Blog
6 min read
If you’re new to working from home, the transition can be a struggle—especially with a looming uncertainty just outside.
The temptations of staying in bed all day and streaming your favorite series are so real—we get it. But, you may be doing yourself more harm than good.
Here are five tips to be healthy at home that you can do right now.
Stay active.
While yes, a mandatory at-home sentence might sound like an excuse to ditch the gym, you’re wrong. Keeping an active lifestyle is not just good for the body, but it is good for the mind as well.
Ever wonder why that lazy Sunday makes you feel so...well, lazy? Being inactive isn’t great for the brain. You can feel sad, unaccomplished, and just all around ~bleh~. Nothing sounds good, but you can’t seem to get your butt off the couch.
Don’t worry—it happens to the best of us.
When you’re stuck at home for a week or so, this might seem inevitable. But, it doesn’t have to.
After just 30 minutes of activity, you can start to feel instant benefits. According to the CDC, by following this healthy tip, your cognition and thinking can improve, you can reduce those feelings of depression and anxiety, and you can get a better night’s sleep. This happens with just a few minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity per day—that’s it.
So, how can you do moderate-to-vigorous activity at home? Glad you asked.
Interactive video games.
Yup, here’s your excuse to dust off your Wii and Dance Dance Revolution. These games are a great way to get your heart rate up at home. And, they’re fun, too. If you can’t stand the idea of doing home workouts, then this is for you.
Enlist the whole family in a dance-off. Challenge your partner to a grueling game of Wii Bowling. Have an epic jam session with your buds. Learn that TikTok dance that keeps popping up on your For You page (we won’t tell anyone you downloaded the app).
While you may not be doing crunches or holding a downward dog, you can get your heart rate up while making your home sentence a little bit more entertaining.
At-home video workouts.
Heard of Youtube? Or maybe something called Netflix? Instead of watching hours of crime documentaries or your favorite vloggers do next to nothing, try using your favorite streaming platforms for better use. These sites are filled with ~free~ exercise videos that you can accomplish at home.
From zen yoga flows to intense cardio challenges, there are a nearly endless array of workout types that you can find with a few clicks of a button. Make a vow to do at least one of them per day to keep your body and your brain happy.
Create your own standup desk at home.
If you have to work from home, you can get stuck working on the couch. Then you move over to your bed, then you stay there until it’s time to queue up your favorite show and pass out for the night.
Take this healthy tip for your at-home office: create a stand-up desk.
The fancy desks that you may have at your office back at work are great, but you don’t need to go to such extremes to get the same result at home. You can makeshift a standup desk out of basically everything.
If you have a tray and a stack of books or boxes, you can create your own stand-up desk.
Stack some books under the legs of your desk to create a stand-up desk without moving your entire set up.
You can even get crafty and stack a side table on top of your desk to elevate your workspace.
There are endless ways to convert your desk into a stand-up desk at home. And, by standing throughout the day, you can take the pressure off of your back, neck, and bum and have a more balanced workday.
Don’t binge out of boredom.
This might be one of our most important tips to be healthy during isolation.
Binging on snacks you stocked up on won’t do you any good.
During work hours, it can be tempting to have a bowl of snacks by your side. On the weekends, it can be even more tempting to curl up with a bag of your favorite chips or run back for seconds or thirds when you’re stuck inside.
While the temptation is there, try your hardest to develop a better relationship with your pantry. One of the most important tips to be healthy at home is to create windows for snacking. By placing windows in your schedule for a healthy amount of snacking, you can limit day-long binges.
Eat smarter.
When you’re in a cozy place at home, it’s easier to reach for the easy option. Delivery, microwavable meals, instant foods, and other quick foods might feel like the best options.
While some can be, others can be loaded with ingredients that can make staying healthy at home nearly impossible.
But, you can still have quick and easy meals without indulging in too much of the bad.
Meal replacement drinks and powders are designed for these exact types of situations.
Right now, you may not have access to fresh foods to create healthy meals at home. Meal replacement foods are engineered to deliver convenient nutrition when you need it most. They’re designed to replace something that you might regret eating later, or when you don’t have anything good to eat at all. These drinks and shakes step in and deliver your body smart fuel to keep it satisfied and functioning.
At Soylent, these meal replacement foods are our specialty—and we make them taste good, too.
So, rather than eating easy, you can eat smarter without compromising on flavor.
Call your friends.
Our healthy tips span outside of the kitchen, too. Working from home or being isolated at home can take a toll on your mental health—it gets lonely!
No matter if you live alone, with your partner, or with five roommates, loneliness can creep in. While being alone and feeling lonely are completely different, they can start to blend after a few days of being isolated from your loved ones.
You may not be able to meet up with your friends at your local bar anymore, but that doesn’t mean that you have to be completely alone.
To some Millennials, talking on the phone is worse than being isolated. We get it—you don’t ~do~ phone calls. But, now’s the time to change that.
Call your friends and your family as much as you can. Not only is it great to check up with them during uncertain times, but it can be great to just talk to someone. Hearing someone’s voice or seeing someone’s face over the phone provides greater relief than just words in a bubble. Even just a five-minute conversation with your friends about what you did today can help you get your social fix and keep your mental health in tip-top shape.
Keep a regular schedule.
Snoozing your alarm is no longer an issue, right? Wrong.
Rebelling against your routine will only cause a delayed day of chaos and laziness. Keeping your schedule will keep your brain and body functioning as if nothing has changed. You can remain productive while still enjoying the benefits of working from your home.
Keeping a regular schedule—waking up, eating, working out, and going to bed—keeps you working towards goals and aspirations. A routine helps us develop good, healthy habits while helping us eliminate the unhealthy habits that don’t serve us any good.
So, while it may feel like it’s okay to hit that snooze button, it can lead to a snowball of bad habits that can deter you from having a successful, productive, and meaningful balance at home.
