How to Alleviate Work from Home Stress: Self Care

We have come up on it! The one year anniversary of Covid shutting us all down and making our commutes to work the steps from the bed to our work station. Not everyone was lucky enough to get to work from home, but for those of us who did, it’s easy to forget that “luck.”

Working from home brought with it a lot of stress, but fear not, the light is at the end of the tunnel. However, until we come out of this tunnel, it’s important to stay sane and destress as we work from home for the next few weeks or possible months.

In this post and our next one, we will talk about some of the things you can do to help alleviate the stress you’re feeling while working at home. In this first post, we will talk about the things you can do for self care that will help with stress. In the following post, we will talk about how you can structure your work.

Take mental breaks and be physical

When we are in a normal work day, we move around. We walk to our car (or whatever we use for commuting), we walk into the building, we walk around the office, and sometimes we might head out for lunch. It’s not a lot of activity, but it all helps with NEAT. If you can squeeze in a workout, that’s wonderful, but you also need to be physically active throughout the day.

Being physically active also helps with our stress levels. It helps with endorphins and burning off nervous energy.

Sometimes we just need to turn off the mental side of our brain for a bit. Overloading yourself with work related tasks is only going to impact your productivity in a negative way.

This could mean doing some dishes or laundry even. The physical activity will take your mind away from the work stress.

Talk with others, socialize

At work, love or hate our coworkers, we interact with people, and sometimes it’s not just work related. Being able to chat with some of your coworkers provides us with a bit of stress relief. Humans are social creatures. Being locked away in your home all day isn’t great for this. We all went through that over the past year. Don’t be afraid to chat for a moment longer with your coworkers, or give a call to friends and family.

Don’t make all of your calls video calls. Sometimes it’s easier to just talk on the phone so we don’t have to feel “constantly on.” If a call needs to be made, consider if just a phone call will suffice. Video conferences are great for larger groups, but one on one isn’t always best on video calls.

Hygiene

When we go to work, we usually want to present our best, but at home, it’s easy to slip into unhealthy habits, which adds to our stress. Keeping yourself hygienic, whether that means using your alcohol hand wipes or putting on deodorant, will put you in a better headspace. Don’t put off taking a shower because no one can smell you. Your hygiene is tied directly into your stress levels.

At work, you’re likely to keep your Clean Buddies at your desk, so you should do the same thing at home.