How to maintain your well-being while working from home

What will we see in this post

Do you view life positively? Are you satisfied with your life? Do you feel good?

The above questions seek to determine your well-being. The exact definition of well-being depends a lot on what you ask, but according to the CDC, it can be generally agreed upon that well-being includes positive emotions, an absence of negative emotions, life satisfaction, and feeling fulfilled.

In short, you can think of well-being as the state of being healthy and happy.

Why should you care about your own well-being?

Because you’ll be happier! You’ll feel greater life satisfaction and a greater sense of purpose— all of which will positively impact your work.

With a strong sense of well-being, you’ll be better prepared to face challenges that come your way, it’ll be easier to achieve your goals, your physical health will benefit, and you’ll be more productive in your personal and professional lives.

Considering we spend roughly a third of our days at work, it makes sense that if we want to take care of our health, we need to put in place habits to increase well-being at work and not just in our leisure time. In fact, it can even have benefits for our professional lives; greater well-being can help you stay motivated in your work and even be more productive— a British study found that happier workers were 13% more productive.

Well-being in the new hybrid format

More workers are working from home than ever before. When you work and live in the same space, you might feel like you shouldn’t do anything other than work during your work hours. But implementing some simple habits into your workday can go a long way for your overall well-being and productivity at work.

With that being said, here are 8 tips to maintain your physical, emotional, and mental well-being while working from home:

Tips to maintain your well-being while working from home

1. Take breaks from your work

Taking short breaks from work throughout your day can make a big difference for your well-being while working from home. Microbreaks, which are defined as short, voluntary breaks from work, have been the subject of a lot of research investigating their benefits and positive effects on workers.

Although counterintuitive, taking microbreaks from your work throughout your day can help improve your productivity and increase your attention. Microbreaks can also help reduce stress and increase worker engagement and positive affect.

2. Set work/life boundaries

When working from home, our professional lives are inevitably intertwined with our personal lives. We work and live in the same environment and that can make it hard to separate work from the rest of our lives and obligations. This is why it’s so important to set boundaries between your work and your personal life.

Learning to set boundaries and sticking to them can help you maintain a healthy work-life balance and prevent burnout. This is especially important for working parents who work triple shifts.

3. Get outside

When working somewhere outside of your home, you’re forced to go outside at least twice a day, to go to and from work. But when working from home, it’s easy to spend the entire day inside without ever going outside and breathing fresh air.

One simple habit to improve your well-being while working from home is to go outside, breathe some fresh air, and get a little sunshine. In fact, decreased exposure to sunlight has been linked to increased mental health distress, and spending 5-10 minutes outside can help you feel alert and refreshed when you get back to your work.

4. Set a clear schedule

Among other benefits, setting a clear schedule will help you with our second tip. But it’s also a great way to stay on track at work and keep your productivity up. Decide on periods of the day to stay 100% focused on whatever tasks you need to complete while staying away from distractions.

By setting a clear schedule and giving yourself adequate time to work on your tasks, you can make sure you stay on top of your deadlines. This helps prevent stress and anxiety and can contribute to your well-being while working from home.

5. Be mindful while working

Mindfulness has been getting a lot of attention in popular culture lately. Simply put, being mindful means being focused on the present moment. That means not thinking about what’s for dinner while writing emails, or planning what you’re going to do after work while you’re still working.

It’s easy to get caught up in the daily grind and lose sight of what’s important. And in a world filled with so many distractions, it can be hard to not let it all affect your productivity and well-being. Being mindful while you work can help you stay focused, inspired, and feeling accomplished.

6. Perform light exercise throughout your workday

Performing some light exercise throughout your day, automatically forces you to take a small break from your work (tip #1), but it’s also a great way to get your heart rate up and make sure you’re getting enough exercise.

Exercise, in turn, has several benefits that go a long way for your well-being, not to mention that performing regular physical exercise will help you stay alert and focused while working. Physical activity has been shown to have a positive effect on learning and memory and is an easy way to help keep your mind sharp.

So if you want to take care of your well-being while working from home, why not include some exercise in your workday? You can do some bodyweight exercises, like squats or pushups, or go for a brisk walk.

7. Connect with your coworkers

Humans are social creatures and social relationships are important for our well-being and emotional health. For better or worse, our jobs are where we do a lot of socializing, but while working from home we are often not as connected with our coworkers.

At home, we miss out on coffee breaks and water cooler talk with our colleagues. Instead, all our conversations are strictly work related and the socialization aspect is lost. So, make sure you connect with your coworkers. Why not schedule some short calls to catch up and talk about things other than work?

8. Be aware of your posture

For many workers in the modern world, working is synonymous with sitting in a chair for several hours a day. Spending a lot of time in a seated position leads to tight hip flexors and hamstrings, and poor posture. These can in turn negatively impact other aspects of our lives by causing muscle aches and pains.

Since we spend so much of our day sitting, it’s important to be aware of our posture. Invest in ergonomic furniture, don’t spend too much time in the same position, and make sure to get up every once in a while to stretch or just move around a little.

9. Pause from your work to eat

When you’re working in the same environment you eat and sleep in, it’s easy to bring your computer into the kitchen or take your food to your computer. While it might be tempting to eat in front of your computer screen, especially when you have a lot of work to do, it’s not a healthy habit.

Always try to take a break from your work to eat without any distractions. Besides letting you enjoy your food and relax a little, it’ll help make sure you don’t overeat. It might seem unnecessary but it’s a great way to slow down and positively impact your well-being while working from home.

Well-being and productivity

Taking care of yourself and committing to your own well-being has numerous benefits. And while it may seem counterproductive to take time out of your busy day to have a chat with a coworker or take a short break outside, consider that, in fact, the opposite is probably true.

While it may not seem obvious at first, improved well-being and working less can positively impact your work. Studies have demonstrated that workers who work less are usually happier and more productive. Iceland has recently experimented with a shorter working week with great success. By allowing workers to work less, they felt valued and respected, their happiness increased, and despite working less, productivity did not drop.

So, at the very least, taking a little time out of your schedule every day to maintain your well-being can improve your work and help make you more productive.

By now you’ve learned the basics about well-being, why it’s important, and ways to maintain it while working from home. Hopefully, you gained some insight and will be able to add some healthy habits into your routine to improve not only your well-being but also your work and productivity.

Let us know what you already do to take care of your well-being while working at home, and if you’d like to learn ways to make money at home check out our blog post Working From Home: 33 Ideas To Make Money!