Top 10 Tips For Staying Healthy While Working At Home

From Lynn Bode via Alfa who’s got a cold…

1. Schedule time for working out. When you work at home it’s so easy to work around the clock. To help avoid this think of yourself as having a traditional “office job�. In most “office jobs� when you go home for the night you leave work behind and concentrate on personal things. Even though going home for you may simply be walking down the hall, you need to set boundaries in order to find time for you.

2. During working hours, take several 5-10 minute breaks and run up and down the stairs (or even just walk). This will also help rejuvenate your mind.

3. Sitting in front of a computer can be hard on your body, especially your posture. So, find a comfortable place where you can occasionally stand to do your computer work.

4. It’s not necessary for you to find 30 continuous minutes for working out. You’ll get just as much benefit if you break your exercise into small chunks. Try 10 minutes before you start work, 10 minutes at lunch and 10 minutes after work (re-read # 1 above if you just said you have no “after work� time).

5. If you don’t won’t to spend a lot of time in the kitchen but still want to eat healthy, cook large portion meals on the weekend that you can freeze. Then simply defrost and warm for dinners during the week. This saves you the time of having to make dinner and you don’t have to compromise calories as you would if you instead opted for take-out.

6. One great advantage of working at home is that you can workout over your lunch hour while never leaving your office plus you don’t have to pack your workout clothes and toiletries to take with you to work. This saves you travel time, which you can instead spend on grabbing a healthy bite to eat. And, if you don’t have any face-to-face meetings scheduled, then you don’t have to worry about looking perfect after your workout.

7. If you haven’t already done so, invest in a good hands-free headset for your phone. This is a great way to multi-task because your hands are free to do other things while you concentrate on your conference call. You can even do some simple (but worthwhile) exercise moves. Some good choices are squats, tricep dips, lunges, wall push-ups, etc.

8. Keep healthy snacks available for when you need an energy boost or simply just need something to chew on to help you get through some tough work. Don’t forget to keep water on hand and sip some all throughout your day.

9. Purchase an exercise stability ball. While there are dozens of great toning exercises you can do with the ball, it’s also beneficial to simply sit on it. Try sitting on it instead of a chair for even short periods throughout your day. This will help build your core strength (your trunk area).

10. Don’t forget the importance of stretching. Take a couple of minutes every hour to stand up and stretch your entire body.