Still working from home? And possibly for the foreseeable future? Well then you definitely need these top tips for making the most of your at-home-work-office scenario! Reading these 4 ideas could save your back from ongoing pain, help you relieve some of that pent up stress (from those endless Zoom calls), and offer a different perspective from what you have been used to!
Top Tip #1: Find a good pillow to save your back
Regardless of how good you think your posture is, at the end of the day, we’re only human. We’re bound to slouch. Even if you don’t feel back pain, chances are you are suffering from some kind of pain, whether you feel the pain or not. According to the American Chiropractic Association (ACA), “worldwide, back pain is the single leading cause of disability, preventing many people from engaging in work as well as other everyday activities.” Additionally, although a majority of back pain cases are “mechanical or non-organic—meaning they are not caused by serious conditions, such as inflammatory arthritis, infection, fracture or cancer…reoccurrence [can be] common and for small percentage of people the condition will become chronic and disabling.” Thus, if you don’t want to become the next hunchback of Notre Dame or end up in the hospital with the rest of the 80% who suffer from some sort of back pain, then find a good pillow to fix your posture today!
Top Tip #2: Prep your snacks
If you’re working from home, chances are your trips to the kitchen are more frequent. It’s understandable! Your fridge is practically screaming at you to open it, no? Well, unless you would like to revisit that “Freshman 15” you experience in freshman year of college, then here’s a big tip. Prepare your snacks in advance! Write out your daily meals in a food journal to ensure that you are not going overboard with those chips…which adds up in calories. Suggestion: sliced up and frozen bananas with peanut butter drizzled on top!
Top Tip #3: Get up and move around once every hour (ideal) to two hours
In this article, various studies suggested that sitting for more than eight hours per day could be linked to various health risks, including:
- Obesity
- Increased blood pressure
- High blood sugar
- Abnormal cholesterol levels
- Decreased physical energy
Those are a lot of health risks that could be avoided just by getting up and moving around! You don’t have to do a full body workout (although those are definitely recommended to further circulate your blood), but you could do some light stretching. Here’s the “world’s greatest stretch.”
Top Tip #4: Think about all of the pros from working from home
Yes. Working in the office came with lots of perks. Socialization. Free snacks or drinks (hopefully). Opportunities such as “open-door policies” where you could ask your boss questions and pick peoples’ brains more easily. Working in the office came with lots of perks, so much so that you could miss that time of your life and begin to detest working from home. Or maybe, you didn’t like working in the office as much, but didn’t expect to only be at home 24/7. Either way, a helpful tip that could go a long way is try and change your negative perspectives, whatever they may be. Working from home comes with a lot of perks, too. Your company may even offer Wi-Fi stipends, so monetary perks! Be sure to think about all of the things you’re grateful for while getting to look at your house plants or scratch your pet’s ears!