7 Ways to Look After Your Wellbeing While Working From Home
- Feb 21, 2020
- 6 min read
Working from home has become the norm for many of us. Whilst it offers flexibility and eliminates the daily commute, it can blur the lines between work and personal life in ways that lead to stress, isolation, and burnout. Protecting your wellbeing whilst working remotely isn't just nice to have. It's essential for staying healthy and productive long-term.
Here are seven practical strategies to help you thrive in your home office whilst maintaining the balance that makes remote work sustainable rather than exhausting.
Why Your Wellbeing Matters When Working From Home
Working from home changes everything about how you structure your day. Without conscious attention to your wellbeing, these changes can actually make life harder rather than easier. The biggest challenge? The lack of physical separation between where you work and where you live.
Your physical health often takes a hit. You move less throughout the day. Your home office setup probably isn't as ergonomic as it should be. And it's far too easy to work longer hours than you ever did in the office. Many remote workers struggle with back pain, eye strain, and general discomfort they never had before.
Mental health faces different challenges. The isolation from colleagues can feel draining. Video calls replace casual in-person chats. And without natural boundaries, it's hard to truly switch off. This leads to chronic stress and, eventually, burnout.
Here's the irony. Despite saving commute time and avoiding office distractions, productivity often suffers. Without structure, work expands to fill every available hour. You're never fully on and never fully off. This prevents the deep rest you need for sustained performance. Looking after your wellbeing isn't self-indulgence. It's essential for doing your best work.
7 Essential Ways to Protect Your Wellbeing
1. Establish a Morning Routine
Avoid the temptation to roll straight from bed into work. This abrupt transition leaves you feeling half-awake all day. Set a regular wake-up time and stick to it. Even on days without early meetings, consistency helps your body and mind function better.
Create a pre-work routine that signals it's time to start your day. Shower, get dressed, make a proper breakfast, read the news, or do some brief exercise. The specific activities matter less than creating that clear boundary between sleep and work.
Consider taking a morning walk before you start work. This simple practice boosts your blood flow, increases alertness, and gives you mental space to plan your day. Many remote workers say their morning walk becomes their favourite part of working from home.
Your routine doesn't need to be long. Even fifteen to thirty minutes makes a real difference to how you feel throughout the day. The investment in your morning pays off through better focus, improved mood, and clearer thinking.
2. Create a Dedicated Workspace
Choose a quiet area where you won't be constantly distracted. Ideally, use a separate room. This physical separation between work and living spaces helps create mental boundaries too. Your brain associates different spaces with different activities. Mix them up, and you undermine both your work focus and your home relaxation.
Avoid working from your bed or sofa, however comfortable they seem. These spaces should stay associated with rest and relaxation. Working from bed particularly disrupts your sleep quality. Your brain starts linking your bed with work stress rather than rest. This seemingly small choice can have big health consequences.
Treat your workspace like a real office. Set it up properly with a good chair, the right desk height, screen position, and lighting. Let family or housemates know your working hours and ask them to respect your workspace during those times. Physical boundaries support psychological ones.
If you don't have a separate room, create visual boundaries. Use room dividers, a desk lamp that's only on during work hours, or even a symbolic object that shows your "office" is open. The clearer the signal, the better it works.
3. Get Dressed for Work
Leave the pyjamas for bedtime. Whilst you don't need to wear a suit, changing into proper clothes signals to your brain that work has started. This helps you switch into a professional mindset.
Showering and dressing gives you that transition ritual you're missing when your "commute" is ten steps from bedroom to desk. It mirrors what you'd do for office work, creating a similar mental state despite being at home.
Comfortable casual clothes work perfectly. The goal isn't formality. It's simply wearing different clothes for work than for sleep. Many remote workers find that changing clothes at the end of the day helps them switch off mentally too.
There's a bonus. You'll feel more confident on video calls when you're dressed appropriately. That confidence often translates to better communication and stronger presence, even through a screen.
4. Plan Your Day and Prioritise What Matters
Start each day with a clear plan. Create a to-do list identifying your most important tasks. This gives you focus and a sense of accomplishment as you work through items.
Set realistic deadlines for yourself. Without office structure, tasks can drift indefinitely. Or you create impossible expectations. Thoughtful planning prevents both extremes. Schedule your breaks as deliberately as you schedule meetings.
Try time-blocking. Allocate specific hours to particular types of work. Do deep focus work during your peak energy hours. Save administrative tasks for when your energy dips. This intentional structure replaces the natural rhythm that offices often provide.
Prioritisation matters when home distractions compete for your attention. Identify your top three priorities for each day. This ensures the most important work happens even if unexpected issues arise. Focused approach beats scattered effort every time.
5. Take Regular Breaks and Keep Moving
Don't get lost in your screen for hours. Prolonged sitting damages your health. Mental fatigue from continuous screen time reduces your effectiveness. Stand up and stretch at regular intervals. Even brief movement breaks make a real difference.
Set an hourly alarm to remind you. Use these moments to step away from your desk, look at distant objects to rest your eyes, stretch tight muscles, or walk around your home. These micro-breaks prevent the physical strain that builds during extended sitting.
Take proper breaks for meals and exercise. Step away from your desk for lunch. Consider a midday walk, yoga session, or other physical activity. This genuine break from work supports your afternoon productivity whilst protecting your health.
Movement throughout the day counteracts sitting's negative effects. Take calls whilst walking. Use a standing desk for portions of your day. Do brief exercises between tasks. It all adds up. The goal is regular, varied movement rather than one intense workout.
6. Stay Socially Connected
Working from home can feel isolating without the office's natural social interaction. Combat this by actively scheduling contact with colleagues beyond work meetings. Regular informal video calls for coffee chats or casual conversation replicate those watercooler moments you're missing.
Reach out to colleagues individually for non-work chats. These connections prevent loneliness whilst building relationships that make collaboration more effective. Many remote teams schedule virtual lunch breaks or end-of-day social calls to create community despite the distance.
Don't limit social interaction to work relationships. Schedule regular calls or in-person meetings with friends and family. The time you save from commuting gives you more opportunity for maintaining personal relationships. Use this advantage intentionally rather than letting work fill every hour.
If home isolation feels oppressive, try co-working spaces or cafes occasionally. Being around other people, even without direct interaction, can satisfy some social needs whilst providing environmental variety. Many remote workers find a balance between home focus and occasional external work works well.
7. Protect Your Work-Life Boundaries
Set clear working hours and stick to them. Communicate these boundaries to colleagues, family, and yourself. This discipline prevents work from expanding infinitely into your personal time. Remote work's flexibility should enhance your life quality, not erode it.
Resist the urge to work through lunch or into the evening just because your workspace is always accessible. These boundaries protect against burnout whilst maintaining sustainable productivity. Working longer hours rarely produces better results. Well-rested workers accomplish more in focused hours than exhausted workers in marathon sessions.
Power down your devices and physically leave your workspace at day's end. Moving to a different area signals that work has finished. Develop an end-of-day ritual similar to your morning routine. This might include a brief walk, exercise session, or simply changing clothes.
Dedicate time to unwind and relax in other areas of your home. Keep work and relaxation spaces separate. This prevents feeling like you're always at work. Remote work should support better life quality, not undermine it.
When to Worry About Your Health
Pay attention to warning signs that working from home is affecting your wellbeing. Persistent fatigue despite adequate sleep, difficulty concentrating, increased irritability, headaches, or back pain all indicate you need to make changes.
If you're losing motivation, dreading work, or can't mentally disconnect, these signal potential burnout. Address these early by implementing stricter boundaries, taking time off, or seeking support from your manager or a therapist.
Sometimes individual strategies aren't enough. If you've tried these practices but still struggle, consider whether remote work truly suits you long-term. Some people thrive with office structure and social interaction. There's no shame in recognising and honouring what you need.
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