health and relaxation.

It is important to acknowledge that while working remotely, the line between work and home can blur out pretty easily and then work out ways to prevent it from happening. Small things like including a dedicated lunch time and short breaks to stretch yourself and relax, detaching yourself completely from work after a set time and not compromising on your sleeptime goes a long way in keeping you fit.

Use planner tools and mitigate ‘a no break day’ by accommodating any deadline load, kind of office work or a visit to your child’s school for a parent teacher meeting by planning ahead. Creating a to-do list and allocating time for them beforehand such that you don’t have to give away your precious lunch breaks can help in preventing stress and burnouts that usually come out of such days.

Link to article informing about planner and to-do tools(some might help you professionally as well):

10 To-Do List Apps & Day Planners to Get More Done in 2022

Exercising and Outdoor activities: Getting out for fresh air is not some old time cliche health tip but it really works and impacts our health positively. Schedule outdoor time regularly at the very least half an hour everyday. Soak up some sun and refresh yourself with a burst of oxygen. We ignore these very basic foundation elements of our body - Vitamin D and Oxygen. You can engage in activities you like to help make a habit like cycling, running, gardening, walking or even meeting up with your neighbors for some gossip time in the backyard.

Including exercise slots in the routine schedule is a must for everybody whether working remotely or even from the office. Everyone of us is aware of the advantages of exercising regularly but to accommodate it in our routine is what most of us find difficult and while some simply chose to ignore. Giving half an hour to your favorite kind of exercise (be it cardio or some Yoga poses) is better than missing out on it for lack of time. Remember focusing on health is as important as working to earn money.

Also, I can't stress enough the importance of moving. Get up and move. Don’t sit for long hours continuously. It's okay to switch off your videos and walk around your room while attending the meeting. You can also accommodate a standing desk and alternate your work desks.

Checkout Yoga With Adriene - YouTube (You can find some amazing sessions on neck and back problems here as well) and Walk at Home - YouTube

Socializing: Spending time with your loved ones is very important for your mental health. While being in office, socializing with colleagues is inevitable, it does not come out naturally while working remotely. You need to take efforts and initiative for it but it is all worth it. Small casual conversations can make a lot of difference in mentally refreshing yourself and to heed away the isolation blues that come along with this work model.

If you live with family, take out time for them after your office hours, have dinner together, even lunch together if it can be accommodated. Meeting friends and loved ones should not be on the list of one that can be done on weekends only. Also, coming to weekends, they are your days off so let them be. Do what you love to do and can’t on weekdays. Make the weekend a short refreshing break from all the hard work you do on workdays without any guilt. It's okay not to work!

Meditate: Yes it needs special mention! Meditate for only a few minutes if that is all you can find time to. Squeeze in small meditation breaks. The good thing about meditation is that it can be done anytime and so do it anytime.

Practicing meditation regularly helps in reducing stress and anxiety, increasing self awareness and cultivating patience, tolerance and positivity, increases concentration and helps in reducing age related memory loss. It can also negate the harmful effects of log screen times and mental exhaustion that come with remote working style.

There is a lot of some really substantial stuff online for consumption regarding meditation. You can also attend a meditation class and learn from it. There are some awesome guided meditation apps too, link for the article informing about them:

10 Best Places for Guided Meditation Online in 2022

Healthy diet and Hydration: Eating erratically while working out of home and ignoring healthy eating is a major cause of deteriorating health and rising obesity. We have access to the kitchen all the time and snacking unhealthy stuff has become very easy. Eating too much processed foods and ready to eat meal packets have devastating effects on our bodies. Instead of leaving your diet at the mercy of time availability in your busy schedule, plan it out. You are not wasting your time but taking efforts to plan and organize the one most important aspect of your health, so dedicate some time to it. Checkout Best Meal Planning Apps of 2022

Staying hydrated is very easy but also the one most forgetful ritual. Fill up some bottles beforehand and keep it on your desk. Try finishing them up before you complete your day's work. It is one easy way to keep yourself refreshed and energetic. If you still want some app assist then here is the link: 5 Apps That Can Help You Drink More Water

Eye health: Mentioning it specially as an individual point to stress its importance. While use of technology makes most of our work easy, one thing that gets immensely strained in the process are our eyes. Today whatever you are doing, the presence of a screen in front of your eyes is almost always there. This constant screen time can make your eyes dry, weaken the eye muscles and some studies also suggest the blue light can damage the cells in the retina. Frightened enough? Actually taking care of eyes is very easy and you can maintain their health by keeping in mind only few tips:

Blink regularly and consciously.
Drink water and stay hydrated.
Sit about two feet away from a computer screen to reduce eyestrain.
Make sure the center of the computer monitor is slightly lower than eye level — four to eight inches.
Use a matte screen filter to reduce glare on your smartphone, computer screen, or table.
Use a larger font to keep your eyes from working hard to see letters.
Reduce glare with softer lighting.
Schedule regular eye checkups and visit a doctor if any eye symptoms come up. Most of the eye problems caused by longer screen times like dry eyes and eye strain can be treated easily and therefore do not delay visit to an eye clinic.
Exercise your eyes at regular intervals and take breaks at regular intervals away from the screen. You can use the famous 20 20 20 rule for preventing eye strain: every 20 minutes spent using a screen; you should try to look away at something that is 20 feet away from you for a total of 20 seconds. Checkout: Yoga for Eyes | Eye Exercises to Improve Eyesight Naturally | Sri Sri Yoga

Digital Wellbeing: Digital well-being means having a healthy relationship with the technology such that it promotes healthy use habits and the user leads a healthy lifestyle. It's a new term but I think it can be very helpful since it is the use of technology that is causing us these problems, perhaps the optimum use of technology and even using the same to counter its own effects can be very interesting. Take a short course by google(It's hardly 19 minutes) to learn more about this at: Intro to digital wellbeing

While working from home every meeting that could have been a pure physical gathering gets converted into extra long ‘stick to the screen’ video calls. Such increased use of technology can lead to physical and mental issues such as attention span issues, behavioral changes, stress, anxiety and burnout. Following are only a few of many tips and with giants like google coming up with technologies that promote digital well-being, there are many ways to stay fit even in an intense digital setting. Let’s see some of them:

Implement screen time limits. Force yourself to take breaks. There are tools available for this (ColdTurkey, Freedom, FocusMe, SprintWork for windows and macOS, if you work too much out of your phone than you have Digital Wellbeing for android and Screen Time for ios) or you can simply put an alarm after a specific time, getup and walk away from screen.
Wear blue light blocking glasses everytime you come in front of any screen.
Muting notifications from apps both on PC and cell phones
Using apps to automate your repetitive simple tasks
Keeping devices in ‘do not disturb’ mode while sleeping, tracking your sleep and using tools to remind that it is your bedtime.
Blocking up some time on calendar to meet with friends and family
Using fitness tools and wearable fitness gadgets to track your health and motivate yourself to take walks or do work outs or even meditate.

Alcohol consumption and Smoking: I am giving it a special mention because these habits can get a boost if people are not working from offices. You have the freedom to sip that one glass of wine abruptly at any time and take it over to two or three because ‘you can’ in the comfort of your home. That restrained smoking breaks in offices can get converted to innumerable in a day while working remotely. Take control of these harming desires and maintain discipline in these areas. They can be seriously damaging to your body and if you care more, then yes, your career too!

Especially for women: Women working remotely mostly prefer to work out of homes so that they can better take care of their household responsibilities. And these responsibilities are truly unfairly distributed amongst them and their male partners. While remote work might turn out to be a blessing in certain ways but then it is also a curse when it comes down to their workload and health. Stress, depression, anxiety and being overworked is not new to any woman and these increase when you do not have a distraction free office space and have to juggle between job and home chores. Some tips for women working remotely:

Do not worry about perfection and lower your own expectations of how productive you should be in a day. It's okay if some of the work gets done tomorrow or if your baby had that yellow stain still remaining on his/her beep or a patch of dirt still remains at your front porch or it's just cereal for breakfast. Learn to let go and be easy on yourself.
Set your expectations clearly with your partner. You are not the only one who should be worrying about family health and maintaining hygiene at your home or your child’s homework. Understand that your partner is equally responsible for all of these. Divide your work fairly and make adjustments in times of official urgencies. Plan chores with your partner at the end/start of the week and you can even involve your children in it.
Take time off completely from the office as well as home. Get out with your friends and have a gossip session or some shopping time once a while. Schedule ‘me-time’ regularly and pamper yourself.
Take care of your diet and plan ahead your meals.

All of the above tips for staying fit and healthy while working remotely may seem overwhelming but if you think on it these, all are simple habits. Take on two at a time, like planning a meal and going on a brisk walk, and then slowly you will find that they become regular because all of these while being numerable are all actually very basic foundations of how you should be living a healthy life. They are not hard to follow and a small effort from your side to keep your own body fit will keep you healthy for a long time.