Remote work allows for flexibility and an opportunity to improve work-life balance. But all too often, remote workers feel that they need to hop on the computer before they have their coffee and check emails until they go to bed. As much as we celebrate the convenience and flexibility working from home offers, too many remote workers fall victim to common problems that compromise their physical and mental health.
If you’re a remote worker, make sure you’re taking care of yourself. Take a look at our eight remote worker tips to improve health and well-being.
1. Own Your Schedule
Find a schedule that works for you and stick to it as much as you can. Log off at the same time each day — and then be off work. Don’t always be available to your boss or co-workers. Establish sane boundaries around your work time and enforce them — with colleagues, family, and yourself. Use a time-tracking app to help you learn when you are most productive and schedule your most challenging tasks for those times. Use timers to keep your schedule on track.
2. Make Self-Care a Priority
As you schedule your time, make self-care a priority, right up there with project deadlines:
- Take microbreaks: Take frequent breaks of 20 to 60 seconds each for hand and wrist stretches and the 20-20-20 rule to prevent eye strain.
- The 20-20-20 rule for eye strain is: For every 20 minutes you stare at the computer screen, turn to focus on something 20 feet away for 20 seconds.
- Hand and wrist stretches and exercises: Simple stretches and exercises for your hands, wrists, and forearms can help to prevent carpal tunnel.
- Schedule 15-minute breaks: Walk away from your desk, go outside, toss the ball for your dog, pet the cat, or water the plants.
- Nutrition and hydration: Plan healthy snacks and stay well-hydrated.
3. Invest in Your Workspace
A quality desk and chair are essential for maintaining a healthy posture, which is critical for preventing carpal tunnel syndrome and back/neck problems.
To prevent carpal tunnel, your desk should be at the right height to keep your arms at a 70—to 135-degree angle as you type. An adjustable desk or a standing desk is ideal. Also, consider an ergonomic keyboard and/or supportive wrist rests. These small changes, together with regular hand and wrist stretches and exercises, can help prevent the debilitating pain of carpal tunnel. While wrist pain treatment is effective, prevention is preferred.
Choose an ergonomic chair with good lumbar support, and always ensure you have excellent lighting to alleviate eye strain and headaches.
4. Establish Your Territory
Once you’ve invested in a supportive workspace, you must maintain it as your place for work. A dedicated workspace helps you to distinguish between your work life and your home life. You need to be able to leave work behind when you’re done for the day.
5. Exercise Can Improve Focus
Incorporate exercise into your work routine. Can you watch a webinar or listen to a podcast while walking on the treadmill? Consider an under-desk elliptical machine that lets you pedal as you work. Research shows that exercise does wonders for your health and boosts your focus. Just 10 minutes of aerobic exercise gets the blood moving, flooding the brain with oxygen and improving mental processing.
6. Bust a Move To Banish Stress
Load up a playlist with five or 10 of your all-time favorite songs that make you want to get up and dance: This is your secret stress-busting weapon. After a frustrating phone call, problems on a project, or a run-in with a difficult co-worker, crank up the music and dance. Sing, too! Remember — this is one of the many perks of working remotely. No one will see. So just get up and shake it off.
Stress is a silent killer. Learn to recognize when you are becoming stressed and take active measures to release and relieve the tension. In addition to causing higher blood pressure, muscle tension, and cardiac issues, stress can also lead to carpal tunnel syndrome and other musculoskeletal problems. While we typically consider repetitive mechanical stress to be the cause of carpal tunnel, psychological stress leads to muscle tightness throughout the shoulders, which is often transmitted down to the wrist, causing or worsening carpal tunnel symptoms.
7. Stay Socially Connected
Thus far, our remote worker tips about exercise have focused on working your physical muscles to maintain your health. But keeping your social muscles fit is just as important for your well-being. Make a point of nurturing your social relationships with friends and family. If your social circle has shrunk, try to cultivate new friends, acquaintances, and even co-workers as part of your social network. Humans are social creatures, and a healthy social diet is as critical to your mental health, brain function, and overall happiness as the food you eat is for your physical health.
8. Create an End-of-Work Routine
Create a routine that ends your business day. Sign out of messaging apps, close your email, and resist checking it again. Take the dog for a walk, do some yoga, or choose another regular activity that helps you disconnect from work and decompress as you shift your focus from work to life. You cannot have a healthy work-life balance if you cannot carve out different times to focus on one without disruptions from the other.
Keeping Healthy While Working Remotely
While remote work comes with added freedom and flexibility, it can lead to problems if you don’t take steps to ensure you’re taking care of yourself. By incorporating simple adjustments to your routine, such as setting up an ergonomic workspace, taking regular breaks, and staying active, you can avoid common health issues and maintain well-being. Prioritizing self-care not only enhances productivity but also ensures that you can fully enjoy the benefits of working remotely for the long term.
