Yes it's true, and I'm sure many of you reading have heard it before.
The negative health effects of our already sedentary lifestyles were exponetnially exacerbated when countless industries and employees turned to working remote. You'd be suprised how much extra movement or activity you go through if you commute to an office...
So what can we do?
Well with limited time for breaks, you'll want to take full advantage of that time and do things to help refresh, reset and recharge your brain and creative energy. Now I'm not here to preach to you about the importance of being healthy and to nag you about eating all your vegetables, instead I'd rather provide a little inspiration when it comes to your breaks so you can feel better and work better! When you're in a good mental space the quality of your work will reflect that.
Here are 5 great break ideas while working from home that you can incorporate into your day!
I put this one first because I believe this is severly underrated. Sitting all day with bad posture (you may have just corrected yours while reading this) can lead to mobility issues that over extended periods of time cause severe issues with the body.
Taking a few minutes to stretch, foam roll or even do some yoga, will relax the body and put you in a better head space. After sitting for a few hours there's nothing better than stretching out feeling all that tension release. It will also help stave off some of those posture related issues and some people use these types of activites for meditation as well!
I picked up a foam roller from Amazon for about $13 and then I went a little overboard by getting a massage gun for $50, too. If I'm being honest though, the massage gun was worth every penny.
Getting away from your screen is something you'll want to do, but sometimes you still want to do something stimulating or productive.
Reading is a great way to pull yourself out of the work mindset and allow you to come back with a fresh perspective. We've all been in those situations where you're working on a project for long time. And I mean a long time. Where you start to get headaches and the mental fatigue starts to kick in regardless of how many cups of coffee you have. You might be stuck trying to solve a problem or maybe you're having writers block...
At the end of the day, stepping away from those tasks and grabbing your favorite book will help your thought/creative process reset.
Now this may not count to some people as a "book" but I have a copy of the graphic novel "Watchmen" by Alan Moore sitting on my desk. Not only does the art work and story line spark some creative inspiration, but on a personal level I read it back in high school for a class so it brings back feelings of nostalgia to a degree. It's just something that helps me clear my mind and put me in a completely different head space.
Just like I said above, getting away from your screen is something you'll want to do. This makes me realize that I should probably be utilizing the balacony of my apartment more often...
So if weather permits, take a moment to step outside and breathe some fresh air! Depending on how long your break is you may even be able to squeeze in quick walk.
I might be weird, but I find doing small like chores around the house to be a great way to take a break. The way I see it is that future me, getting off work and wanting to relax, doesn't want to do the dishes or fold laundry or take out the trash so I'm basically doing myself a favor that future me will thank me for.
It's also a way for me to "ride that high" of productivity because during work hours is when I feel the most productive and wanting to get stuff done. So it only makes sense to take advantage of the Nespresso coursing through my veins and take care of a couple things here or there.
A big part of taking these breaks is being able to "decompress" and the recurring theme amongst all these different ideas is that they're all about seperating your mind completely from work.
Using this time to unwind by sending a meme to your friends, responding to that group chat, or even just mindless scrolling the "explore" feed of Instagram are some of the most common activities people do on their breaks.
Not everyone has pets so I didn't feel like I could put it on the list, but if you do happen to have a cat, a dog, a chinchilla, a snake, fish, that ball Wilson from Castaway, a goat, a teacup pig, it doesn't matter - spend some time with those little guys!