Top tips to optimise your wellbeing when working from home

Keep your routine – getting up at a reasonable and similar time every working day and doing your usual pre-work routine can really help you to maintain some sort of structure to your every day.

Reclaim your lunchbreak – similar to keeping your routine, having that set time to just stop, step away from your work and prepare and eat a wholesome meal, can help to enforce some structure to our days and help to take your mind off things. Studies have shown that eating results in the release of endorphins from the brain. So not only will having lunch give you time away from work but will get those happy chemicals flowing. Eating al’desco doesn’t count!

Start a social lottery with your wider team – this is where groups of 3 or 4 people are randomly selected each week within your wider team (perhaps by you or your manager). Then those people set a time before the next lottery draw to connect via a call or chat on teams. The conversation doesn’t have to be work related, and if anything, it’s perhaps better if it isn’t. This just gives you a chance to connect with your wider team when you otherwise wouldn’t.

Take up a challenge – there are countless meditation, yoga, home workout, cooking etc challenges circling across social media and the web at the moment. With more time on our hands and as a welcome distraction from all the heavy news, one of these challenges could be a fun addition to your routine, and hey, you might learn something new!

Be kind to yourself – during this period when there’s lots of heavy news, it’s easy for things to feel overwhelming at times. To combat this, you should try to be kind to yourself. By this I mean doing things such as cultivating gratefulness for all the things you do have in your life, appreciating the little things eg the sunny weather we’ve been having lately, carving out time for self-care such as a hot bubble bath at the end of the day and not being hard on yourself if you haven’t taken up a new hobby. Do what feels right, at a pace that works for you.

Stretch – don’t forget to try to maintain a good posture when working at your desk (or sofa) by sitting as upright as you can and doing stretches regularly. Here are some useful stretches you can do at home.

Set boundaries – try not to let work life spill into your home life. Set clear times when you focus on your work and if you don’t already have a home office space, try to designate a space just for work within your home. Having designated spaces for certain activities will help you to separate work time from home time.

Ask for help – if you do feel overwhelmed, are struggling to balance the new way of working from home with what you’re used to, then UCL have a great page on staff wellbeing with great resources and tips.

Find out more about staff wellbeing.