We’ve discussed how you can stay active and get more steps in while working in an office. But what about when you’re working at home? Staying active while working from home is even more difficult than when working in an office. After all, there’s no commute, and if you live in small quarters (like an apartment), you have less room to walk around.
So, if you’re working from home, here are some tips on how you can stay active:
Get up once each hour
Any kind of movement helps, no matter how small. Even if you’re just standing up for a few minutes each hour, that means you’re being more active than sitting at your desk for 8 hours straight. And frankly, you don’t need to do a lot to see benefits. Recent research has shown that simply increasing the number of steps you get (no matter how small that increase is) will bring overall benefits to your health.
Pro Tip: If you have trouble remembering to get up each hour, set a reminder. Some devices even have this automatically built in, like the Apple Watch.
Be creative
If you live in a small space, you’ll need to get creative in how you stay active throughout the day. Here are a few tips:
- Stand up while on a phone call
- Invest in a standing desk
- Get a stationary bike and use it while working
- Take a five-minute break and dance along to your favorite music
- Do some desk stretches
Schedule time for exercise
Working from home allows for a more flexible schedule. As such, you should have some more time to work out each day. You don’t need to work out for an hour each day; as we said, even just a little bit of movement is beneficial. So, find a time during your day that you can commit to some light exercise, be it yoga, Pilates, a walk, or indoor cycling.
If you have trouble motivating yourself, use some of these tips:
- Tell yourself you’ll exercise for five minutes. If you’re like most people, you’ll stick around for longer.
- Put on your workout clothes when you get up in the morning (after all, you don’t have to dress for the office).
- Schedule your workout during the time of day you have the most energy
- Set up a reward system
- Don’t overdo it—plan to work out only a few times each week instead of every day
At Accredited Rehabilitation Consultants, our ergonomic equipment can help workers stay healthy, even at home. Contact us today to learn more.
