5 Tips to Help You Stay Active While Working from Home
If you’re working from home – whether as a freelancer, entrepreneur, or remote employee – you might be all too familiar with the less glamorous side of home-based work: Staying active can be a real challenge when you don’t need to leave the house every day! But working from home needn’t be a sedentary lifestyle.
In this post, we’ll also look at why prioritizing physical activity is so important. Then, we’ll share five great tips to help you stay active throughout your working week. Let’s take a look.
Why Is It Important to Stay Active?
According to the World Health Organization, adults should get at least 150–300 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise (or 75–150 minutes of vigorous-intensity aerobic exercise) each week to maintain good health. However, when your commute is measured in footsteps rather than miles, it’s easy to fall short of these guidelines!
Staying active while working from home can help:
- Improve cardiovascular health: Prolonged sitting has been linked to elevated blood pressure and higher cholesterol, and it can even raise the risk of death from heart disease and cancer. Scary stuff! But the good news is that even short bursts of movement – such as stretching or walking breaks – can keep your circulatory system healthy and help mitigate these issues.
- Reduce stress and enhance mental wellbeing: A review of 1,158 studies showed that 89% found a statistically significant, positive relationship between physical activity and mood, general mental health, quality of life, and wellbeing.
- Prevent posture-related injuries: Back pain and tight shoulders can develop quickly if you spend long hours hunched over a laptop. In fact, one study found that prolonged sitting increases your risk of lower back pain by 42%. Regular movement breaks help maintain proper posture and reduce musculoskeletal strain.
- Boost productivity: Incorporating short, active breaks into your work routine can boost your creativity, energy levels, alertness, and ability to concentrate.
How to Stay Active While Working from Home
To make sure remote work doesn’t lead to a sedentary routine, here are five practical strategies to keep you active and energized throughout the day.
1. Work Standing Up
You may have heard medical experts say that “sitting is the new smoking.” Indeed, Dr. James Levine and others have warned of the health risks linked to sitting for extended periods, such as:
- Increased blood pressure
- Back pain and poor posture
- Circulation issues
- High blood sugar
- Abnormal cholesterol levels
When you stand, you burn anywhere from 70 to 95 calories an hour, while sitting only burns 65 to 85 calories an hour (exact numbers depend on factors such as your age, sex, height, and weight).
An adjustable sit/stand desk is ideal, but don’t worry if you can’t afford expensive equipment: Placing a sturdy box or a stack of books beneath your laptop can easily convert a regular table into a makeshift standing desk. Try alternating between standing and sitting every hour or two – even one or two hours of standing during the day reduces the amount of time you spend completely sedentary and can have a big impact on your health.
2. Keep Moving at Your Desk
When you do need to sit, you don’t have to remain entirely still. Stretching and doing simple desk exercises not only help maintain mobility but also promote better posture.
You can find simple stretches (such as shoulder rolls, neck stretches, or seated leg raises) to weave into your work routine. Set a timer for every 30–45 minutes. When it goes off, do one minute of desk stretches before resuming work. Even small movements can break up extended periods of sitting and reduce tension.
To take things a step further, vary your sitting positions throughout the day. Investing in an adjustable ergonomic chair for your home workspace can help you move in different ways (e.g., tilting slightly forward or backward) and maintain better spinal alignment.
3. Get Moving in Your Breaks
So far, we’ve covered how to stay active while you work. But it’s equally important to use break times to get up and move! Whether you go for a short walk, jog, or bike ride, or even do a quick yoga session, physical activity during your downtime has many benefits.
One advantage of working from home is not having to commute. But you can still factor in a commute of sorts: a pre- or post-work walk or jog around the block. This ritual helps demarcate your workday and ensures you squeeze in extra movement.
If you normally start work at 9 a.m., for instance, you could set aside 8:30–8:50 for a morning walk. And if you need that extra bit of motivation, some headphones and your favorite playlist or podcast can help get you out the door!
4. Get Up and Move Regularly
Even if you don’t have time for a longer exercise session, short, frequent movement breaks can add up. Whenever you get up to grab a drink or head to the bathroom, take an extra minute to walk around your home or climb the stairs once or twice.
If you’re prone to losing track of time, set an alarm or use an app that reminds you to get up every hour. Or, keep a small sticky note on your monitor with “move!” written on it. Each time you see it, stand up, stretch, or even do ten squats. These micro breaks can significantly improve your circulation and energy levels.
5. Schedule Workouts into Your Routine
One of the biggest challenges of working from home is the lack of external structure – no one else is telling you when to wake up, commute, or head to the gym. However, you can create your own schedule and build in specific times for exercise.
For example, consider following the recommendation from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention of getting 150 minutes of moderate-intensity activity each week. Plan a 30-minute workout five days a week (whether it’s a brisk walk, an online yoga class, or a cycling session on an exercise bike).
If you have an afternoon free of online meetings, set aside some time for a workout. Put it in your calendar just like you would any work appointment, ensuring you protect that time for exercise. Planning your days can help you find time (no matter how little) to get your heart pumping.
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