A work-life sans the frenetic commute and the limp lettuce of a brown bag lunch sounds pretty good. Working from home does have many perks beyond saving some bucks on your wardrobe and gas. Indeed, most people assume that working from home will give you scads of additional time to spend on personal pursuits.
However, you might find after a few months that having your boss and co-workers enter into the sanctuary of your home, no matter how “office-y” your home office might be, can uncomfortably blur the lines between home-life and work-life. Or, if you’re self-employed, it does not take long to feel strangled by self-imposed deadlines or buried in an avalanche of projects. No matter how you look at it, working from home poses challenges. For most individuals it is not automatically stress free.
Working from home does not necessarily make it more likely that you will take physical and mental breaks from your work tasks. Without the cues provided by office mates to remind you to eat lunch or needing to walk down to the conference room for a meeting, you might find yourself more sedentary than ever.
This has big ramifications on your physical and mental health. Sitting for too long without breaks can cause circulatory, joint, and muscular problems. Staring at a screen without breaks can be harmful to both your posture and eyes. Non-ergonomic office furniture in a hastily thrown-together home office can cause aching joints and spinal problems. Add the stress of limited social communication with co-workers to the mix and tension headaches, high cortisol levels and other health challenges can arise.
The good news is, you can turn this all around by setting an intention to include bouts of 10-15 minutes of self-care into your work-at-home life. Beyond the obvious and easiest things people do when zoning out of work- switching your screen over to social media and mindlessly surfing through feeds — try one of these 12 tips to relieve stress and use break minutes wisely during your workday if you are one of the many individuals who are working from home.
12 Stress Relief Tips
Take a Step Outside! It’s simple. Stand up, go outside, and breathe. The benefits are multiple. The change of scenery stimulates your senses. Take some deep breaths in the fresh air. Let your skin soak in immune-boosting vitamin D.
Do a Quick Yoga/Stretching Set. You can get a lot done in 15 minutes or less when it comes to doing yoga or stretching. Create your own back-friendly sequence that focuses on corrective posture poses. Or, check out Yoga by Adriene’s free videos on YouTube. Adrienne’s sessions are accessible, easy to follow, and cover balance, mobility, and targeted body parts. This trusted online yoga instructor has been doing it for a while and has a knack for connecting with at-home participants. Her short sessions (like this one) fit nicely into a workday.
Trade the Pressures of Work for the Solace of an Acupressure Mat! 15 minutes on an acupressure mat provides deep tissue stimulation that might relieve your headache, boost cognitive function, and provide relief from back pain and other musculoskeletal issues.
Flip Stress on Its Head. If you have an inversion system to decompress your spine, use it! Inversion chairs, nifty inversion tables or strapping into gravity boots and hanging from a bar can give your back a much needed chance to relax and decompress, especially if you are seated much of the day. Inversion should be done in relatively short bouts. So, if you like it, it might be a perfect work break.
Balance, Strength and Roll! Get yourself a stability ball to use as an office chair. Sitting on one, instead of a traditional chair, activates your stabilizer muscles throughout your torso. You’ll improve your balance and simultaneously create a healthier back. Since you’re at home, it is easy to roll away from your desk or table and do a short 10-minute strength session for your back and abdominals on the ball. Check out these moves presented by the American Council on Exercise.
Or…Rock and Roll with Your Favorite Song! Crank up the volume and dance like nobody’s watching… because you are at home and no one is watching. Your body, heart, and soul will thank you for the quick pick-me-up that will get blood flowing to your brain and have you deep breathing in a full-on, fun sort of way. If you’re a “never dance” sort of person, do some squats or lunges to get your large muscles moving. The circulation boost will send more oxygenation to your brain, which means potentially increased work productivity (and stronger muscles and lubricated joints throughout your core and legs) when you sit your keister back down!
Dig the Silence. Meditate and do some deep breathing exercises for 10 minutes. Being alone with your thoughts can help you clear your head or even find answers to the problems that have been bugging you all day. If that’s not your cup of tea…
Drink a Cup of Tea! Just holding a warm beverage can bring a sense of calm warmth according to research. Additionally, you can’t “slam” a cup of hot tea. You have to mindfully sip and that slowness can further calm you down if you are stressed. Couple those physical sensations with a tea like mint that enhances clarity or chamomile that soothes and you can find your perfect stress-less solution!
Break the Silence. Sing. Sing loudly. There are ZERO co-workers around to shush you. Singing gets your lungs working and your blood flowing to your brain to wake you up. Heck, if you choose carefully, you could even belt out some gritty hair band yells disguised as songs that can redirect any work stress you might be feeling.
Do a Household Task. Your evening self will thank you! And your back will appreciate the varied motion. Wash a dish or two. Start a load of laundry. Sweep the floor. Water a plant. (Maintaining plants betters your home’s air quality. And, the color green is said to be calming.) It’s understandable why people resist wiping down the office microwave (burnt on remnants of your cubicle partner’s fish sandwich), but you can certainly wipe down your own! Choose one simple, physical task to get your body moving and experience a range of motion that is different than sitting down. If you do this a few times a day, it’s likely you won’t have any chores to do when you shut down your computer and leave “home office” for the day. Your home will be cleaner and more organized, which means better physical and mental health too! That can equate to better quality relaxation time when you are off of the clock.
Play with Your Pet or Just Pet Your Pet for a Few Minutes. Research shows interacting with a pet can decrease stress hormones and cortisol levels. Decreasing stress can result in releasing tense neck and back muscles and prepare you to dive back into work.
Call Your Mother! That is always good advice. If not your mom, reach out to a friend or loved one who you would not be able to talk to from a professional office. The quick social break can work wonders when it comes to providing a reset and helping to ensure you maintain rich social relations. Because when it comes to developing wealth, working is important. But, in the end, we all know that true wealth and richness is about total health and wellness, not just your well-earned paycheck.
