Published: May 13 2020
Most will be all too aware of a key pitfall of working from home: the difficulty in switching off from work. Boundaries are blurred, and daily rituals merge into breakfast, work and a late dinner. Lunch invariably takes it on the chin as a meeting is rescheduled, or something urgent hits your in-tray.
This is far from ideal and a steep and slippery slope towards burnout, so what can be done?
One solution is the virtual commute. Simple in context and implementation, this acts as a surrogate for your usual commute, with the perk of having control over how long it lasts. Whereas in pre-lockdown you would be tied to the distance to the office (unless you live in a narrowboat), now you can choose to ‘arrive’ when you feel like it.
I have found this has a profound and positive effect on my wellbeing, providing a physical and psychological boundary between my morning routine and work. Doing the same in the evening helps to schedule evening meals at a sociable hour and reduces the chance of work continuing late into the night.
Now, the easiest way to do this is to go out for a jog, a cycle or a walk. But for those of us keen to avoid breaking social distancing guidance, an indoor option is my focus here.
A cycle machine, running machine or rowing machine provide an ideal option, so if you have one of these, you are good to go (just don’t forget to warm-up and stretch).
But what if you don’t have one of these expensive machines? Top of my list is a skipping rope.
The skipping rope is £2-3 on well known online retailers, needs only a six foot square space to safely operate, and burns between 10-20 calories per minute. A slow start is advised for the uninitiated, as it can be quite high-impact when learning and you want to avoid injury from over doing it. A good warm up with foot and ankle flexibility thrown in is also very important to loosen up your tendons and joints in the feet and ankles. Start with 30 second intervals, 30 on and 30 off, for five minutes. If you still feel strong, repeat but with a 10-20% increase in pace (or skips per minute), then stop. Repeat at the end of the day and then twice every day until your work week is over, keeping the intensity fixed while you learn the ropes (sorry, couldn’t resist). Next week add as many minutes as you feel comfortable with, but keep the breaks between short rounds of skipping. This gives your breathing just enough time to recover which, if you are doing it properly, you will be thankful for.
Give it a go, and before you know it you will be getting as good a workout as the joggers outside that you won’t be bumping into. More importantly, you will be breaking away from your work and keeping in shape while you do it.