Employee well-being

healthy eating habits

5 Healthy Eating Habits To Have While Working From Home

Employee-Well-Being, Remote Work / By

It is easy to develop bad eating habits when working from home with the refrigerator only a few feet away. However, healthy eating habits allow us to get a nutritious diet that supports the immune system as well as gives us the fuel that nourishes our body and keeps it in the right mood.

Following a healthy diet should not be too difficult especially at home. There are no office sweets that can tempt us, and we have a better opportunity to prepare home-cooked meals. To that end, we will take a look at 5 simple ways to eat healthy while working from home.

  1. Establish a Routine

Establishing a routine is crucial when it comes to eating while working from home. Just like you would establish a routine for work, in the same way, allocate meals and snack times. Keep to your break times as this can help to portion control during mealtimes and reduce the tendency to graze all day, which is easy when the fridge is just at your reach.

  1. Plan and or Prepare your Meals

Ever caught yourself saying something like “I am so hungry, I could eat almost anything?” This is typical in extreme hunger. If you haven’t planned your next meal or snack, you will find yourself eating any food you find and mostly in high quantities. This is a common habit of people with poor nutrition. This is why you have to plan your meals.

You can do this by keeping a mental note of all of the day’s meals, or creating a written menu, or using already available recipe items for quick cooking. Defrosting meats in advance can also be counted as meal preparation and planning.

  1. Don’t Take Too Much Caffeine

It might seem like a great idea to drink endless cups of coffee, but when it comes to caffeine, you have to tread carefully. Having too much of it has been known to cause headaches, anxiety, fatigue, and even digestive problems – none of which you want, especially if you are trying to work. Do not take more than two cups per day so that you don’t get any jittery feeling. Also, avoid using creamers and other calorie-laden add-ins. 

  1. Buy Wisely, Don’t Starve

For most people, it might seem expensive to eat healthily and now that they are working from home, it is easy to skip meals to save food. You shouldn’t fear getting canned food items like canned fish, legumes, and canned vegetables.

These are nutritious foods, cheap, and take nothing to prepare especially for those working from home looking for what to grab for lunch. Add some frozen vegetables to your cart as they are not only nutritious but last longer compared to fresh vegetables. Ensure you are bulk buying staples like whole grains, non-perishables that can be incorporated into your meals.

  1. Drink Plenty of Water

Aim to drink lots of water all through the day as it helps a great deal by having water close by and ensure it is cool. Do not take too many sugar-sweetened drinks and/or caffeinated drinks even if they offer that kick you want. They can negatively impact your eating patterns throughout the day. 

Take advantage of refreshing hot or cold homemade caffeine-free teas, fruit or herbs infused water instead.

Whenever you get the urge to go to the kitchen, take a sip of water and you can quench your hunger or thirst. 

Related article: Self-Care Tips For You And Your Team During COVID-19

Conclusion

It is a dream to work from home, sleeping in, flexible hours with no commute time, and meetings in your pyjama. But it can be difficult eating healthy as the desire not to distract with food can derail a diet completely. However, the tips presented here can help you prevent forming such negative habits that affect work productivity.

stress-busters

5 Stress Busters & Mini-Challenges You Should Consider Trying Today

Employee-Well-Being / By

These days when everyone is anxious about the COVID-19 pandemic, uncertain about the job situation, the economy, and other events, it is easy to feel stressed, and that is why any form of instant stress-relief is welcome.

Employers know how stress can cause several unpleasant health hazards like anxiety, depression and fatigue. There are a lot of stress busters and mini-challenges that can help cope with stress, reduce blood pressure, ease nerves, and are generally just necessary for employee well-being. 

If you are looking for ways to help your employees knock down stress, here are 5 stress busters and mini-challenges to try.

1. Journal 

One great way to start de-stressing is to begin tracking your emotions and writing them down. Research has shown that journaling can be a great way to tackle and prioritise the fears, worries, problems, or conflicts that you face. If you are the type that can journal daily, you can easily track triggers and find ways to control how you respond to those triggers. It also offers a chance to zone in on a particular thought or worry, which keeps you from going down a spiral of anxious thoughts and concerns.

Stress Buster Challenge: Purchase a journal today and commit to writing weekly every day or once weekly.

2. Turn on Music

As we all know, listening to music is a great way to get in a good mood. Science has shown that our bodies positively react to music, as a result of how much impact it has on our emotions. An interesting research from the University of Nevada, Reno has shown that around 60 beats per minute can cause the brain waves to synchronise with the alpha waves from the beat. These are the brain waves that appear when we are relaxed and conscious. Researchers from Stanford University also found that music can alter brain functioning similar to medication.

Stress Buster Challenge: Get your favourite songs on your phone or download music apps like Spotify or Apple Music that you can plug on to while at work or resting at home.

3. Recharge

Sometimes, all we need to bust stress is simply going back to basic; getting enough sleep and eating well. You can consider taking a holiday or a mental health day as a way of resetting your mind and body. This can be very helpful after a stressful situation at work, or through a life issue such as losing a loved one or a serious illness. Taking time to recharge physically and mentally regularly is important to get your creative juice flowing again.

Stress Buster Challenge: Find out ways to include some recharge time into your week and write them down.

4. Enjoy Nature

A great way to take stress levels down and revive energy levels is by being outdoors. Researchers found that just 20 minutes spent with nature can minimise stress to considerable levels. Whether you are just sitting or walking, some time spent outdoors lowers heart rates considerably, creating a calmer feeling in you. 

Stress Buster Challenge: Commit to spending at least 20 minutes to be one with nature every day or at least once this week.

5. Explore a Stress Management App

There are many mental health apps available today, if you haven’t tried one yet, you could miss out on easy stress relievers that are just a click away. Mental health apps especially can be very helpful when it comes to managing stress. Some help to manage mood and the stress that comes with anxiety or depression.

Stress Buster Challenge: Download and start using a stress management app for the next month.

Related article: Self-Care Tips For You And Your Team During COVID-19

Conclusion

If you typically feel stressed from time to time, it is very helpful to find effective stress management techniques. Through stress management, you can feel happier, healthier and more in control of your life. It can also help boost your productivity levels. It is key to have a balance in life and you can achieve that quickly if you learn how to tackle stress. Employees who can operate under manageable stress don’t easily get burned out and they maintain a healthy work-life balance. Also, it means fewer missed workdays and more time to enjoy a more relaxed life when you aren’t working.

self-care-tips

Self-Care Tips For You And Your Team During COVID-19

Business, Employee-Well-Being, Outsourcing in the Philippines / By

The COVID-19 pandemic, which has lasted for over a year by now, has changed the world of how we work ever since. Businesses around the world have suddenly adapted to the remote work culture to help slow the spread of the disease. Furthermore, thanks to the internet, working from home has come from a dream to reality.

Despite all the benefits, a limited amount of social interactions can pose mental health concerns in the long-term. Here are three practical tips on self-caring for businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Tip 1: Take advantage of new applications to work more efficiently

Many large tech companies have reported gain during the pandemic due to the popularity of remote work. For example, Zoom, the American video conferencing giant, reported three quarters of earnings and revenue more than quadrupled in 2020. They have become the most favoured software in 2020 for video conferencing around the world.

Remote workers should search for applications like Zoom which will make the tedious computer work more efficient. For example, if you are required to keep track of all incomes and expenses, Intuit Quickbooks should be worth considering. Here is a list of software that every remote worker should know:

With the rise of many new applications, companies have started to outsource the administrative work to developing countries to save on labour costs, such as the Philippines.

Without paying the high-wages and benefits, the long-term savings can be substantial. Hiring a worker can cost more than $20 per hour, but outsourcing to the Philippines could cost anywhere from $3-5 due to the lower cost of living.

Therefore, if you are looking for time savings on admin, HR tasks recruitment and employee wellness and engagement, consider finding a reputable outsourcing partner in the Philippines that could customise their service base on your business needs.

 Tip 2: Stay connected with your teammates

Despite working from home, you should dedicate more than one hour a day to go social. Whether it is a co-worker or family member, text, call or video chat would be a mental boost for yourself. It also makes the person on the other side of the phone heart-warmed. One common thing to share about could be stay-at-home experiences.

For businesses, they can host fun online activities, like a weekly bingo and typing speed race to keep the team engaged, as well as creating a group chat on Skype or a Slack channel where the team can talk about any topics that have nothing to do with work. Make sure the chat owner is keeping conversations going every day. And for the clients, businesses can create Facebook or LinkedIn groups to gather customers/suppliers into one online community.

Tip 3: Develop a hobby within your interest outside your work

Find a hobby that is outside your businesses or usual interests. It will help rest your mind in the non-working hours and reduce stress. If the activity can be shared online it would be more beneficial. For example, practice yoga at home in the morning and start live streaming. Share on social media and invite friends and family to join.

Other hobbies can be creating an online movie, TV or book club and sharing with your co-workers. Or you may start a home garden and keep a note of the progress.

It is more essential for remote workers to have a clear boundary between work and rest. 

Conclusion: Take good care of yourself and your teammates

COVID has imposed challenges due to the limited amount of social interaction and staying at home. With remote work become the new norm, businesses should think of ways to keep their team healthy and happy. Finding ways to work more efficiently, stay connected with co-workers and develop new hobbies are crucial tips to consider.