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Work can be very stressful, whether you’re in the office or working from home. But when you’re working from home, there’s no way of leaving work at work. Instead, you have to live where you work and work where you live, which can have a negative effect on your mental health if you are feeling stressed at work. 

Here are some of our top tips for reducing stress while you are working from home.

Have a separate workspace

It’s always good to have a separate working space from where you socialise for a few reasons. The first is that it can help keep you organised. If all of your paperwork, for example, is stored in your workspace, you will know where it is and know no one has touched it. If you work on the dining room table, you risk someone else picking it up and putting it in the bin.

The second reason to have a separate workspace is that you can move away from it at the end of the day. When you’ve finished work you can either step away from the desk or close the office door and not have to think about work. 

As well as helping to prevent you from working overtime, it also means your brain won’t associate other areas of your house with work. If you spend hours working on the sofa, you may struggle to relax there when you’re not working. 

Get into a routine

One of the benefits of working from home is that you miss the rush-hour traffic, but it also means you can get a little complacent in the mornings knowing you don’t have to out of the door to sit in traffic. 

Even though you’re working from home, you should still get into a routine. So go to bed early, get up when your alarm goes off and enjoy some breakfast – while you may want to snooze, you will feel much better having a relaxed morning instead of jumping out of bed 10 minutes before your start.

Keep clutter away

As you will be spending a lot of time in your home it’s a good idea to keep it clutter-free and tidy throughout the week so you don’t feel like cleaning after hours of work. A great way to keep organised is to have plenty of storage. Whether a table with drawers to keep television remotes and magazines in or a comfortable divan bed, like the ones from Divan Beds Centre, which have built-in drawers to keep all of your comfy working-from-home outfits in – storage is essential to keeping your house nice and tidy while you work. 

Don’t forget to take breaks

While this is last on our list, it is not to be missed. Taking breaks is vital to reducing stress as it gives your body the chance to refuel and get away from your desk. You should use your break to have a balanced lunch and if you have time and the weather permits, try and go for a walk to get some fresh air before carrying on with work.