Work from home blues!

Now that everyone is working from home, they need to look after their health and well-being. According to newspaper reports, people are facing many physical and mental health issues during Work from Home.

Not many people are willing to deal with mental health issues but most take note of physical health challenges and go see a doctor or a physiotherapist when back or neck pain becomes acute. Both provide treatment and recommend exercise of different kinds to get rid of pain.

International research shows that an hour of daily exercise is not good enough to overcome the effects of sitting at work all day. Dr E Levine of Mayo Clinic has been most vocal about the effects of a sedentary lifestyle on physical health.

These effects include not just back pain but high blood pressure, diabetes and even cancer. According to Dr Sanjay Gupta, lack of physical activity affects the mind as well and something more than an hour in the gym is needed to help the brain.

Another person one might consult is a yoga guru, who also prescribes an exercise regime, the difference being that these exercises are meant for people who are physically fit and who want to stay that way. Some lifestyle consultants prescribe exercise during the day. Every one of these exercise sets requires a level of motivation that everyone does not have.

All exercise regimes leave out an important component of our life – the tools that we use. Most technological tools are designed to make life easier but they also make our lifestyle passive. common examples are the TV remote, the mobile phone, the laptop computer and so on. The older devices required us to be more active.

Dr Levine calls this non-exercise activity, the important difference between an active and passive lifestyle. He goes further to say that the way to live better is to change your lifestyle so that you are active ALL through the day.

One way of making sure that activity happens all the time is to change the tools of work so that one is required to move.

l Do not keep all things that you need within easy reach of your work place. Keep the mobile phone away from you, walk to it when it rings and walk while you talk. Make sure that the chair you use is just comfortable enough for half an hour of work after which you must stand up and walk a bit.

l Do not lie in bed to watch a movie, sit on the floor instead. It will remind you to sit better and get up often.

l You can also get a saddle chair for work; it improves the posture and meets the requirements of limited comfort. These small changes will go a long way in mitigating the worst effects of Work from Home.

Technology is supposed to make life easier and tools are to add convenience to it. Both technology and tools can also make us more passive. Using the right tools will make it possible to be mentally and physically healthy.

(-By Vinod Gupta, Founder and CEO, Opus Indigo)