Working From Home: How to Protect Your Physical & Mental Health

If the recent Pandemic has shown us anything, it's reminded us of the overall spirit and tenacity of the human species; more specifically our ability to adapt. One of our in-built functions from time immemorial truly has been tried and tested most recently. At Makematic, we learnt to adapt to a home-working environment, however, we as humans also don't like change, which is why we would like to provide some insightful tips to help preserve your physical and mental wellbeing while working from home.

Designate a Work Area

A fundamental point that works regardless if you work on a laptop, computer or even just through your phone. Give yourself a designated workspace solely for the purpose of your work.

Changing to a home environment can have a knock-on effect on your ability to work as effectively, especially initially while you adjust. Procrastination and general distractions can occur more frequently from home, especially if living with other people.

Your work area doesn't need to be much, a simple desk and chair would suffice. You will associate the area with work production and can keep all remaining areas in your home for general, recreational activities. Also, please get a good chair that provides proper back support, you deserve a more-than-decent working space.

Watch the Makematic Behind-The-Scenes vlog 5, where Gianna shows off some of the teams working from home spaces. It may inspire you to upgrade to a better desk.

Treat Each Day Like You Would Before

Strive to keep as much simulation to your previous working environment as you can.

What would you have done each day when you wake up? Eat Breakfast, Shower, Get your Hair & Make-up done? If so, then don't stop! It's easier now to neglect our daily rituals, but they're a great way to jump-start our minds into the 9-to-5, and aid positive work efficiency.

Plus, by getting ready in the mornings, we promote our own self-esteem which aids how we interact with our team members on a daily basis.

Take your Breaks Outside

It's easy to feel trapped under your four walls, this even applies in an office workspace. That's why it's always worthwhile to get outside whenever possible.

Spend your lunch breaks outside your home, go for walks, be creative and think of ways you can break the monotony of working from home while gaining some quality time away from your enclosed space and the overuse of technology.

Walking is a great stress relief and a great low-intensive way you can work on your fitness at the same time. You can also consider setting a step count at the same time if you wish to strive to be more physically active as you can.

This month, 21 Makematic staff are supporting the Brain & Spine Foundation by taking on a spring marathon challenge in conjunction with RunThings! Each person is covering a half, single, double, triple or massive quadruple marathon by walking or running their way through the month. A great stress reliever for those involved.

Maintain Human Connection

An aspect to working in an office that many forget its importance - is social interactions. Working from home now doesn't have to mean your work becomes anti-social as a result.

Simple ways we can continue to keep those essential, human connections include using various different means for communication; e.g. video-to-video (Zoom, Google Hangouts) to even a mobile phone call.

Why not talk to your Line Manager about designating weekly or monthly time-slots where the company can come together for a daily coffee and just communicate amongst each other about non-work matters. Most recently, a few members of the Makematic team had virtual lunch together. We ordered from Deliveroo and successfully all the food arrived on time - no one was left waiting for their meal! It was a great to catch up and talk about anything that wasn't work related.

When in Doubt, Talk

Going back to the first point, we are at the end of the day - only human. We all react to change differently and all reactions should be justified.

You're not alone and it's better to communicate your feelings as soon as possible before they fester and grow into something much worse.

Do set up contacts for both work and home; that you can chat openly with regarding how working from home has affected you. We are all in on this together, and we should support each other no matter where we're based.