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From lack of exercise to weight gain caused by snacking between meals, see how your unhealthy habits are affecting your body and mind.
With the current COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting lockdown situation, many of us are forced to work remotely from home.
While some of us are already accustomed to this concept, many of us find working from home extremely challenging.
Working in an uncomfortable position, less social interactions, communication problems, managing both personal and professional commitments, these transitions can invite rampant health concerns.
Here are some primary areas of concern every individual working from home should be aware of:
1. Obesity
Most of us while working from home choose an ergonomically unsound position like laying in bed or a couch for a long time with least possible movement through the day.
When you are in an office setup, you tend to move a lot more to speak to your colleagues, to eat, for presentations, for short breaks, etc.
When at home, you have no fixed work routine, no fixed breaks, no objective that would push you to get up and get moving.
And with access to abundance of alluring snack in the kitchen, you find yourself munching all day eventually consuming more calories than your usual working day.
This could lead to weight gain that may turn into obesity before you even realise.
2. Stress
With the lockdown situation, schools and offices are shut. This means children are home with expectations and demands on high.
On the other side, you are constantly trying to be as efficient and productive as you can while working from home.
One has to shoulder all office and household responsibilities that can become really stressful to some people.
It’s hard to get a break from either, which aggravates the stress levels thereby sabotaging your mental well-being.
3. Anxiety
Amidst all the corona virus chaos, when you are home all day, you tend to be more exposed to the media that is constantly pushing negative news.
You tend to overthink and may absorb all the negativity around. This could affect your emotional and mental wellbeing and disrupt your sleep cycle.
A disturbed sleep cycle can lead to unimaginable health concerns. And since the social interaction is restricted, there’s less exposure to sunlight and nature, stepping out to release stress hormones is difficult, there are high chances your anxiety levels would skyrocket.
4. Burnout
Most people while working from home experience a feeling of burnout.
It has been noticed that employees work for comparatively longer hours from home.
You tend to be distracted by a lot of small things at home that delays the work.
Also, the employers think that since the employee need not travel back home and is in a comfortable environment to work, stretching work hours is absolutely normal and acceptable.
To top that up, there’s always house and family to cater to.
5. Diabetes
Diabetes is not just about how much sugar you eat. It is your food choices, sleep cycles, stress levels, activity levels and physical health combined.
It is a lifestyle disease and obesity accounts to 80-85% of the risk to develop diabetes (Type 2).
Maintaining both Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes requires extreme discipline, which can be conveniently disturbed when working from home.
You eat at wee hours, your sleep patterns are ruined, there is no enough physical activity (exercise). And to top it all up, food choices are unhealthy and stress and anxiety levels are high. It is easy to develop an unhealthy lifestyle, gain extra kilos and end up trapped into diabetes.
So, while the immediate health benefits of avoiding your usual workspace are obvious in the face of the frightening COVID-19 pandemic, it is important to be cognizant of the unanticipated health consequences that the work-from-home concept could invite.
It is undeniable that right now, considering the risk of Corona Virus spread, it is only wise to work remotely.
Hence, adopting healthy habits and maintaining good health while indoors should be of utmost importance.
Stay well hydrated, limit sugar and alcohol, avoid binge-eating and stick to a routine.
Sleep well and in time. Mediate. Work out.
Get some fresh air if you can.
Most important, stay calm and optimistic.
Aayushi Lakhapati is co-founder, CHRO and the chief health officer at 23BMI, a healthcare venture focusing on curing obesity and related concerns. She can be reached at ga@rediff.co.in