Work-At-Home Health Concerns

During the winter months especially, when it gets dark earlier, we may develop SAD which encompasses depression, fatigue, or the inability to complete tasks on a daily basis.

To prevent these conditions from occurring, here are some tips to maintain your health and well-being whether you work at home or at the office.

• Utilize an ergonomic work station wherein there is a wrist rest in front of your keyboard; the computer is positioned at least 18 inches away from you; the chair is ergonomic; and there is enough lighting while you work.
• Do not sit for long periods of time at your computer desk. Get up and engage in stretching exercises or go for a 20-minute walk. If you are working on a deadline, you can include five-minute exercises while sitting at your desk. The point is not to remain in one position for a long period of time, but to move around, flex your feet and toes, move your legs, relax your arms, and turn your head from side to side.
• During winter months, ensure you have enough lighting in the room you are using as a work-at-home office. Ideally, place your computer station near the window so that you can take advantage of daylight. Also, have a lamp stationed near your computer desk and turned on during early morning hours before sunrise.
• One of the health concerns we all face as work at home women is gaining weight. The natural tendency is to have snacks at the ready while we work. Maintaining a healthy diet may be difficult, but is necessary to ensure good health and over-all well-being. Have a healthy breakfast before starting work; a nutritious lunch; and dinner. Incorporate exercise in your daily routine as much as possible.

While office workers have the opportunity to go for a walk after lunch, we should also allow ourselves the same advantage so that we don’t have a meal then immediately go back to work without working some of it off. Sometimes, especially in the winter, a bowl of soup can be so relaxing that we may easily become tired and not focus on the work at hand.

It’s important then, not only to take a lunch break but to take 20-minutes out of the day to exercise after lunch so that we are energized and ready to spend the rest of the day completing the tasks at hand.