It’s been a dream for many to do office work being at home. When lockdown started, it came as a cheerful opportunity. Most of the companies and employees started working from home which put a full stop to office politics, official meetings, and scolding bosses. But, after passing a few days of lockdown, it started to become challenging for many.
Most of the time, it gave us the irritation of becoming overly comfortable at our place for a long time. In this article, we study some bad habits that we adopted while working from home during the lockdown and how these habits now affect our health as well as normal workings in the office?
Bad habits we adopted while working from home:
Substandard time management
Working with no-strict timing is what we got while working from home. Making a proper schedule and sticking to it is an essential skill that we should learn. By making a proper schedule we can multitask in a day. But poor management of time became a part of our routine.
Bad sleeping habits
We usually worked with no proper timing that led to going late in bed, having different amounts of sleep every night, and having no fixed schedule of doing things. This is the worst habit that we adopted in Lockdown.
Inadequate personal hygiene
Our hygiene became poor while working from home. We wore night suits all day even while sitting in front of laptops. We forgot to take care of our bodies, bathing, cleansing, etc. when glued to laptops or computers. This type of bad hygiene led to some personal body problems and caused fungal infections.
Poor eating habits
Another worst habit we applied to our routine was bad eating habits. Working from home made us eat more packed foods rather than cooking food in the kitchen. It was for several reasons but mostly for those who have been stuck away from their homes, living alone. There was no proper time and pattern of eating. Also, we grazed all day because the kitchen was near us.
Cutting down from society
Lockdown increased the gap between us and our society. We had to sit in our home only and there were no gatherings. Sticking to our laptops for working and to use other gadgets just for passing the time all day long, were the only choices we saw.
Bad posture
Most digital workers adopted bad posture especially for sitting. Working long-term sitting on couches and beds became very harmful for our back and gave aches of the spinal cord, knees, joints, and other body parts.
Ignoring health
Workers could take sick leave when they are working nine to five in their office. But it is not ok to take leave for small problems like cough, blocked nose, etc when working from home. These minor health problems took a serious phase in many cases. Thus, it seems that we ignored our health a lot.
Working too much
Working overtime had also triggered the situation. Companies continuously gave tasks to workers and increased their hours of work. Due to these, many workers struggled with their overworking as earning was their need but finding a suitable place and time to work was a challenge, which disturbed their overall time schedule.
Choosing Addictive Habits in Routine
When the kitchen is near, digital workers put in some addictive habits in their daily routine. Most of them bring caffeine as an addiction to their life. This helps in working with full consciousness and awakes them during late-night work but harms in the long term and that is what it did.
How are those Bad habits of lockdown triggering our overall health?
Stress
Working from home increased stress on our physical as well as mental health because we did not take enough care of our health during lockdown due to minimum sources of earnings and completing the workings. Continuous or overworking gave stress and burnout to our bodies.
Loss of hearing
Work from home included video calls, online calls, and webinars. Headphones were used in all these activities, but long duration usage of headphones that also mostly in loud volume troubled our ears to a great extent causing hearing loss.
Mental fatigue
Due to overworking, our mental health and emotions got tired. There was no coffee break, nobody was physically available for communication and sometimes lunch also used to skip due to overwork. These factors make our mental and emotional health weaker.
Obesity
Working from home led to overeating as also described above. There was no fixed timing for eating, sleeping, and working. The majority of the population gained excess body weight during the lockdown. Those who were at home, because of eating healthy, nutritious, homemade and tasty food a lot and vice-versa for those who stayed alone and worked longer. Both situations resulted in Obesity.
Back strain
Now people begin to feel pain in the shoulders, neck, and arms because of the inappropriate or asymmetric posture for hours while working from home.
Muscle ache
Working by sitting on dining chairs, couches or beds are the reasons for muscle aches today. Dining chairs in the home can’t provide us enough support as office chairs. That’s why it is mandatory to sit with a straight back to prevent muscle ache.
Insomnia
Blue rays coming from the screens of our laptops or computers may dilate our pupils. Watching screens for long-duration caused unhealthy sleep hygiene leading to Insomnia. Make sure to avoid usage of phones, tablets, or computers before two hours of sleep, now to stay away from Complications.
Carpal tunnel syndrome
Hand strain, wrist strain as well as Carpal tunnel syndrome are coming at the front now mostly in workers who worked overtime from their homes during a lockdown. As we made the most use of our wrists and hands while working on computers and laptops.
Eyestrain
Working on screens made us exposed to a wide range of color frequencies and lights. The blue light and radiations from the screens caused a strain in the eyes which complicated fatigue, headache, and other eye problems.
Anxiety
Problems of anxiety and depression are rising in many persons now who worked from home and got disconnected from their social life, as they communicated via online video conferences and calls only. There was a lack of personalized meets and sharings which raised depressing acts.
Conclusion
We all know that working from home gave us huge relaxation but it also resulted in the adoption of bad habits in our daily lifestyle which disturbed our overall health. It is necessary to do regular physical workouts for the prevention of body disorders and gaining proper body shape.
