Since the pandemic, working from one's home office has become a normality. Though working from home can have huge advantages for employees and freelancers, it can also mean that the stress levels increase. Studies indicate that employees who are working primarily from home suffer more from stress than their colleagues who work primarily from their offices.  

One difference between working in an office and working remotely from home is usually a less structured day, and no clearly defined pauses. A short break after a meeting, lunch breaks with the team, a quick coffee with a colleague: These are structural breaks of your working routine that normally don't happen in a remote setting. Therefore, scheduling breaks and regularly leaving your desk can be highly beneficial to have a less stressful home office routine.

But how to schedule breaks? Here are some possibilities that might be helpful for you:

- Try to have a real lunch break of at least 45 minutes. Don't eat at your desk and set your phone on silent, if possible.

- Set an alarm once an hour to get up for at least five minutes - get a glass of water, a coffee, walk around. This is also helps with your physical energy levels.

- After an intense block of working that needs a lot of focus, e.g., writing a report, make sure you take a break and schedule some easier tasks afterwards that do not need too much concentration or creativity like checking emails, administrative phone calls or filing.

- switch off notifications as far as possible, especially when taking a longer break.

- set boundaries to your working time. It is often tempting to "quickly" write an email in the evening or to "just" finish a report or presentation, but it interrupts and reduces your personal recovery time that you need to lower your stress levels. Also, "just" writing an email that will take 5 minutes often ends up in a 60-minute rabbit hole of working in your email inbox - "since I am already at it"...

Whether these measures will be helpful to you, depends on your individual situation. Remember: These are general rules, that you can adapt and adjust to your needs and capabilities. If you need further help, you can always send me an email or set up a coaching session.