As a former fitness trainer and holistic health coach, I’m sometimes shocked at my own bad online working habits. If you’re reading this anytime between the hours of 11pm and 3am, you’ll probably know what I mean.
As an online entrepreneur, you probably don’t need me to tell you how bad for your long term health the following common habits of online entrepreneurs can be…
- Regularly working into the early hours of the morning
- Sitting for long periods of time without getting up/stretching your limbs
- Poor food choices when you’re too engrossed in a task to eat properly
- Too many fizzy drinks, too much coffee & not enough water
- General stresses & strains of running your own business
The last one is an obvious “stressor” – but the first 4 are all examples of stressors which the body must cope with and which, on a long term basis, can all lead to chronic health problems such as eczema/other skin problems, sleep problems, allergies and hormonal imbalances (which themselves manifest in a variety of very common symptoms).
If you then add a nomadic, location independent lifestyle to the mix with the additional stresses of jet lag, time zone changes, “foreign” food & drinks, sun, the temptation to enjoy yourself with an extra beer all too often – and it’s easy to see how, if you’re not careful, this lifestyle can have an adverse effect on your health.
There are a few simple habits you can build into your life however which can be maintained no matter where you are around the world – and which can help you remain healthy and productive:
Have 1 decent meal a day
If you regularly find yourself not having eaten since getting up and only realising it several hours later, you are seriously impacting your productivity and your own ability to get the best out of yourself.
And if you follow this up by grabbing whatever comes to hand throughout the rest of the day, your body could well be nutritionally starving (this can be true even if you’re overweight). Do your body a favour and commit to preparing and eating one decent meal a day.
By decent, I mean a meal that contains some sort of protein (meat, fish, pulses) and fresh vegetables. Wherever you are in the world, this shouldn’t be too hard to do.
Focus on establishing a good sleep routine
Even if your “flow” state falls in the early hours of the morning, regularly missing sleep between the hours of around 11pm and 3am deprives your body of its key healing & regeneration time every day.
The state of your health is, at any one point, determined by the number of damaged cells versus the amount of healthy/repaired cells in your body. Miss your key repair time every night and your overall health will degenerate far more quickly over time (which can sometimes be seen as accelerated aging).
With changing time zones and the added challenge of jet lag, your sleep patterns can become seriously screwed up – and most people know how rough it feels to miss out on even one decent night’s sleep. Establishing a good sleep routine whenever you arrive somewhere new is one of the first things you should focus on.
Fetch yourself a glass of water every 2 hours
Not only will this re-hydrate you (which is especially important in hotter countries), it will also give your body a respite from a seated position and allow it to stretch and move.
If you’re a nomadic location independent professional, the chances are you’ll be working from your “home” – which may well have no desk, no office chair and sometimes no table/chair to work at.
Ergonomically, this can play havoc on your body but unless you decide to buy a desk/chair wherever you go to, you often just have to make do. Getting up frequently will help re-align your posture and prevent back ache – having a reason to do so should help you remember to do this and if not, set yourself an alarm.
The 15 minute “no equipment” exercise circuit
You may be lucky enough in some of the places you stay to have access to a gym – or a beach/some other open space where you can run and exercise.
If not, there are plenty of things you can do to stay fit, supple and strong with very little or no equipment: The TRX System is a great piece of “take anywhere” kit ideal for the LIP.
If you don’t want to lug any kit around with you however, try this simple circuit workout which takes no more than 15 minutes and gives you a cardio & strength workout in one go.
Perform 10-12 repetitions of each exercise, one after another with no break. When you’ve done that, rest for 1-3 minutes and repeat.
IMPORTANT: This workout is for illustrative purposes only; always consult a professional before attempting any new exercise routine.
Remember, this is the only life and the only body you get. Just because you trot around the globe doesn’t mean you can throw all caution to the wind when it comes to your health. If you’re also running your business whilst you travel, maintaining your health is vital for optimum productivity. Take better care of your health, before you lose it for good.
Very relevant post for me, Lea! I’m a “neck-up” – means I sometimes forget I have a body, because I’m in my head all the time :)
Often I’ll be so absorbed in what I’m doing that I forget to eat or just don’t want to pull away from what I’m involved in. And then I look up and it’s 4pm already and I haven’t eaten since breakfast. And of course my thinking has become pretty sluggish by then! It’s much easier to keep a good routine of having a proper lunch when you’re working with other people, but the work-from-home solopreneurs like myself can get quite lost in our work without the distraction of other people. So this is a good reminder for me!
Cath
Great post Lea. It’s a challenge to stay focused on healthy habits while traveling but definitely worthwhile. I love the 15 minute anywhere exercises! I will definitely be using them when I’ve been at the computer too long..
Well, I must say that these tips are not only good recommendations for independent location professionals. I should have applied them during my five week stint in Zurich, where I was in the lovely cube world you are leaving behind, surrounded by many people, but so focused, exhausted and eating way too much of that Swiss chocolate!
For the Americans, fizze drinks are soda drinks.
These are great tips for anyone, not just location independent business nomads!
The point you make about fetching yourself a glass of water is great. It’s funny actually because I was just working and starting to become a little tired and lose my attention. I got up to get a drink, came back, and was right back in the groove.
Another great post, Lea.
@Cath D – a “neck up”, haven’t heard that one before but describes me too although my body often tells me in multiple ways that I need to eat.
@Leigh – the 15m routine can be seriously tiring!! Try doing it 5 times in a row with only 1 minute rest in between each set…it’s a better workout than most people who spend 45m in the gym :)
@Kate – very true…I know from my days as a cubicle dweller I could have done with following these sorts of things. In fact when I left the corporate world I was so unhealthy & my body was so out of balance (but didn’t really realise it) that it took me 1-2 years to get myself straight again whilst qualifying with all the health & fitness stuff. Nothing like using yourself as a guinea pig for being able to develop empathy for what clients are going through!!
Great tips and useful advice for anyone, no matter if they are LI or not. Cubicle-bound workers could benefit from putting these tips in practice also.
I find it fairly easy to have 1 decent meal a day. Here are a couple of the reasons why it is easy for me, maybe they will help others.
1) My wife and I cook and eat together. We always eat at least one meal a day together, and often help each other cook that meal as well. Even if one of us is busy, we try to move our task into the kitchen so that we can spend the time together. This builds some “together” time into the daily routine, making it more important for us.
2) Explore new foods. I enjoy cooking and exploring the foods of the new places I visit (or just from new cookbooks when at home). This helps keep meals exciting. I don’t always know what to expect: did I do that right, will it turn out alright, will I like it? Don’t be afraid to try new things and see what you come up with. Sometimes the ones that don’t turn out right are the best learning experiences; I often discover even better recipes while finding out what I did wrong.
Sleep Routine:
I plan to use the time-change to my advantage when I return to the US from Ireland. With the 6-hour time difference I will be able to “sleep late” according to my body, but be waking at 6am local time. As long as I take advantage of this fact, I should be able to quickly establish the habit of rising early.
These are all great tips. And phew – what a workout! Just took a break from work to try this out in my apartment in Buenos Aires. Thanks Lea.