How to Manage Stress and Anxiety while working from home

Working from home can be fun at times or at least in the beginning but as you start getting immersed in this new lifestyle, it starts to become gloomy, anxious, depressing, and painful after some time. As per the latest study by Medical News Today, the cases of depression, stress and anxiety have tripled during the COVID-19 pandemic. It is not as easy as a lot of people anticipate it to be. From the last 6 million years humans have been known to be a social animal. We crave to socialize with people and/or want to be around the people we love, introverts and extroverts alike.

Due to the current ongoing pandemic, millions across the globe have been restricted to work from home where we usually chill after a long day. Staring walls for 24 hours a day and 7 days a week can be lonely, depressing and anxiety-inducing.

In this article, we are going to go over how you can keep the stress and anxiety at bay while working from home. Also maintaining a similar mental lifestyle we all had before the COVID-19 pandemic.

Tips to keep stress and anxiety at bay

1. Follow a schedule

While working from home it is very tempting to just wake up right before your meeting/calls. So basically, your day starts with work and you do not get to see the things happening around you. Try to follow the same pattern you had before. Wake up early, make yourself some breakfast, catch up with your family or roommate (whichever applicable), listen to a podcast, take a shower, or anything not related to work before entering your designated work area. This breaks the mental cycle you have had in your brain and keeps stress and anxiety at bay.

2. Avoid procrastination

It is easy to sometimes slip-off on things while working from home, intentionally or otherwise. It is general human behavior to push the deadlines when we are working from home since we are in such settings. By doing this we usually induce the stress and anxiety on ourselves without even realizing it. The best way to approach this is to break down the large project you’ve been planning into procrastinating and break it into small and cuter versions of tasks. Put a bounty on top of each of the tasks and treat yourself once you finish it. Viola! Wasn’t that hard, was it?

3. Define the regions in your house

This tip may sound obvious, but it is the most effective of all. Define areas where you work and places where you relax. When you are not working, avoid entering the work region even if it is a foot away. Over the last thousands of years, animals behave differently when put in different areas, including humans. Even if you are watching a movie where you work, that might seem relaxing but at the back of our head, our brain perceives it to be working. This again leads to stress and anxiety. Hence it is important to keep the areas of your house separate, no matter how hard it is, to manage stress.

4. Take small breaks

It is common to have mental blocks in the middle of an ongoing workday, just sitting in front of it can bring stress and anxiety. Hence take small to medium breaks. This helps to bring a fresh perspective on things when you rejoin. You can choose to do any activity of your choice during these short breaks, from watching TV to doing some basic household chores or learning to cook a new delicacy. This will help you relax and restore the mental focus you need once you are back in your working area.

5. Practice deep breathing

Call this tip yoga/pranayama or a universal way of dealing with stress and anxiety. As per Kristoffer Rhoads, Ph.D., taking deep breaths allows for more carbon dioxide to enter your bloodstream, this is turn quiets down parts of our brain, mainly the amygdala, which usually does anxiety response. Rhoads also says, “More carbon dioxide in the body often helps in synchronizing our heartbeat and breathing”. Start with 10 deeps in and out breathing technique.

Take a deep breath using your stomach and hold it for 5 seconds and then exhale.

6. Develop a new hobby

Take this quarantine as an opportunity to develop new skills or hobbies. This will act as a diversion for your mind away from work. This can help in suppressing stress and anxiety while keeping you productive overall. In my case I have started gardening, writing short stories and cooking. Of all of them, cooking has become my forte 😊. If you are unsure what the new hobby should look like for you, start with reading a new book every week.

7. Have some indoor plants

Researches done in the early 1980s by several renowned agencies including NASA suggested that plats often have a positive effect on stress and anxiety reduction. Some scientists suggest it is because they filter out toxic volatile compounds such as benzene, ammonia and formaldehyde. In other words, indoor plants help us breathe fresh air and prevent headaches or even suffocation to an extent. Indoor plants such as Peace Lily, Spider Plant, Common Ivy, Money Plant, or even Bromeliads are known to have a positive impact on your stress.

8. Talk to a friend

Talking to a friend can go a long way. It is normal human behavior that problems in life become lighter when you share it with someone you trust i.e. a friend. Take out some time off your schedule to talk to a friend and share each other’s stories (no IMs or Texts). If you are concerned about COVID-19 you can always call or set up a video call. This will help you in socializing and create a mind diversion away from work, stress and anxiety.

9. Take a Long walk

Walking can help in relieving stress and anxiety. Usually, workouts have the potential of being a stress buster. Since gyms are the last place anyone wants to be in the middle of a pandemic, walking can be a great alternative. It gives you time to introspect, as well as time to get away from stress points around you. Getting out of the stressful environment, seeing the sun and trees, breathing the fresh air and feeling your body move is natural stress-relief in itself.

Also Read: 6 Essential Yoga Poses for Depression

10. Remember to be thankful

Millions of people are losing their jobs due to the ongoing pandemic. One thing we have to realize is the opportunity to be around the people we love and having a roof on top of the head. Many people have the habit of keeping a journal/notebook of the things and people they are grateful to. Doing so causes less stress and anxiety, improves the quality of sleep and bring awareness emotionally. Being thankful is linked with new energy, vitality and positive reinforcement to working hard.

Bottom Line:

Stress and anxiety are often sidelined and often not realized until it is late. Hope the tips above help all of those who are reading it. Spread it to your friends or loved ones who need this. If none of them helps, talk to a professional therapist, and explain the things you are undergoing.