How Remote Work Can Benefit Your Health

When managed right, remote working can be the best thing that happens to someone. It grants people the freedom to do their work from wherever they want. They can schedule their own breaks, and overall, can handle their everyday lives with much more flexibility.

But with great power comes great responsibility. Most people don’t have the tools to handle this responsibility, therefore, over time they become counterproductive, they lose motivation, and slowly everything falls apart - including their physical and mental health. This is why it’s extremely important to create a well-established routine that promotes a healthy lifestyle, using the freedom remote working grants you.

Due to the pandemic outbreak of 2019, most companies had to turn to remote working as their main way of operation. This resulted in some real remote jobs emerging, and freelance work is now more trending than ever. People are constantly looking for the top home jobs found on the market, as it seems this way of working will be the norm for the upcoming years. Today, we can find some of the most lucrative positions in top companies online, with only a few restrictions.

This new opportunity has opened doors for many, making the digital nomad lifestyle possible. Top companies are now hiring internationally, therefore, geographic whereabouts prove to be less of an obstacle. Because of this, most people are trying to get used to remote working.

The Pros and Cons of Remote Working

As mentioned, there are a lot of pros and cons to remote working, and if someone is not careful enough, they can quickly highlight the cons of this lifestyle, as most people do. The most obvious of these is the fact that it’s very challenging to stay motivated while working from home.

This is because people are used to a tightly knit routine with strict boundaries. You get up in the morning, get ready for work, commute, and sit in an office environment until work hours are over. And while working from home allows enormous flexibility in this matter, this is the main downfall of the lifestyle as well.

Now that people don’t have strict routines, they have to create their own, alongside the concrete boundaries that the office environment offers. Without these boundaries, our home and work lives blend together, blurring the line between the two, and this ultimately results in both of them becoming counterproductive.

The first step in creating a healthy environment for remote working is establishing the boundaries between work life and home life. People who have succeeded in creating an optimal work-life at home do so with extreme discipline. They schedule their entire workday, and never allow the distracting home environment to get in the way of that. The most crucial part of this is not allowing your home environment to make its way into your breaks during working hours.

Simply put, you shouldn’t take a nap in your break, watch an episode of your favorite TV show, or start doing chores and errands. This results in a distraction from your work, and ultimately, your break will also be counterproductive.

But this doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t be taking advantage of the freedom remote working grants you. After you’ve created some boundaries around your day, and you learn to live by that routine, you can start taking advantage of the flexibility of your lifestyle.

Physical Health & Remote Working

Most people know that working in an office environment takes its toll on our physical health. There’s limited time to move, and few people have the energy to go to a fitness class. This is where the flexibility of remote working comes in handy.

A lot of people do small things to improve their physical health while working remotely. Some people prefer changing positions while working, which is not possible in an office environment. Many people have standing desks, or they simply move around the apartment changing positions. This helps regulate and balance your circulation, posture, and more.

Other people spend their small breaks with physical movement. Yoga, pilates, a short run, even a walk around the block promotes physical health. Combined with weekly workout sessions can result in some drastic changes for the better.

Another way remote work promotes physical wellbeing is in your diet. Most people don’t have time or energy to create intricate dishes for their workday, so instead, they make simple sandwiches, or end up eating from a subpar buffet.

When working from home, people have the flexibility and time to make fresh, filling meals throughout the day. You have the time to make and eat a well-rounded breakfast, and you have time to cook lunch in your longer lunch break. This eliminates the need to eat less nutritious food, and your meal won’t be cold and unsatisfying by the time you reach your lunch break in the office.

By spending each of your breaks caring for your physical health by moving and taking care of your diet, you’ll quickly become much healthier, and therefore more productive and motivated throughout the day.

Mental Health & Remote Working

Just as physical health, your mental wellbeing can also suffer damage from remote working. A loss of motivation and productivity can quickly result in negative feedback from colleagues and managers, and ultimately this can lead to mild depression, which causes you to spiral. This is very hard to get out of, but by consciously taking care of your mental health, you can prevent these from happening.

The first thing to do is create a well-rounded routine. After following a routine for a couple of days or weeks, your brain will get used to your new lifestyle, and everyday tasks will once again become Pavlovian reflexes.

Additionally, a lot of people set aside time in the morning, evening, and during at least one break throughout the day for mental exercises. This can be anything at all, like completing a puzzle, doing something creative, meditating, reading, or setting aside time for self-assessment. All of these, and any other hobby can help improve your mental health.

Lastly, guaranteed productivity throughout your workday decreases the amount of negative feedback from superiors, which can help keep you motivated in the future. A lot of people make lists at the end of the day about tasks they could not finish and prioritize tasks for the upcoming day.

A list like this can ensure that you don’t take on more than you can handle, and complete every project that needs to be done by a close deadline. This is a sure-fire way to promote productivity, eliminating negative feedback and confusion, resulting in a more balanced and successful workday.

Overall, remote working can be very daunting, and it’s easy to fall into a spiral of negativity when the line between your home life and work-life blurs. But when done right, remote work can be the best thing that happens to you. It’s an optimal lifestyle for parents, and people who need to care for their family members.

It’s also a widely chosen lifestyle for young adults who want to travel, become digital nomads, and earn their living with freelance work. But as stated earlier, with great power comes great responsibility, and people need to be careful of how they manage their workday now that all their time is at their disposal.

While remaining productive and motivated, you also have enough flexibility to care for your health and spend time on other obligatory tasks. It’s truly the best of both worlds.