The Importance of Movement and Nutrition When Working From Home

You can’t deny that the world has become increasingly digital, with many people actually opting to work from home over going to the office. This change in the working landscape has come with a whole host of new things that people are confronted with, such as managing their own time, navigating work challenges without the immediate support of a team and even planning their personal lives around being at home all day. Although there are still many kinks in the working-from-home system, that are surely only going to be properly ironed out with time and experience, there are certain aspects that you can get on top of now already.

This article aims to shed light on how you can make your working-from-home situation the most healthy and beneficial for your needs.

Take Time To Stretch

One of the most important parts of anyone’s day is the time they spend moving. Now, this does not mean that you need to go out and run a marathon. Movement can be as small as moving your neck left to right for a few minutes, even whilst still at your computer.

You have to admit that if you are working at your desk, you are spending a large amount of time in not necessarily an uncomfortable position but certainly one that is not overly natural for eight hours a day. If you spend a lot of time browsing a site when you visit website and enjoy the games or jobs you have, that’s great, but it does not mean that you should underestimate the toll it can take on your body. Therefore, if you want to make sure that you don’t need to take every weekend off to get a strong massage, you need to start moving your body, ever so slightly.

The easiest way of incorporating movement is through stretching. It is far less strenuous than trying a pilates or aerobics class as is rather perfectly suited toward getting your joints and muscles moving. The best thing about stretching is that it can be targeted. This means that if you spend a lot of time training your neck forward, or a lot of time in a stationary seated position, then you might want to look at stretches that focus on hip and neck mobility first.

It’s in the Movement

Now, once you have come to a place where you feel that your body is comfortable with stretching, then you can up the ante a bit and spend some time really moving.

Strength training is a great way to reduce the chances of you hurting yourself through continuous sitting, as it will allow you to engage your core and other muscles in your body, to support your back and neck when in a straight position. Many people don’t know this but having strong muscles isn’t just important so that you can pick up heavy things but it actually creates a stronger body even just for doing things like walking and standing. If you’re at your standing desk but your core is not engaged, this makes your hips jut forward and puts your lower spine in an awkward position. By bringing weights into your day, you get to make your body stronger than ever.

You can also choose to do things with more movement, such as running or swimming. Running is a great way to get your stress out and sweat out any worries you might have and if you have the opportunity to run outside in nature, then you’re getting fresh air and nicer scenery too. The only thing about running is that it can be rather hard on the joints. If you’re looking for something a bit lighter, consider swimming. It gives you the space to cover great distances in the pool, the opportunity to stretch with every stroke and it makes your body feel weightless, which means you have little to no joint pressure.

If you’re working from home and spending a lot of time seated and indoors, then moving properly and getting into nature when and where you can is a sure plus.

Don’t Underestimate Getting the Right Nutrients

Another thing that many do not think about and that actually impacts your daily work is the food you eat. The nutrients you decide to take in will vastly impact your working day.

Say you decide to eat quite a heavy and large breakfast of oatmeal, milk and banana in the morning. Great for long hours of energy and oats and bananas are slow releasing but also quite difficult to digest if it’s a large amount, so you might feel rather fatigued the whole morning. Similarly, if you do not eat any breakfast, you will also feel tired. So, try to aim for the middle, incorporating some protein and making sure the meal isn’t too big. The same goes for snacking, of course, you will do it as you will feel peckish throughout the day but try to avoid sugary sweets as these will boost your energy levels significantly but then leave you feeling rather drained a short while after. Sugar is known for its high highs and low lows.

Try to remember that because you are working from home, you can easily prepare fresh and even more complicated meals, as you have your kitchen at your disposal. So use it! Forget the store-bought sandwiches, go and make a fresh chickpea and kale salad!