How To Take Care Of Your Mental Health When Working Remotely

Over the past year, a growing number of people have started working from home.

According to Psychology Today, working from home will become the norm for many people even after the pandemic finally ends. There are many benefits to working from home. Avoiding a stressful commute, suffering fewer workplace distractions, and the ability to dress more casually are just a few examples. Most times, its upsides are highlighted in that it overshadows mental health, which is critical for people who suddenly work from home these days. Online health services make up a great tool for anyone in need of mental health support for manifestations of stress and/or advice from a qualified mental health therapist. But there are also additional steps that you can take to maintain your mental health as you are working from home. You’ll find these tips and the details below, so keep on reading.

5 Ways to Care for Your Mental Health When Working from Home

No matter how long you’ve been working from home, it differs greatly from going into an office regularly. Thankfully, the following tips can be of value if you truly want to enjoy your time spent at the home office.

1. Keep Your Workspace Separate From Your Personal Space

When you work remotely from home, it can be easy for your workspace and personal space to blend. Unfortunately, though, this blend often makes it harder to separate yourself from work when it’s time to do so. For this reason, having healthy divides between your workspace and personal space makes such a huge difference. Some great ways to create a healthy divide between your work life and personal life involve carving out specific times to work and having certain areas in your home that are strictly designated for work. This is great for both proper management and self-accountability; it also allows you to have healthy boundaries as you juggle working and living in the same general environment.

2. Spend Some Quality Time Outdoors

Working from home makes it easy to get into the habit of just sitting down and being glued to your laptop screen. Between emails, Zoom video conferences, etc., it is not challenging to forget about other important parts of life. High levels of productivity are great; however, balance is imperative for the sake of your mental health. Spending some time outdoors is a great way to soak in some fresh air and warm sunshine; each of these has been proven to not only reduce stress levels but also promote better mood levels and emotional states.

3. Stay in Touch with Your Loved Ones

Despite the many benefits associated with working from home, the risk of loneliness is massive. Feeling lonely and cut off from others is not good for your emotional or mental health. It can also make you more vulnerable to experiencing depression and other things that aren’t good for your mental well-being. For this reason, staying in touch with your loved ones as you work from home is so important. Even if you’re regularly busy and not always in the position to completely remove yourself from work, carving out a few times per week to speak with friends and family is so important. You can also make a semi-regular habit of having Zoom calls or other video chats with your friends. As human beings, we are innately wired to have social interactions and connections with others. Keeping these connections alive is vital to taking care of your mental health when working from home.

4. Exercise Regularly

Working from home often involves doing a lot of sitting down, which could dangerously lead to a sedentary lifestyle. Whether that’s to read emails or take part in a videoconference, too much sitting can easily become a habit. This is not conducive to both your mental and physical health. Exercising regularly gives you a break from sitting and being glued to a screen. When you get your body moving, your brain releases hormones such as serotonin and dopamine that make you feel better. Exercise has a range of mental health benefits from stress relief and greater levels of mental energy to memory improvement and even a better night’s rest.

5. Use Social Media in Moderation

When working from home, social media distractions are more than abundant. Facebook, Twitter, and other apps are constantly buzzing with new notifications. When you work from the privacy of your home, it’s easy to get roped into social media and lose focus on your professional tasks at hand. This loss of focus can lessen your productivity levels and lead to frustration. Using social media in moderation is imperative for your mental health and your productivity as a remote worker. One great way to ensure that social media doesn’t distract you from your work is to put certain apps on silent notifications while you are working. Designating certain times as your break periods to check social media is another awesome way to stay focused and keep your mental health intact. Next up, you may want to explore a guide on improving your academic writing productivity.

About the author:

Marie Miguel has been a writing and research expert for nearly a decade, covering a variety of health-related topics. Currently, she is contributing to the expansion and growth of a free online mental health resource with Mind-Diagnostics.org. With an interest and dedication to addressing stigmas associated with mental health, she continues to specifically target subjects related to anxiety and depression.