Working from home may have only become the norm for you since the Corona pandemic. At first glance it is very relaxing and saves a lot of time. But working from home quickly leads to a lack of exercise - and this can have numerous consequences.
These risks of poor exercise include:
- Pain in the neck, shoulder and back area
- Eye problems and difficulty concentrating
- general fatigue & tiredness
- bad mood & a feeling of irritability
In many cases, a main reason for the lack of exercise is the lack of a way to work. We at SportPlus have also learned about the risk factor of home office in our team and would like to show you how you can stay fit despite working from home.
Discover our top 5 tips for a healthy & fit life despite working from home. You have to see the home office as an opportunity, then you can achieve a lot!
Don't neglect your diet - tip 1
If you spend a lot of time within your own four walls, the refrigerator is always within reach. This increases the risk of eating unhealthy foods. Therefore, our first tip is that you try to eat a varied and healthy diet. The advantage compared to working in the office is that your kitchen is always available. You should use this to cook fresh and balanced food.
Cook yourself, try out new recipes or try meal prep to prepare several meals before stressful work days. As a snack between meals, nuts, fruit or vegetable sticks are better than chocolate or chips.
Plan a sporty break - tip 2
In addition to a healthy diet, exercise is particularly important in order to stay fit despite working from home. Consciously plan breaks and times for short training sessions and try not to let them stop you. The biggest mistake that is often made when working from home: staying in your pajamas all day and only commuting between the kitchen, desk and maybe the couch.
Short walks, short workouts or a quick ride on the exercise bike are popular and effective methods that will make you feel fitter very soon. Sometimes you have to force yourself a little. A good tool is, for example, a pedometer app. It motivates you to persevere.
Keep moving even while working - tip 3
Especially when we are sitting, we tend to put strain on one side of our body and can quickly develop poor posture and pain. The neck, shoulders and back in particular are quickly affected.
To ensure that the times of working from home and less exercise do not leave a negative impact in the long term, you should not sit stiffly for hours while working. Just one of many options would be training with our leg trainer. You don't have to leave your seat, but you can keep moving.
The “Walk & Talk” principle has also become established in our company. We combine many meetings with a walk. Microsoft Teams and headphones with a microphone make it possible.
You are not a (working) machine! — Tip 4
Of course, it's wonderful if you eat healthily and incorporate exercise into your everyday life in the home office. But don’t forget that your body is not a machine. Maybe you just need a little relaxation while reading, listening to music or watching TV.
Just give your body a break instead of filling every free minute with a workout or something else useful. Regeneration is just as important as physical activity. Of course, you should find the right amount - just lying on the couch after work is definitely not a good option!
Clearly separate work and free time - tip 5
The biggest challenge in working from home is the separation of work and free time. Many people cannot find the right outlet at home and therefore spend much more time on the computer than is absolutely necessary.
Therefore, set clear working hours and try to stick to them as best as possible. This won't always work, though. But you will quickly notice that it has a positive effect on your well-being.
Conclusion: Fit & healthy through small changes to your habits!
We hope that with our tips you can stay fit and healthy in your home office and incorporate more exercise into your everyday life. It is to be expected that our working lives could increasingly shift into the home environment in the future. It is therefore important that you start rethinking early on.
Similar to a successful diet, you shouldn't see your new habits as an exceptional situation, but rather change your mindset. You can achieve short-term success with our tips. But you also have to stick with it in the long term in order to stay fit in the long term.
Of course, we don't necessarily want to turn you into a competitive athlete who does push-ups on every telephone conference and uses the file folders as weights for workouts . But a little exercise is very helpful. This will help you maintain your physical fitness and avoid many unpleasant consequences.
