Work From Home Essentials

By Author: Astocare
Total Articles: 81
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Introduction
COVID-19 has taken our lives hostage and the business world by storm. Almost everyone has returned from office and is working from home now. Things do look a bit challenging right now but it seems almost certain that with time the new normal will definitely set in for good.
Comfort Is A Choice
All this while working from home, a lot of our habits, choices and even moods have turned corners. We sound itchy, jumpy, tired, uncomfortable and bored, all at the same time. And we have officially lost our sense of space and time while working in odd postures, in tougher conditions than before. Some of us are even wishing for their offices to open up With the current trend going, the latter is quite unlikely to get real. What can be controlled right now is your state of discomfort.If happiness is an attitude, we believe comfort is a choice. If you choose to do something in a certain way, you either discount the necessity of that task with your own needs or you just don’t consider your own needs at all. Well, if you want yourself to be comfortable and joyous, you are going to have to work for it.Here are ...
... some tips that will help you get comfortable with the new normal. Check them out:
• Work as if you were in your office:
• Aime for a designated work station
• Accessorize with better computer hardware.
• Avoid the sofa/bed if you can.
• Keep the screen at eye level.
• Get yourself comfortable
• Aim for a proper posture.
• Don’t rub into the screen.
• Use pillows/towels for lumbar support.
• Pay attention to pain
• Don’t opt for tricky back postures.
• Mind the slouch.
• Keep moving.
• Give your eyes quick breaks and shuffles.
• Don’t push it too much
• No need to work 24*7
• Take quick breaks
• Assign work hours
• Go for Low level stretches.
• Invest for comfort
• Consider upping your data plan for more speed and less irritation.
• Invest in a desk chair if you don’t have a reliable one.
• Try going for glasses with blue light protection.
• Keep yourself healthy and well-hydrated.
• No need to starve yourself
• Hunger makes you irritable and reduces work capacity.
• Keep quick healthy snacks nearby.
• Don’t skip breakfast.
• Avoid fried foods which have a gastric aftereffect.
• Keep your fluids up
• Thirst can make you dizzy and unproductive.
• Keep a bottle of water/infused water nearby.
• Sip on green tea once in a while.
• Eat fruits for fibre and fluid.
Reduce the strain
With our social time taking a major hit, our screen time is blooming rapidly. With nothing to do and no one to visit, we are left in the lurch with our devices at hand and our social/work needs unmet completely.Whether it’s working your job, prepping some projects/assignments, going for self development, face-timing with friends or even watching the T.V. with your family, your screen time is skyrocketing without fail.In usual circumstances, the general suggestion would be to curb this massive screen time to a minimum. But because of the COVID-19 crisis, that option goes down the gutter. What must one do, then Here are some tips for you to manage your excessive screen time and save your eyes from straining too much:
• Go for a Standing workstation: Try putting a stool over a table and keep your device on it carefully. Have it such that the screen meets your eyes directly when you stand straight. This will help you not only maintain posture, burn calories but also reduce the strain on your eyes.
• Give your eyes quick breaks: Set timers on your phone to give yourself a break from the riding screen time. This will help you stay in the real world and your eyes to regain strength for the next round of screen time.
• Just keep blinking: Your eyes turn dry if you keep staring at the screen for long. If it continues for a long duration, serious eye damage may follow. One needs to take full care of it and often keep blinking deliberately.
• Have at least 3-5 minutes sun time: Recent research has found out that basking in the sun, without directly looking at it but doing it from side to side, with a rising/dropping sun, is a great way to boost central eye vision. Not just this, it also restores your body’s Vitamin D count which is also good for your eyes.
• Go for some eye exercises: Give yourself a break at least twice a day to exercise your eyes. You can try rotating them in all directions or go for some eye yoga. Finally, just meditate a little with your eyes closed. Then rub your palms, place them on your eyes and get back to work.
• Turn off the blue light: There is a blue light filter for the blue screen light in almost every device. Try switching the blue light off and/or the nightlight on. It will decrease the eye strain drastically.
• Invest in a tear-film: There are many cheap, over the counter and easily available tear films in the market. Just go to a pharmacy and ask for a tear film. These eye drops help keep your eyes hydrated after long hours of computer work.
• Work near a window: Natural light is much better than artificial light. Try switching things up and move your workstation to a window or near the balcony. Within a week of working there you’d feel the drop in eye strain clearly.
Keep It Moving
Now that you are stuck at home, have you ever wondered how much it’s different from your general work life? No long walks, no corridors, no cold lunches, no stairs and no movement at all.If you feel the same, you are not alone. Work life, however sedentary it seems, can still be a bit strenuous. Even the distance between the parking lot and the building used to make you walk a little. Now you aren’t even doing as much You might not have lost weight alongside your office life but right now, without as much movement, you will for sure, gain much more. In order to keep this pandemic from becoming an even worse health problem for you, you need to work out a little more.Here are some tips that will definitely help you kickstart a movement routine:
• Some desk based exercises: instead of scrolling through social media, make best use of small 2-5 minute breaks while working.
• Try Yoga: Keep a Yoga mat handy and try doing at least 3 easy yoga stretches everyday.
• Neck and shoulder exercises: While working, you tend to stiffen your neck and shoulders for a long duration. Try rotation exercises to receive the tension.
• Quick 5 minute workouts: Combine any 8 body weight exercises and do them one after the other, for 30 seconds each. Take a 60 seconds break in between. Some exercises are:
• Lunges
• Squats
• Crunches
• Pushups
• Jumping Jacks
• Planks
• Jumping
• Burpees
• End of the day cardio/zumba: It is never wrong to celebrate after having completed a day’s work! Try putting on some peppy beats and do any of these for 3-5 minutes straight:
• Bhangra
• Zumba
• Aerobics
You can even take help of instructional videos online.
Prioritise Mental Wellness
As much as we love working our physical body to feel and look better, we need to realise that it’s only as important to work our physique as is to keep our psyche healthy Your body is an engine. Every part of your being makes it up and helps it run. But with too much steam inside your core, you will get heated up and eventually breakdown altogether, no matter how strong you look from the outside.With all this turbulence heating up your lifestyle, it is only natural for your mental peace to take a hit, once in a while. Even so, one should not lose hope. You are the master of your mind and keeping it healthy should not be a task.Here are some tips for better mental wellness while working from home:
• Stay organised: Have a clean designated work space. Don’t leave it all messy after you’re done. Cleanliness boosts happiness.
• Don’t work in the same room you sleep/relax: A designated room/space for leisure or sleep helps the body identify when and where to stress and when and where not to.
• Restrict work banter to work: Namespace for your private life. It is advisable to not to be in work mode all the time.
• Pick-out some hobbies: Don’t go for something tense. Try something fun and exciting like gardening or cooking, etc. It will help you get your mind off of work and help you streamline your thoughts.
• Get out more often: Nothing is better than fresh air. Staying indoors can get a little gloomy after a while. Try and go for walks outside in the morning/evening and you’d see the difference.
• Try working out and meditating: Physical wellness and mental wellness go hand in hand. If you engage in Physical exercise, it will help rid you off of stress. Meditation is another great way to restore mental peace
Drape Better Fabrics
What goes around in one’s life affects one’s decision making strength and the direction they choose for themselves. A major driving force for what we want and do not want in our routines is generally the consequence of a decision we made recently. In simple words, we only listen to those needs which we need immediately.This notion may get us through most of the storms in life but it renders us helpless against the big ones coming later.One needs to account for factors that may affect one’s well-being in both the short and the long haul. And one such factor is the fabrics we wear.Clothes do define our personality but they define our comfort much more. If you wear clothes which do not suit you or your work environment, there may be serious repercussions of that. Take a look at this list of fabrics you should give a shot to enhance your WFH experience:
• Our first recommendation will be work clothes because they
• Used to serve you well before.
• Give you a sense of alertness.
• Prevent you from falling asleep while working.
• But for those who want to turn things around, we suggest
• Natural fibres like cotton and lenin, etc. for summer days.
• Cotton, faux leather, wool, faux fur etc. for winter days.
• Avoiding nylon clothes for WFH.
• No polyester either.
A Final Note
No matter what, it is what suits you that matters. The above mentioned are hoped to have eased your WFH blues in one way or the other. If they haven’t, we suggest you try and implement some other strategy as per your needs and get creative with it. Working from home is way tougher than working from workplaces. But even so, with a little effort, home can be transformed into a work paradise.AstoCare, your partner in healthcare, cares for you and your well-being, be it physical or psychological.For any assistance, LIVE CHAT with us at AstoCare.com or write to us at hello@astocare.com.We care for you.

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