3 Ways To Stay Healthy When Working From Home

For most freelancers, being able to transition your side-gig to a full-time remote job is the dream. Once your side hustle becomes your main hustle, you can officially say goodbye to the shackles office cubicle and pack your stuff so that you can move back into the comforts of your home.

Being a full-time freelancer has many perks, such as the wonderful ability of being able to work from the comforts of your pajama pants. This is a luxury not many people have.

Sounds great, right?

Well, on paper, it might. No annoying co-workers or colleagues, no long commute, and most importantly – you are your own boss.

Though this article is not to discourage you from transitioning into a full-time working-from-home position, you should keep in mind that this also comes with its own set of cons. Not being able to concentrate during the day, being distracted by too much comfort, and then having to work late nights to make up for the hours lost can lead to burnout all too fast.

Hence why it’s always been an age-long debate for freelancers whether they should work from home, coffee shops or somewhere completely else.

Regardless of the option you take, you need to stay healthy.

It should be a number one priority, in fact, since it can be too easy to neglect it and fall into the trap of not leaving the house just because you don’t have to. Well, the good news is that you can do both, work from home full time and stay healthy.

Here’s how:

1. Set up a personal work station

As much as we’d like to continue working from the couch and the bed, it’s not a viable long-term suggestion. Especially if you want to look after your health.

As an alternative, consider separating yourself from everyone, and claim a corner as your personal work station. Make sure you have a good chair that supports your posture and doesn’t strain your back, and that you can work from there uninterrupted.

The sooner you can enter a deep state of concentration and focus – the sooner you can finish your work and move on to personal time. So, it’s better to get used to being able to finish all your work from one specific place in order to get into the habit.

While working though, make sure you’re not hunched over seat all day. If that’s the case, here’s what you should do:

2. Take frequent breaks

While this may sound counter-intuitive, taking more breaks has been proven to make you more productive.

How?

Because working for long periods of time without breaks leads to stress and exhaustion. Taking breaks refresh your mind, and replenishes your mental resources so that you can come back with a fresh state of mind. If you continue giving a single task more attention, even when you feel like you’ve hit a brick wall, you’re just going to be more unproductive in the long run.

As an added benefit, you can also squeeze in a quick work-out during your break. Getting up from your chair to do some stretches or just going for a quick 5-minute walk can improve your overall mental health and well-being.

Essentially, breaks prevent “decision fatigue” and if you can manage to get your blood pumping during your break – that’s even better.

3. Set a schedule and stick to it

This final tip may sound simple but it’s an important one nonetheless.

Essentially, if you can afford to have extra time, through time-management, you can afford to be healthy and more productive. It can be tempting to stay up late and start working whenever you feel like it, but your mental health and body will thank you if you set up a schedule and stick to it instead.

While waking up early might feel like a chore if you’re working from home, it’s a great way to start your day. Now, you don’t have to get up as early as 4 am, like some entrepreneurs suggest, but setting up your alarm a little earlier than usual can give you a lot of extra time in the evening.

This way, you can either use that extra time to go to the gym or exercise at home in the morning, or finish working earlier than usual – and then spend some time working out. Either way, the idea is to finish your workload earlier than before and then spend that time being healthy.

To ensure productivity, there are a number of tools you can employ to boost your schedule your day better, or just use Google Calendar.

Conclusion

All in all, when you’re working from home full time as a freelancer, it can be extremely easy to neglect your health and fall out of your schedule – something that can lead to burnout. To avoid this, make sure you have a place in your home where you can work from uninterrupted, you’re taking frequent breaks, and working with a schedule that allows you to have some personal time just for yourself.

Winging it doesn’t really work when you’re working from home. If you start to associate where you live with a workplace you don’t enjoy being in, due to work, it’s really easy to get depressed and want to quit.

Meanwhile, if you set some time aside to stay healthy and look after yourself, you’re more likely to be more productive and efficient in the long run.

After all, a healthy mind resides in a healthy body.

Are you a freelancer or work from home regularly? How do you stay healthy? Let us know down in the comments!