Money Saving Top Tips on Keeping Warm Whilst Working from Home
The days and nights are starting to get colder again, and if you are anything like me you’re always looking for new ways to keep warm. This is especially true when working from home.
Working from home can often be great for improving flexibility during your working day and it can certainly help avoid getting stuck in traffic, on your commute to and from work. However, one of the downsides of working from home can include an increase in our energy bills. More time at home can mean more lights on throughout the house, and the heating on more regularly.
Top Tips for Keeping Warm
With that in mind, I wanted to share some of my top tips for keeping warm this winter, whilst working from home. These tips may act as a reminder or inspire you to think differently. Either way, most of them are quick and easy, and won’t increase your energy bills.
Warm Clothing – Having a good set of layers is always a great place to start. I also find that wearing something to cover your neck, like a scarf or snood really helps. Try and pick warmer fabrics such as wool or something fleecy if you can. As a bonus, having a cosy beanie for when you’re not on Teams or Zoom calls is a real treat!
Hot Drinks – Even if you are not a ‘hot drinks person’ (we have a few here at Active Devon), having a nice warm cup of something makes a great short-term hand warmer. For those of us that do love a cuppa during the day, hot drinks can be perfect for that instant warming sensation.
Bonus Tip: The more fluids you drink, the more you need to pop to the loo. More Movement = More Warmth. I’ll come onto this below.
Movement – Moving more is great for warming your body, building and maintaining muscle and burning calories, which in turn can produce body heat. Some of my favourite ways to move during the day are skipping without a rope, press-ups and the plank.
Super Quick Challenge: Pick two or three movements or exercises that you are comfortable with. When you start to feel cold, try one of your chosen movements for 30 seconds. Once you feel comfortable with 30 seconds, you can then move onto the ‘Kettle’ challenge.
The Kettle Challenge
When you head to the kitchen to make yourself a nice hydrating drink to help keep you warm, use the time the kettle takes to boil to complete one of your chosen movements.
My kettle takes one minute and seven seconds to boil. That’s one minute and seven seconds of skipping without a rope and by the end of this time I’m really warm.
Bonus Tip: Only boil the amount of water you need for the drinks you are making. It not only uses less energy, but these short bursts of movement feel doable, and will help you to warm up.
Sit Less, Move More – The average person sits for around eight to nine hours per day. When we sit for long periods, our bodies experience reduced blood flow, meaning less oxygen entering the bloodstream. Do you know how long you sit for? Find out with this sitting calculator.
Our brains love good levels of oxygen and blood flow to remain alert and maintain concentration. Standing more frequently will not only improve your blood flow and concentration but it makes it easier for you to move more and therefore keep warm.
Aim to break-up your sitting time for at least one to two minutes every 30 minutes.
As a summary, here are my favourite top tips to help keep you warm whilst working from home this winter.
Take Away Tips
- Warm clothing – Good layering, keep your neck warm and grab a beanie
- Hot drinks – Great handwarmer, keeps you hydrated and encourages you to move
- Movement – Pick two or three exercises, start with 30 seconds then work towards using your kettle as a timer
- Sit Less, Move More – Break–up your sitting time with small periods of standing throughout your day
Get in Touch
If you have any questions on my top tips, or have some top tips of your own, then we’d love to hear from you. Please contact Aaron via hello@activedevon.org.
This blog is written by Aaron Harverson – Partnerships Manager at Active Devon
