7 Actionable Techniques to Maintain Optimal Mental Health While Working Remotely

Now, more than ever, prioritizing our mental health is crucial. Working remotely can quickly takes its toll on a person, so it’s important to remain proactive when taking care of yourself.

Remote working is the new normal brought about by the pandemic. Although it is exciting to work from home, remaining confined within the same environment can take a toll on your mental health. If you stay glued to your laptop screen for most of the day, the risk to your mental well-being is even higher. You are likely to experience high-stress levels both due to work stress and the situation of the pandemic.

But, don’t worry, if you stay on guard and practice some actionable techniques to maintain optimal mental health, you’ll not land in any kind of trouble. You’ll become a happier version of yourself over time. Now, let’s discuss what you can do to maintain good mental health while working remotely.

Prioritize physical activity

This is one of the essential things you need to do for your mental well-being. When you engage in physical activities like exercise, dancing, and playing, your brain secretes neurotransmitters like Serotonin and Dopamine, which trigger positivity feelings. As a result, your stress level will begin to drop, and you’ll start basking in high spirits.

Moreover, as you spend most of your time sitting and working from home, physical activity will help you keep yourself physically healthy. So, you should try to take some time for physical activity every day. It doesn’t matter if you exercise in the morning or the evening, that’s entirely your choice. But do try to make it a necessary part of your remote working routine. 

Sleep for at least 8 hours daily

While working from home, you are more likely to stay up till late at night. In our state of enjoyment, we don’t realize that we are harming our physical and mental well-being. We deny our body the crucial sleep it needs to heal itself and repair damaged tissues. Not only this, but we also deny our brain the time it needs to rejuvenate. When this happens, our physical health takes a journey downhill, our stress level rises, and we become prone to physical and mental health issues. It implies that you should try not to compromise sleep to maintain your health in an optimal state. As an adult, you should sleep for at least 8 hours daily. 

Make time for interactions with loved ones

If you are in the habit of continuously working on your laptop for the whole day, silently, without conversing with your loved ones, it’s time to break that habit. Human beings are social animals, and we need the close company of our loved ones to stay happy and healthy. Although you may not realise it in the short run, as you spend more and more time occupied with work and silence, you’ll start feeling it.

So, before you begin to develop feelings of isolation and seclusion, try to start making time for regular interactions with your loved ones. Even if you live alone, you can communicate with your friends, family members, and colleagues over phone calls. It is an important thing which is necessary for you to stay in a healthy state of mind. 

Make meditation a part of your daily routine

Stress management is crucial for mental well-being. No doubt, stress is inevitable, but you can certainly control the extent to which it impacts you. Now, how can you do that? The answer is through meditation. When you meditate, you become aware of your thoughts, without getting involved with them. You just try to see them from a distance. This activity establishes great inner peace within you, and your stress level starts getting reduced. You become so peaceful that waves of inner joy begin washing you over.

So, to maintain optimal mental health, you should try to make meditation a part of your daily routine. It is simple to practice and requires no external investment. If you don’t know how to meditate, don’t worry, you can use guided meditation videos on YouTube to practice meditation. PowerThoughts Meditation Club, The Honest Guys, and Art of Living are three popular YouTube channels that offer various recommended meditation videos. 

Maintain a gratitude journal

Albert Einstein once said that there are two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle and the other is as though everything is a miracle. His words highlight that the choice of seeing life as a miracle or a burden lies in our hands. But one thing is sure, that if you stick to the former vision of everything being a miracle, your happiness level will rise significantly, and you will naturally have good mental health.

Now, what can you do to see everything as a miracle? The answer is to maintain a gratitude journal. You should try to write at least five things you are grateful for, in your gratitude journal every day. It will help you maintain a positive attitude towards life and keep yourself in high spirits.

Do something you love

What is it that makes you feel inner joy and a state of flow? Reading, dancing, writing, painting, cooking, or something else? Whatever it is, just try to do it every day. Even if you feel tired, don’t think, just start doing it slowly and as you do, you’ll gradually begin to feel rejuvenated. It is because the things which you love doing don’t drain your energy. Instead, they help you recharge by triggering feelings of positivity and joy. If you refresh yourself this way, you’ll eventually land into an excellent state of mental well-being daily. 

Don’t shy away from taking some time off from work

Working from home doesn’t mean that you cannot take some time off for relaxation. Whenever you feel that you need a break, don’t shy away from taking one. You should try to give yourself a relaxing vacation at regular intervals of time. During your time off from work, you can do all the things which make you feel rejuvenated and lively. It will help you stay in an optimal state of mind.

During the current times of the pandemic, it is natural to feel stressed out. This makes it even more crucial for you to take care of your mental well-being while remote working. The techniques mentioned above will help you achieve your mental health goals.