Image Courtesy of roland

Ah, telecommuting.  That dream within a dream for the working professional.  While most of us are stuck in traffic or trapped behind a cube wall while the person next to us listens to “Come On, Eileen!” for the tenth time the telecommuter is sitting at home, sipping home brewed coffee in their pajamas and basking in the serenity that is home life.

Well, that is how we envision it is, anyway.  The truth of the matter is that working from home, while it has many advantages, is not quite the golden apple that those of us in the cube farms picture it to be.  While the telecommuter may not have to deal with Lundberg face-to-face, he or she has to deal with a whole variety of productivity hurdles that someone in an office is safely isolated from;  Kids, pets, door-to-door salesmen, distracting spouses, telephone solicitors, and the perception that the fact that working from home is not really “working” and as a result you should somehow be expected to drop whatever you are doing at a moments notice to deal with the latest non-work related situation that has cropped up in your life.

There is one other major challenge that the health conscious telecommuter has to deal with.   Staying in shape.  Having just finished a period of over four years in which I was telecommuting about 80% of the time I can assure you that while it is easier to avoid the weekly doughnut trap in the break room there are a whole series of roadblocks to being healthy that appear when you start working from home.  If you find yourself fortunate enough to end up with a telecommuting opportunity there’s a few things you can do to help minimize the negative impact on your physical AND mental well-being.

Get Moving!

The primary challenge the telecommuter faces is the fact that there is very little activity involved in working from home.  Even if you’re working a desk job there is still a level of movement involved when commuting to an office.  That activity level might be restricted to walking from your car into the building, but it’s still going to involve more step than walking from your bedroom to your desk.   While most of us do not get nearly as much exercise as we should (150 minutes of cardiovascular exercise and at least two days of muscle training weekly for adults according to the Center for Disease Control), the telecommuter is behind the rest of the pack straight out the gate.

Avoid a “Weekend” mentality

For a lot of people weekends are when you sleep in, flop around in comfy (but ugly) clothes, don’t shave, and basically get by on the bare minimum unless you’re forced to do otherwise.   The rationale being, of course, that you’ve worked hard all week and deserve a break.  When you’re working from home, though, it’s very easy to get caught up in this weekend mindset.  The longer I worked from home the later I would sleep, until I got to the point when I was literally setting my alarm clock for five minutes before I was scheduled to start working.  Obviously when this was the case I wasn’t exercising, showering, or eating breakfast before I was working and in doing so I wasn’t taking any time to “get ready” for my day.   Getting these morning rituals out of the way before you sit down to work will not only give you an energy boost to start your day it will make you considerably more productive when you actually do so.

Do Not Eat At Your Desk

Folks who follow a standard eight our day generally get two fifteen minute breaks – one in the morning and one in the afternoon.  You also have a one hour lunch and in many offices you are not allowed to eat that lunch at your desk.  When you’re working from home you should stick to those rules.  With the easy accessibility of your kitchen it’s very easy to pop in and grab a snack if you’re feeling peckish but sticking to a regular eating schedule is a much better way to regulate the amount of food you eat during the day.  In addition, some studies have shown that people who eat while in front of their televisions tended not to pay attention to what they were eating and ate too much.  The same logic would apply to computer use.

Have A Quitting Time

Perhaps one of the biggest frustrations the that the telecommuter will face is the fact that there is little to distinguish between work and home life in the home office environment.  At the end of the day you’re not leaving an office you’re just turning off a computer (unless you have the luxury of having a portion of your home exclusively for “work” that you can get away from during your down time).  If you spend your free time in front of computers the difference can be negligible.  As a result it is important to take some time at the end of your work day and take a moment to step away from the job.  Perhaps you can go for a walk or do some light stretching.  If you aren’t a morning exercise person the end of your day can be your time to kick off a workout before dinner.  Whatever you do, find a way to tell yourself that your work day is over and that it’s time for you to be at “home” now.    While this step might not seem to have a big impact on your physical health, being able to remove yourself from the stress of your job is key towards maintaining a healthy work-to-life ratio.

As tedious as commuting to an office every day might be for those of us who have to do it, the structure that comes from having your schedule dictated by others can have huge benefits in the realm of health and fitness.  From my own personal experience I know that I have definitely found it easier to stay on track now that I’m back in the office 100% of the time.   By keeping an “office” mentality while working from home you lucky telecommuters can get all the financial perks of working from home without sabotaging your health goals in the process.