Stay healthy when working from home

Today I’m delighted to introduce Alison Matthews from Raw Confidence. Alison helps women get their sparkle back by working with them using confidence coaching, raw food nutrition, yoga and meditation. I tend to fall into bad eating habits so I was pleased to read her tips on how to stay healthy when working from home:

Do you find yourself reaching for the biscuit tin? Or drinking several cups of coffee before lunchtime? Are you irritable? And stiff or achy at the end of the day?

If you work outside your home, it’s more likely that you’ll take breaks from work and pop out of the office at lunchtime. At home, it’s all too easy to forget about looking after ourselves when we only have ourselves for company.

Here are a few tips to help you stay healthy when working from home:

Eating. Have some healthy snacks in the house to avoid the snacking on chocolate and biscuits. Fruit, nuts (especially almonds), hummus and crudités and oatcakes are healthy snacks.
Plan in advance what you’ll have for lunch and avoid food which will give you the 3pm slump. Try a crispy salad with avocado and figs or make a smoothie (try mango, spinach and avocado).

Drinking. Coffee and tea deplete your energy, so it’s best to keep consumption of it to a minimum. Fruit juice, while good for you, is high in sugar which can also make you tired and aids weight gain!
Drinking still water, preferably mineral or filtered, during the day is a good way to stay healthy when working from home. Keep a glass on your desk.

Exercise. Take a break and do some exercise. Exercise boosts your energy, improves your mood and your concentration. Ideally go outside in the fresh air and go for a walk or a run. If you don’t have time or it’s raining, try some simple yoga stretches at your desk or in your living room:

Stand with your feet hip-distance apart or sit up at your desk with a straight back
– raise your arms out to the side at shoulder height and slowly rotate your arms one way and then the other.
– keeping your shoulders down, and clasp your hands together above your head, lean over to the right, then the left and then gently backbend. Repeat 4 times.
– push your chair a little back from your desk, rest your palms on the front of your desk and lean forward, stretching out your shoulders. You can do the same thing from a standing position.

Breathing. When we sit at a desk, we often slump forward and don’t breathe deeply into our lungs. This depletes our energy and makes us less productive. Try this breathing exercise:

Sit upright in your chair, dropping your shoulders. Take a slow, deep breath in for a count of 4, filling your lungs fully and exhale slowly for a count of 4 until the last drop of air has been expelled before repeating the deep breath in and out. Repeat 10 times.

Avoid distractions. Working from home does not make your time any less valuable than someone who goes out to work.
Distractions, such as doing the washing and ironing, chatting to a friend on the phone, may be welcome and sometimes serve as a break but the flip side is that taking the time out to do these things may cause you to feel stressed, as you try to fit your work into the remaining hours.
Set your boundaries about your work time and stick to that. You’ll be more focussed, feel less overwhelmed and more likely to stay healthy when working from home.

Do you manage to eat and drink well and get away from your desk regularly? All tips on ways you make sure you stay healthy when working from home are very welcome.