RWL039 Creating an Active and Healthy Remote Work Environment

Physical Impact of Remote Work

Speaker 1

0:00

Hey, it's Alex from Remote Work Life here. I hope you're doing well, wherever you may be in the world. I want to thank you for listening to the Remote Work Life podcast. If you're new to the show, then you are very, very welcome, and if you're a regular listener, thank you so much for coming back and listening to little old me. I hope the shows are of use and if you have any ideas, any sort of comments that you want to make, please get in touch with me via the link below in the show notes. Contact me via linkedin. Even if you don't have any comments, just say hello, just so I know that there's somebody out there.

Speaker 1

0:36

And today I want to speak to something. Speak about something that's probably not spoken about enough, I don't think in terms of working from home or working from your remote location, wherever you may be in the world, and that is the physical impact of remote work, the potential physical impact of remote work. Given that we, as remote workers, are perhaps more responsible for our own office setup and our own sort of day-to-day structure, I think we should talk about the physical impact, or the potential physical impact, of the work that we do on a day-to-day basis, and this is something that has affected me actually in some ways as well. So the reason I'm doing it, or the reason I'm talking about it today, is because I want you to sort of just be aware of it. And I think also we talk quite a lot about the mental impacts these days, don't we? The aspects of, I guess, just the day-to-day pressures mentally that occur working alone and working remotely, working from a remote location, but I don't think we talk enough about the potential physical aspects as well. I mean the mental aspects. They are very important and I think the physical aspects are important too.

Speaker 1

2:05

I want to just cover eight points actually, and the first point really is something related to I well, the fact that I was reading the nhsuk website and the NHS is the national health service here in the UK where I'm based and I was reading up. It was interesting. It says on their website there is an increasing, there is increasing evidence that unless you are a wheelchair user, sitting down too much can be a risk to your health. To reduce our risk of ill health from from inactivity, we are advised to exercise regularly, at least 150 minutes a week, and reduce sitting time. Studies have linked being inactive with being overweight and obese, type 2 diabetes, some types of cancer and early death. Sitting for long periods is thought to slow metabolism, which affects the body's ability to regulate blood sugar, blood pressure and break down body fat. Many adults in the UK spend around nine hours a day sitting. This includes watching TV, using computers, reading, doing homework, travelling by car, bus or train, and does not include sleep. So there's some pretty stark points there, as you can, about the potential impacts of too much sitting, and this is the first thing actually on my list, I think educating yourself about the potential impacts of sitting, and it's not just the ones I've mentioned.

Speaker 1

3:40

Actually, sitting has had an impact on me, or has an impact on me in some ways, because earlier on in my my remote career, when I was working from home, I was, as I said, responsible for my own office kit and I silly well you know, stupidly, I guess you could say started to use my kitchen table and my kitchen chair to sit down on to do my work and this really wreaked havoc with my lower back. I mean, I had underlying issues to begin with, but this just exacerbated the problem I was using. I can't believe it now. I mean, this was some 10 years ago now, but I started to use my own chair sorry, my coffee, not my coffee table my dining room table and my dining room chair, and this was really uncomfortable in my back. I wasn't back then as aware as I am now Then, as aware as I am now. That's why I think education is so important and reading up on the some exercise or move around or, you know, make sure you've got the right equipment, and I'm going to talk about that a little bit later down the line. So really educate yourself about what, what, what it is, the consequences are and what you need to do about them for your own set of circumstances.

Speaker 1

5:25

And this is this leads me on to point number two, and that is seek professional advice if you have the onset of something or if you feel something. Often your body tells you when something's not right. For me, I felt pain in my lower back and that pain became more and more persistent for me, and it was at that point that I thought to myself I need to do something, I need to go and see something, somebody about this. I went and saw my doctor, first and foremost. I also went, and after that was referred to a chiropractor and also to physiotherapy. I did did Pilates, I did yoga, and right now I do a lot more in terms of my own, I suppose, my own natural process during my day. Well, it's not quite natural for me, but I do a lot more in terms of implementing things that can benefit my back and just lessen the problems that I'm having with my back.

Speaker 1

6:27

But for you, the problems may be different. They may, you know, relate to some of the things I mentioned earlier. So you need to try to find as much as you possibly can and get as much advice as you possibly can on how you can remedy or at least lessen the impacts of any potential problems. Or from the very. You know what they say is prevention is better than cure. At the very least, you should start to do these things before you experience any sort of symptoms or any sort of pain or anything like that. So these are things that you should be doing as a matter of course, whether you are feeling something physically or not, so seeking professional advice.

Speaker 1

7:09

And then, third point on my list is make sure you have some structure in your day. And what do I mean by this? When I first started out, I just sat for 9, 10, 11, sometimes even longer than that. When I think about it, I sat and I sat and I sat. I didn't think about having breaks, uh, between you know each part of my working day. And when I look, I'm looking at this article on the NHS website. I think what they're suggesting is set a reminder to get up every 30 minutes, and that's quite a lot when you think about it. Every 30 minutes is quite a lot if you're working a 9 or 10 hour day, but I think, at the very least, you should be getting up. And this is not me giving you professional advice, but for my situation, what I do is I get up at least every hour and I move around or I do some form of stretching, and that's hard baked into my day, that's hard baked into the structure of my day Because, as I said, I don't want these issues with my back to get any worse.

Speaker 1

8:25

I don't want these issues, or these potential issues that are described by the NHS website, to begin to rear their head because, as I said, having a very sedentary lifestyle to begin with is one thing, but working from home is another thing where, as I said, nobody is there to tell you to get up or your friends are not just there sitting next to you and suggesting let's go down the road and get our lunch or our breakfast or whatever it may be. You're just there to take responsibility for your own actions. So having that structure to your day is really, really important. And point number four on my list it's all well and good having a structure to your day, but if you're not going to be disciplined in implementing that structure, there's no point having. The structure is there. So that's point number four Be disciplined.

Speaker 1

9:13

Make sure that if you have that structure in your day, or at least if you've, you know, organised what the structure will be at the very least you owe it to yourself to discipline yourself to get up every 30 minutes or every 60 minutes or whatever it may be for you, and do that until it becomes habitual, may be for you and do that until it becomes habitual. Do it on a day-to-day basis and you'll begin to feel the positive effects of doing that. And at the very least, I think getting up away and getting away from your desk, getting away from your computer gives you room and time to think and breathe and contemplate and in some times, just really separate yourself from the work that you're doing. So when you come back to your desk you feel refreshed, and that's that's for me anyway. It may be different for you, but that's that's what I get when I, when I, separate myself from my computer screen. So, yeah, the physical consequences. You can lessen that by having that structure. But number four is being disciplined with that structure on a day-to-day basis until it becomes a habit.

Speaker 1

10:21

Point number five on my list is is stretch regularly and this is something that is particularly relevant to me. As I said to you before, um, I've got some issues with my, with my, and those issues are, I thought were, to do with my skeletal sort of makeup. I thought my back was hurting me because I had some sort of problem with my I don't know my spine or something like that, and I thought it was the actual bones in my spine that was giving me the problem. And this is probably from, or was from, my ignorance and my lack of education from the outset and my lack of insight. From seeing a professional, what I learned was a lot of my back problems arise because of this sitting. They're not only just because of the sitting, but they arise and they show their ugly head because of the sitting and because I didn't stretch.

Speaker 1

11:20

Because you know, if you're stretching your glutes, if you're stretching your hamstrings, it's all connected to, you know, the muscles in your lower back, the tendons, all that sort of thing, and that can really help get the blood flowing in your abdominal areas, which in turn can have beneficial effects on your back. And this is by no means me giving you advice on what to do about your back because, as I said, each circumstance, each situation is, you know, is, I don't know, it's not one size fits all. Your circumstances are different to mine. But what I'm saying is if you're stretching, you're promoting health and I think it's important that you do the right stretches. Go to your professional and ask them what stretches are right for you. For example, for me, twisting my back is not good, it doesn't help me at all. But if I, for example I don't know stretch my glutes or massage my glutes and my hamstrings and stretch my hamstrings, etc. That does really help me. So it's on a case-by-case basis. So, stretching, make sure stretching is part of your day, okay, so that's point where we're at. That was point number five. Point number six is okay, stretching is all well and good, but exercising is also important as well.

Optimizing Office Fitness for Remote Work

Speaker 1

12:43

And, again, for my situation, I try to walk. You know there's a big thing now about office fitness. As we become more and more aware of the sorts of things that we should be doing, more and more people, more and more businesses, in fact, are beginning to try to promote this physical fitness. You may even have seen some of the walking desks or the treadmill desks that are now becoming quite popular, and these, you know, for good reason, and you know going for a walk for 30 minutes or walking while you're working, in fact is is potentially something that could could really take off, could be something that could really help you with your, your metabolism, help you with just getting that blood circulating around your body. And you know we should go for a walk in any case. Anyway, if we can do that, we should walk around, we should do some form of exercise just to get the blood flowing around our body. So stretching is one thing, exercising is another. So, and if you can't, you know, if you can't, you know, if you can't get a treadmill, then at the very least maybe try just to move yourself around your office space, you know, or just go for a walk, just go. Just get get away from your computer, shut everything down and head out and just go for a walk, walk to the shop wherever it may be. That's point number six.

Speaker 1

14:16

Point number seven is make sure that your office is kitted out properly, and by this I mean getting a chair that suits you. I have an ergonomic chair because of my back. It supports my coccyx. I have lumbar support as well. I have, you know, it supports my back in the right way. It's at the right height. So, for example, I think the technical, the technical aspect um to consider here is that your hips should be higher than your knees when you're sitting down, when, when you're actually, when your feet are touching the ground. If your hips are below or in line with your, your knees, then I I think what they say, or what the professionals say, is that is putting some sort of strain or it's putting your back at risk.

Speaker 1

15:07

So make sure that you, after you've got all your advice, after you've um done all your research, get yourself a proper chair and I know some of these chairs can be quite expensive, some of these ergonomic chairs can be quite expensive but what price can you put on your health and, as I said, if you're sitting at home, if you're a remote worker, you're likely to be sitting for long periods of time and having that proper desk, having that proper chair, can be beneficial to you in the long run, and I think you should look at it as an investment as well. It's great working from home, it's great working from wherever you may be, it's great having that flexibility. And another great thing is the fact that you can customize your office to the way in which you want it. It's not likely if you are working in a co-located scenario I know lots, a lot of offices are are investing in ergonomic chairs etc, desk etc. But what you can do if you work from home is you can choose the desk that suits you, you can choose the chair that suits you. You can choose the chair that suits you, so you can make your office suit your particular circumstances.

Speaker 1

16:22

And the other thing where office fitness is concerned as well, is that you can invest in what's called a sit-stand desk. I don't know if you've seen them and I'm going to talk about. In fact, that's my last point. Point number eight is don't sit all day. I mean I right now, as I'm making this podcast, I'm standing up. I don't like sitting for too long and that's because I have a sit-stand desk.

Speaker 1

16:51

A sit-stand desk is basically what it sounds. It allows you to sit for however long you want and when you want to stand up to work, you can. You can adjust the desk to a height that's good for you and you can stand up. And again, research shows that sitting down you know, the actual act of sitting down can have an impact on on your body. So sitting, sitting down for long periods of day is is not really on. So you may want to invest in a sit-down desk if you and again, they're quite expensive. They can be quite expensive, but again, your health is at stake here, your, your long-term health. So really consider um investing in something like that. And if you can't afford the actual desk, I I've also seen that they have consoles now that you can actually put on your current desk, which allows you to. These consoles allow you to elevate your computer to the height that you want to when you're standing up and lower the computer down when you want to sit down.

Speaker 1

17:56

So don't sit down all day. Make sure that you're standing up for a period of time to give some relief to your back and to your other muscles, etc. Or your muscles, should I say not your other muscles, your muscles and you find some people as well. Sometimes I actually do some stretching while I'm sitting down. So if I'm in a sort of process of thinking about what I'm doing and I'm not actually actively typing or writing or doing something, I will actually stretch. There are some stretches that you can do while you're sitting down and, again, you can do some research on that, just to see which stretches suit your circumstances, just to see which stretches suit your circumstances. So that's it for me.

Speaker 1

18:44

Really, look up office fitness and have a look to see what products and what exercises and what advice and evidence and research you can pull out to get more of an understanding. Because, as I said before, mental health is really something that's at the forefront at the moment, and rightly so, because mental health is is important, especially where us remote workers are concerned. But physical let's not neglect the physical consequences and physical aspects where remote work is concerned or working from home or wherever you may work from is concerned, and let's not neglect those things. I'd love to hear what you're doing with regards your setup, your office setup. Do you have a particular type of chair or do you have a particular type of desk that you use? Let me know. Comment in the review section.

Speaker 1

19:36

Please give me a star rating if you've enjoyed this episode or if you're enjoying the podcast. Contact me, as I said before, via LinkedIn. Send me an email, say hello, tell me what you're doing with regards to your office fitness. Tell me, just tell me. You know how you go about organising your day, your structure to your day, what you do, what tips you have, any hacks that you use to actually make things go better for you. So you don't have a sedentary existence, and I encourage you, as a fellow remote worker, just to be a bit more active, just for the benefit of your long-term health. Anyway, let me know if there are any topics that you want me to talk about and I will see you on the next episode.