The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has been very clear: “Regular physical activity is one of the most important things you can do for your health.” Your doctor is also likely going to agree with this .
We also know that exercise is a must for our mental health. It results in improving our mood and helps people get nicer sleep. Exercise has also been recommended to help reduce depression, stress, and anxiety, among different mental health challenges.
For many people, the daily round of exercise comes from the steps they take when going to work, the stairs they climb when moving from one office to another, and their time at the office gym. However, the rise of remote work has put a lot of this in jeopardy.
While working remotely has several benefits, it is not necessarily the best for our health. It makes us move less, a scenario that may lead to weight gain, fatigue, sleep troubles, loneliness, social anxiety, and other long-term health issues. Thus, an exercise routine is needed when working from home.
In this article, we check the benefits of exercise when working from home. Let us look at the risks of a sedentary lifestyle caused due to a lack of movement when working remotely and the necessity of having an exercise regime. The article also presents some suggestions on making a home gym and taking the time to exercise regularly.
Major Troubles of Working From Home
Few can argue that working from home has many benefits. When you work from home, you do not need to commute in terrible rush hour traffic. It could also be cheaper because you no longer have to pay for transport, and there is no need to buy overpriced lunch from the company cafeteria. However, it has some risks for our well-being.
Social Isolation
With less physical contact with co-workers, a lack of social interaction can result in unhealthy sleeping habits, loneliness, depression, and substance abuse. In a study released by The Royal Society Publishing, John P. Capitanio and Louise C. Hawkley talk about the connection between “deficits in social relationships” and with “adverse health and fitness consequences.”
In fact at Trojan Fitness we see customers coming in all the time to buy equipment because they have no other physical activity during the day.
Overworking and Less Time for Exercise
Another significant problem of working from home is burnout. A remote worker needs to juggle the demands from their family with work responsibilities, such as managing the teams and technology to support work, maximizing time, and communicating with team members and leaders via chat or video calls.
Working from home can create time management issues, which could lead people to spend more time working. In a piece published by the Harvard Business Review, Vanessa K and Laura M. Giurge note that “The lines between work and non-work are becoming less clear in new and unusual ways, and many people who are working remotely for the first time are likely to struggle to preserve healthy boundaries between their professional and personal lives.”
As workers find themselves working all the time, they are left with less time for other activities, including physical exercise. Added to this, when working from home, the fridge is always within easy reach, a situation that could result in eating more and gaining weight.
Less Movement
One major risk of working from home is that you do not get enough physical activity to improve your health, which leads to a sedentary lifestyle. Walking to a nearby train station or bus, walking between different conference rooms, and going out for lunch, among others, are instances of physical activities associated with an on-site job. It for this reason that a lot of our customers choose to get indoor treadmills and cycles to mimic movement.
Despite saving commute and traffic time, remote professionals sit for hours taking business calls, teleconferences, and online meetings. This leads to physical inactivity, which might cause back pain and obesity. Working from home could also lead people to adopt non-ergonomic positions, such as laying on the bed or working on a sofa, for an extended duration while working.
A study released by Cambridge Open Engage in May 2020, in the worst days of the COVID-19 pandemic, found out that during the pandemic, people were becoming more sedentary than they used to be—and the effects are likely to last a long time. The study used a sample of 3,052. adults. Cambridge Open Engage is a research platform controlled by the Cambridge University Press.
The same study released on Cambridge Open Engage stated that those who had been meeting the required levels of exercise before the pandemic showed an average of 32% reduction in physical activity
Benefits of Exercise While at Home
An exercise regime comes with many physical and mental health benefits, including longevity. Let us look at a few of the top benefits you would enjoy when you exercise regularly when working from home.
Better Sleep and Improved Mental Health
Exercise also improves sleep. The Medical Director at Johns Hopkins Center for Sleep agrees and went on to say that “exercise does, in fact, help you fall asleep more quickly and improves sleep quality.”
Mental Sharpness
Exercise helps to keep one's cognitive and judgment skills cutting edge. As you exert your mental capacity when working remotely, exercise helps fuel the body to release proteins and different chemicals that develop the brain’s work and structure.
Control Body Weight
Exercise helps control body weight. Along with a proper diet, regular exercise is must for checking and managing body weight and preventing the chances of becoming obese. Obesity is the result of having too many calories in the body, much more than necessary.
To maintain your body weight, the calories we get from both food and drink has to be the same as the quantity used daily. Thus, to shed weight, you have to burn more units of calories by exercising regularly. Eating more calories and burning fewer will lead to increased weight.
Improves Health
Exercise enables the body to manage insulin and blood sugar levels. It lowers the level of sugar in the blood and helps insulin work better. Making time for exercise reduces the risk of type 2 diabetes and helps manage the disease for those who already have it.
Working out regularly minimizes the risk of heart diseases. It improves blood circulation. The increased flow of blood causes oxygen levels in the body to rise. Consequently, this reduces the risk of heart diseases, such as heart attacks, coronary artery disease, and high cholesterol. A regular workout also helps lower blood pressure, coupled with better sleep, better mood and mental health. Exercise helps discharge chemicals that help lessen stress and make a person feel more relaxed. Exercise helps people deal with work fatigue and cuts down the risk of depression, a hazard resulting from loneliness and social isolation connected to working from home.
Types of Home Exercises
Exercise can be categorized into a few main types: Aerobic, anaerobic, and flexibility. Each one has its benefits.
Anaerobic
Anaerobic exercises are physical exercises that mostly leverage the body’s glucose to develop muscles when doing workouts. They are usually done for a tiny interval but with high intensity.
Anaerobic exercises aid weight loss, improve metabolism, improve physical and mental health, and boost endurance and performance levels.
Instances of this type of exercise one can engage in at home include things like weight lifting, sprints, and very intense interval training, where people rest in between a short period of intense
Aerobic
One of the most popular trends in exercising is aerobic exercises. These include cardiovascular activities, including things like swimming, running, and brisk walking. These kinds of exercises mostly use oxygen as fuel and make sure the heart and circulatory system are in great shape.
A few examples of aerobic exercises people can practice at home include stuff like kickboxing, jumping jacks, running up stairs, jogging in place, and jump rope. People can achieve benefits from the majority of these things with a short workout.
workouts.
Flexibility
Flexibility exercises are great in helping to stretch the muscles and give freedom of movement. While doing these exercises may not necessarily increase a person's endurance, it improves flexibility, shakes off discomfort, and makes regular activities easier.
There are different types of exercises people can do at home to improve your flexibility. Some of these include different types of stretches such as simple seated stretch, triceps stretch, and frog stretch.
How to Create a Home Gym
Several benefits come with making a home gym. It encourages you to exercise regularly without the need to leave your home. You need affordable pieces of equipment. These are basic yet essential, to set up your home gym.
Essential equipment includes a workout mat, resistance bands, a jump rope, dumbbells, a kettle bell, also a workout bench. You might need other pieces of equipment based on your exercise routine, but the listed types of equipment are sufficient to get your home gym off the ground.
You could supplement your gym equipment with things we already have, like bags of soil used as a kettlebell, a broom for improving shoulder mobility, and other such things easily found at home. However, it’s crucial to make sure that the equipment you use is safe.
How to Find Time to Exercise
It can be challenging to get away from your seat and start a workout. You will always have that task that has to be finished today. The kids are back from school and need your attention, and so on. We came up with a few suggestions on how we can make time for exercise:
- Create a dedicated space at home for your workouts.
- Come up with a schedule and adhere strictly to a healthy work-life balance. It might take a while to find what suits you, but be committed to sticking to your schedule.
- Make a routine of starting your day with an exercise routine.
- Start early before other things in your start to make demands on your time.
- Set alarms at realistic intervals for you to stand up and stretch your muscles.
- Walk around during calls. A study done by Stanford researchers reveals that walking around improves your creativity.
- Set a realistic exercise routine you can achieve indoors.
- Connect with people for exercises online.
- Do physical chores, things like hovering and ironing during breaks.
Conclusion
In order to remain healthy when working from home we often need a lot of equipment. At Trojan Fitness, we realize that people have different goals when it comes to their individual fitness. From gym mats to weights, we have everything under one roof for our customers.
Disclaimer:
The information provided on this website is intended for general informational purposes only and should not be considered professional or medical advice. We make every effort to ensure the information provided is accurate and up-to-date, but we cannot guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or timeliness of the information. Any reliance you place on such information is strictly at your own risk. Always consult a qualified professional before making any significant changes to your diet, exercise routine, or lifestyle. We are not responsible for any adverse consequences resulting from the use of, or reliance on, any information provided on this website.
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