Working from home can be tricky, especially if you don’t have an office or a specific working area.
Being uncomfortable in your working environment leads to distraction and a lack of productivity.
So here are a few tips on how to improve your comfort and your workflow while maximising your productivity and ensuring you maintain your health.
Chairs
Bad posture can cause neck and back pain, and even further spinal issues in the future. It is incredibly important to look after your body, and cheap or inappropriate seating can contribute to problems such as RSIs, hunched backs and headaches.
If you are constantly working from your sofa or slumping over on a stool, consider investing in an ergonomic chair, to help you sit properly and maintain spinal health.
Heating
If you are cold, you may find that you have trouble concentrating. This is because your body is using energy to try and keep you warm, rather than to help you focus on your work.
Having a good radiator is essential not just for your work, but for your overall health, especially as we move into the colder months.
There are plenty of options, so regardless of your budget or the space available to you. Warm Rooms has a huge range to choose from. You can also browse around our Halogen Heaters site to find a suitable, small, portable and most importantly cheap heater for your desk space.
You might not want to put the central heating on to heat the whole house if you are tucked away in a small room for most of the day. Something like a 1200 Watt medium halogen heater would be perfect.
Wall heaters are great if you lack in floor space, as they are mounted on to a wall to provide heat to the entire room.
Worried about the cost of running a halogen heater? You needn’t be. Check out this post showing you the exact costs for running your heater per hour.
Typing
Spending hours at a laptop or computer can put you at risk for RSIs, and other aches and pains due to bad posture. Laptop stands elevate your device so that the screen is at eye-level, which means you don’t have to strain your neck by looking down.
The head is incredibly heavy, and by staring down at your screen, lots of pressure is put on the neck and shoulder muscles to keep it at that angle. Further accessories, like a mouse mat with wrist support, will be useful in preventing repetitive strain injuries and will add another layer of comfort to desk work.
Spending a little extra on these accessories is money well spent as you might find you spent 10 or more hours using them each work day! That’s probably more time than you spend sleeping and bad posture will inevitably lead to problems in the future.
Noise
Noise cancelling headphones are a great option to help you maintain your focus and concentration whilst working from home. Distracting noises such as family members or neighbours, traffic or TV can be incredibly frustrating, as they are not usually present in an office environment.
By using headphones, you can block these sounds out and even listen to your own music or ambient sounds to help you get back in the zone. White noise machines are often used to relax you and help you sleep, but they can also help increase your comfort during the day.
You can even just play different background noises from your computer which may help drown out any other noises which might be distracting.
These are just a few changes you can easily make to your workspace to improve your comfort whilst working from home.
Other small things include opening the window for fresh air, taking regular breaks to move around and staying hydrating to keep your brain working properly. There are a lot of things that you can do to feel more comfortable, so even if you don’t have an office or desk, you do not have to suffer through aches, pains and a lack of productivity.