How To Turn Your Home Office From Zero To Hero

So you are now working from home (or have been for some while). Have you looked at your office and assessed if it is designed to promote health and more productive work environment?

When creating your home office take the time to make a positive place to work. Is this a place that encourages focus and productivity? A place that is comfortable and helps you sit and stand correctly. With recent studies showing the harmful effects of sitting at work. These show us that sitting for long stretches at a desk can take years off our life, and undo all the good work we’ve put in at the gym.

That’s where creating a home office instead just sitting in any old place makes all the difference. If you’re fortunate enough to be able to work from home at least some or all of the time, then you can make the rules yourself. Here are some of the things you can do to design that office to promote better health.

Standing Desk

One of the first things you can use to improve your health when you’re working in the office is to invest in a standing desk. Now you’re not going to want to use this all the time, as it’s hard to concentrate and get real work done when you’re standing up. Nevertheless, for short bursts, while you check e-mails etc., standing up could be a beneficial way to feel healthier and even burn some calories.

Multiple Seats

One of the things that make working in an office so dangerous merely is how long we remain in the same position. The position isn’t fantastic, but staying in any pose for this duration would be bad for you. So, a solution to this issue is to work on a laptop or a ‘hybrid slate’ computer, and to then have multiple seats around the office where you can move.

One of these seats could be a ‘kneeling chair’. These encourage you to take up a somewhat kneeling position, which while still not perfect will at least straightens out your back allowing you to breathe more naturally and reducing the shortness of your hip flexors (which is one of the things that contributes to lower back pain).

The Desk

Of course, your regular desk should also be at the right height for these chairs – make sure that your head is able to stay upright and still see the monitor well.

Make it Light

Natural light is highly essential for promoting health. Not only does natural light naturally improve our mood and stimulate the production of vitamin D, but our body uses it to gauge its sleep-wake cycle. The more natural light in your office then, the better you are going to sleep come bedtime.

Natural Décor

Something else that helps you to reduce stress naturally is to keep a natural looking décor. Having plants in a room has been shown to improve our heart rates for instance, while using stone flooring, fountains and other more natural items can all have a similar effect.

The Technology

You should also aim to avoid letting the tech itself negatively affect your health. For instance, using software that reduces the brightness and wavelength of your monitor can help you to avoid messing up your internal body clock. Likewise, you should look into software that encourages you to take regular breaks from your computer.

Regular Breaks

Oh, and take frequent breaks. Breaks are crucial not just for your eyes, but also just to keep you moving. Don’t work more than an hour without getting up, walking around and looking at something other than the monitor for a while.

By doing all or some of these things, you will work better, be more productive and keep better health and isn’t that the aim of going into your own business, a better lifestyle? So start today and make it happen.