Ahmed Nashaat – How to Balance Home Office with a Healthy Lifestyle

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My friend and neighbor Ahmed Nashaat was the first person I ever saw working from home, he was very much one of the first people at the beginning of the etch revolution where people were able to make money directly from their computers. With the help of Ahmed, I have also been able to make a living from my laptop and each day I simply wake up, load up the computer and away we go. Something which I was very guilty of in the first 6 months of working online, and something which I know many who work from home get into the habit of, is closing themselves away in the house, for long hours each day. There is a way to avoid this and have a healthy lifestyle whilst working from home, and here is how.

Sitting Down

There is a real issue, which has been raised amongst the health care community with regards to sitting down. Over long periods of time sitting down can do real damage to the body which is why it is so important that you make time to walk around or get out of the house to do some exercise. Try not to sit at a desk for more than an hour at a time, and when you do get up and move around, make sure that you don’t just relax on your sofa, but be active instead.

Fresh Air

I can’t tell you the importance of getting outside and getting some fresh air, rather than remaining cooped up all day in your home. Not only will this be good for your mental health, having the chance to see life and clear the cobwebs away, you will also be ensuring that you get some vitamin D from the sun, which is absolutely essential. If you don’t get out and about then you will start to see negative changes such as dry skin and you will also have that feeling of being trapped.

Hours

When working from home, either for yourself or for someone else, it is also important that you avoid the temptation to work all hours of the day. It is therefore vital that you clock your hours, this is not to say that you have to work between the hours of 8-5 but rather sit down and do 2 hours of work with a short break in-between, then plan 4 hours of work in the afternoon. The point is to ensure that you are not working/relaxing at the same time, allocate hours for work, for relaxation, for activities etc. The danger of not doing this is that you end up always being available to work, and you will also find that your productivity will be greatly reduced.

The key to surviving home office and enjoying it as you should is to ensure that you move around, get exercise and fresh air and allocate your working hours and stick to them.