Staying Active When You Work from Home

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By Claudia Young, team member

When you work with others, you are basically forced to work all day or at least look like you’re always working on something. When you work from home, you are your own boss and sometimes that means you give yourself too many breaks.

“I don’t technically have anything due today, so I’m going to stop working for today because I’m really tired and need a break.” – me some days at 2 p.m.

This is my third blog in a three-part series about freelancing from home full-time. You can read my first blog here and my second blog of the series here.

Now, let\’s talk about taking effective breaks! My name is Claudia (hi, Claudia) and I suffer from joint pain and migraines, and that makes it really hard to work from home. Like clockwork, most days at around 2:30 or 3 p.m., I start getting a slight headache. It could be from a number of things: not drinking enough water, staring at my computer for too long, too much light coming into the room. Then they turn into full-fledged migraines. I haven’t found any real rhyme or reason yet. Even when I try to do everything to prevent them, they still sneak through from time to time.

But the one thing I’ve found that really does help my joint pain (and usually my migraines) is exercise. It seems simple, right? But sometimes we get so caught up in our pain that we just complain and don’t focus on the simple fixes.

What I’ve been doing

I challenged myself to do yoga every morning for a week to see how it affected my work and attitude. Spoiler alert: it seriously helped. I had more energy even during my afternoon lull, I got more done, and I took fewer breaks because I didn’t need them. Yes, I still get migraines from time to time, but I’m able to get past them instead of hiding under the covers with the blinds closed. Yoga has made me a better functioning human and I plan on continuing this new daily habit for as long as I can.

If you don’t like yoga, have no fear. I’ve compiled a list of a few different at-home workouts you can do and some YouTube videos to help you along the way!

  • Yoga

My favorite YouTube yoga instructor is Yoga with Adriene. Yoga can be intimidating, especially if you aren’t flexible, but Adriene is quirky and makes you feel like you’re doing a great job. All this workout takes is a yoga mat, which you can find for $10 at TJ Maxx.

  • Cardio workouts with no weights

If you don’t know if you want to invest in weights or want to get started on exercising right away, check out this cardio video. It’s guaranteed to make you sweat!

  • Go for a walk or run

If your road has a sidewalk, get outside! The Vitamin D and adrenaline will do wonders for you. Bonus points if you take your dog!

  • Sitting workouts

If you have less mobility or use a wheelchair, this article shows eight YouTube videos that could work for you!

  • Stretch

If you’re really on a time crunch, just stretch. This video only takes five minutes and stretches every major muscle group. This would be great if you’ve been in front of your computer for hours.

There’s no need to push yourself too far or make unrealistic goals for yourself. Just get out there and be active, no matter how relaxed it is!

What is your favorite way to be active? Let me know in the comments.

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