Home > Lifestyle > 5 Work From Home Challenges & How To Solve Them

5 Work From Home Challenges & How To Solve Them

Ms. Smitakshi Guha

4 Min Read

Owing to the pandemic that doesn’t seem to be in a mood to bid adieu anytime soon, most of us are working remotely, from the comfort of our homes. While that does sound all warm and welcoming, there’s no denying that it does come with its own list of demerits and challenges too.

A lot of you must have suffered some issue or the other while working from home. It can range from working for longer durations or on the weekends, to having some health problems as well.

Let us explore some of the most common health-related work from home challenges and understand how we can fix them—

Stress

This is one of the most common challenges that people face while working from home, one that can take a toll on their overall health. From tight deadlines to long work hours and cloudiness over job security—all of this makes your stress levels rise, often resulting in other health concerns like insomnia, fatigue, headache, as well as hypertension and heart disease. Add to that, staying indoors and not being able to go out, meet other people, or communicate much for such a long period, makes things even worse.

What to do: First and foremost, make sure that you get at least eight hours of sleep every night to prevent an over-secretion of cortisol, which is also known as the ‘stress hormone.’ Practice yoga and meditation regularly. Focus on activities that relieve your stress. This could be anything that you enjoy, like listening to music, gardening, sketching, etc. Keep a positive attitude towards life and don’t hesitate to speak to a professional online to get better guidance on how to go forward and combat the stress. You can also do a self-check to assess your stress levels.

work from home challenges stress mfine

Strained eyes

Staying glued to your laptop screen for prolonged work hours can have a really adverse effect on your eyes. Add to that the constant urge to read the news about the pandemic or scroll your social media feed, further adds to the trouble, causing strain to your eyes.

What to do: For starters, you can use a radiation protective screen for your laptop, it will protect your eyes. You can also wear glasses with a similar radiation protection coating. Blink your eyes often while working to avoid dry eyes and take breaks whenever necessary. Wash your eyes with cold water and give them some rest by keeping them closed for at least 10 minutes at regular intervals while working. If you’re still facing any issues with your eyes like dry eyes, red eyes, etc, you can consult with an eye specialist online for some expert tips.

eye strain work from home challenges mfine

Neck pain or back pain

As comfortable as working from home sounds, the reality is often quite different. Sitting in front of your laptop/PC for unreasonably long hours can really mess up your posture, resulting in severe pain in the back or neck. It can also impact your spinal cord.

What to do: The best thing to do is make sure the chair you sit in while working, has very good support for your neck and back. Next, take regular intervals between your work and do some stretching exercises to ensure you’re not sitting in the same position for long durations. In case you still have any severe neck pain or back pain, you can consult with an orthopedician online.

neck stretch mfine

Sedentary lifestyle

Since this sudden shifting from regular work routine to working remotely has pretty much messed up everyone’s routine, it has unceremoniously made most people slip into leading a sedentary life. It’s no more about waking up, doing your chores, and commuting to work, climbing those stairs, but it is only about waking up and sitting in front of the laptop for 12 to 14 hours at a stretch! Well, the bad news is that a sedentary lifestyle is linked with a number of health risks such as obesity, high blood pressure, stroke, heart problems, and many more.

What to do: Make sure you don’t end up becoming a part of the ‘sedentary’ bandwagon. Exercise daily, even if it’s for just half an hour. Avoid junk food and cut off sugar from your regular diet as much as possible. Stick to healthy foods and well-proportioned meals and you’d feel the difference in no time.

exercise at home emails on laptop work employees mental health mfine

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

This one is one of the worst health concerns that often pop up in people working from home. It’s commonly observed in those people who spend incessant hours working on the keyboard, keeping their fingers in the same position. You’d be surprised to know that in case you develop this syndrome, it may take surgery for you to get rid of it and full recovery takes another six weeks post-surgery.

What to do: Needless to say, you ought to take better care of your fingers and also give your body the much-needed rest it deserves. Stretch your arms, fingers, and wrist, and exercise your hands at regular intervals between your work.

carpal tunnel syndrome hands fingers mfine

There’s no doubt that our safety is imperative and hence, working remotely is the best option as of now. But that doesn’t mean under any circumstance that you forget paying heed to your health. For any health concern, you can consult India’s top doctors across 30+ specialities online on MFine.

Are you stressed because of your work? Take this short self-check to determine whether your stress levels are off the charts or not.