Staying Healthy at Home During Coronavirus

In these days of telecommuting, working from home and sheltering in place, it is harder than ever to be industrious. Here are a few tricks that help me stay healthy both physically and mentally and boosting your productivity while you are working from home.

Stand-up Desk

Love to have a stand-up desk, but can’t afford one?

Use an ironing board. The height is perfect for holding your laptop and allowing you to stand during part of your work day. I do my social media and emails while standing. During that time, I also do jumping jacks and leg raises, stretch and toe-raises. Try walking in place. Lately, when heading to the kitchen to get some coffee, I’ve added lunges down the hall. This makes me very glad there are no security cameras in that hallway, though that footage would go viral.

Change it Up!

I’ve tried writing on the couch, in the kitchen, on my porch, in the woods, on my deck and even in my hammock. Sometimes a simple change of location does wonders for creativity. But sometimes, when the mosquitoes are out, this makes me appreciate my climate-controlled, bug-free home office!

Use the Read Aloud Function

Use your read-aloud feature, found in Word under Review.. This can save your hands and wrists from all that keyboarding.

Text to Speech Program

Dragon Speech Recognition is the program that I use, but many phones have a text to speech function. Dictating takes some practice and proof-reading is necessary, but this is another great way to save your hands and wrists from repetitive motion issues. I’ve even invested in a digital recorder. I can dictate into that and then plug the recorder into my computer and use Dragon to transcribe my speech to writing. It’s fabulous. Again, you ‘ll have to proof your work. Dragon will improve and you will improve with practice in dictating.

Healthy Rewards

All rewards do not have to be food or coffee. You are not Pavlov’s dog. One of my favorite reward breaks is my ukulele. I play for 10 minutes after a good 90 minute work session. Another favorite break is taking a walk around the house and looking at my garden. I’m lucky enough to live in the subtropics of Florida. Currently, the orchids are blooming on the trees!

Productivity Sound Track

For a long while, I used to plan movie soundtracks on my computer. That was back when my computer had a CD player. The point of that music was that there were no words to distract me. I write fiction and when writing an action scene, I’d play a thumping action-adventure soundtrack. A favorite was The Last Samurai. If I was writing something introspective, the soundtrack would be from a drama. You get the idea.

Now I don’t have a CD player but I’ve found an online app that fits the bill. Do you now BrainFM? They offer soundtracks for various activities. I listen to WORK and have yet to explore the RELAX or SLEEP soundtracks. The WORK soundtrack is excellent for helping me focus and also keeps track of my work sessions. I can set the timer for thirty minutes, an hour or infinity. What are they. This is from their website:

Our science-first approach creates music that sounds different–and affects your brain differently–than any other music.

They are currently offering one month free when you sign up. Use this link to sign up: brain.fm .

Using some simple tricks and tools can boost your productivity. By standing up during part of your day, using brain-boosting soundtracks, doing some simple exercises and making use of the tools already available on most computer word processing programs, you can get the job done.

About the Author

Publishers Weekly bestselling author, Jenna Kernan, was born in the Catskill Mountains of New York State. RT BookClub called her romantic suspense series "Flat-out good." Jenna offers a FREE BOOK on her website at www.jennakernan.com. She is a redhead transplanted to Florida where she has increased her sunblock to SPF50. Follow Jenna on BookBub at jenna-kernan.