10 Healthy Work From Home Habits

Healthy work-from-home habits come down to ten simple things: a spot used only for work, getting up every 30 minutes or so, keeping your office schedule, a hard stop time, good food in the kitchen, real clothes, clear signals for the household, no work before bed, errands as breaks and a short daily list.

Updated October 24, 2026.

The coronavirus outbreak forced millions of Americans across the country to work from home in 2020. Some found it confining. Many others discovered how convenient working remotely can be. Once the pandemic faded, many employers changed their work rules and put more focus on working from home.

Working from home can also be tricky for some people. It’s tempting, but there are clear roadblocks to getting work done day after day. Between the tasty snacks in your kitchen, the TV inches away, and a nap that sounds perfect at lunchtime, bad habits can build up fast and get in the way of finishing your daily work. Most people have had a work-from-home day where lunch turned into a bag of chips at the desk.

Instead of falling into those bad habits, we put together a list of healthy habits you can follow when you’re working from home. These tips will help keep you healthy and get more done.

The habits that stick are the ones built into the house, not the ones that need willpower every morning. A door that shuts does more for focus than any app. A chair you get out of on purpose does more for you than a gym you never visit on a weekday.

Keep a space that is only for work

Working from your couch might seem like the dream, but it can turn into a bad habit fast. Most of us know how quickly “working” on the couch slides into watching something. Pick a space in your house that is only for work. Don’t take work materials to your bed, because then you can start overworking or underworking. Find a space that lets you focus on the one task in front of you. A desk in a spare room, a corner of the kitchen, even a closet turned into a nook all beat the couch because they only mean one thing.

Get up and move, on purpose

When you work from home, it’s easy to get lost in your work, and the next thing you know, it’s time to log off. We’ve all looked up at the clock and realized the whole morning went by without leaving the chair. Set an alarm and make a habit of getting out of your chair and moving around every hour. You could stretch, walk around or pet the dog. Make sure you get outside every day, too. Spend your lunch break walking your dog, or move your office outside for an hour and get a little sunshine. Whatever you pick, remember that movement and exercise are important for you.

Mayo Clinic explains why it matters, pointing to an analysis of 13 studies of more than 1 million people. People who sat more than eight hours a day with no physical activity had a risk of dying similar to the risk from obesity and smoking. The same page says 60 to 75 minutes of moderate activity a day offset the effects of too much sitting. Its advice goes a step further than the hourly alarm: stand up every 30 minutes, stand while you’re on the phone and walk while you work when you can.

Keep the schedule you had at the office

If you’re new to working from home, try to keep your regular schedule. Wake up at the same time and do the same routine you did before heading out the door to the office. That might be eating breakfast and reading the news, getting a morning workout in, or packing your lunch. Whatever it is, stick to it. It helps you keep a normal schedule and keeps you from falling into unhealthy habits. That includes eating lunch at your usual time and away from your work, so the day doesn’t turn into one long sit, and taking regular breaks.

Set a stop time and keep it

Working from home makes it easy to slide into work more than you mean to. You need to set a healthy work-life balance and stick to it. Yes, sometimes we have to put in a little overtime, but that doesn’t mean every day, or spending a Saturday on work just because we can. Track your hours and keep yourself honest. If you want more ideas here, read our 10 ways to improve your work/life balance.

Keep food in the house that you actually want to eat

It’s easy to stock up on chips and junk food, but make a choice to fill your kitchen with food that’s good for you. Fresh fruit, whole grains and tasty meals can help you eat well while you work from home and keep you from eating all your snacks in one day.

Get dressed like a meeting could happen

Sure, working in your pajamas might seem like the dream, but try to get dressed as if you’re going to the office. If your office has a more formal dress code, you can relax it a little, but change into something you could be seen in public in. You never know when a surprise meeting might pop up, and you want to look put together even from home.

Make interruptions visible to the rest of the house

We’ve already talked about setting up a space in your home where you can get your work done. To protect your privacy even more, hanging a “do not disturb” sign outside your home office isn’t a bad idea. A shared calendar everyone in the house can check does the same job. The biggest roadblock to working from home is the pile of distractions that hurt the quality and speed of your work. In an office, surrounded by colleagues and a supervisor, it’s much easier to stay accountable. At home, it’s smart to set up similar checks of your own.

Stop working before bed, not during it

Keeping personal time and work time apart is another challenge of working remotely. The space around us shapes how we use our time, which is why an assigned office space was long seen as key to a company’s success. Working from home, though, makes it easy to blur everything together in one place. One way to push back a little is to avoid working before sleep. Anyone who’s checked one last email before bed knows it’s never just one. Sleep matters for your personal health and your work performance, and mixing it with work too often can hurt in many ways.

To see what is at stake, the CDC says adults 18 to 60 need 7 or more hours of sleep, and lists staying at a healthy weight and reducing stress among the benefits of getting enough. Answering messages right up to lights-out eats into that. The CDC suggests turning off electronic devices at least 30 minutes before bedtime, so close the laptop by then and keep it closed.

Use errands as real breaks, not guilt

Home is full of temptations, but there’s another risk too. Some people try to make up for not being in the office by going overboard on work at home. You don’t need to, which is another reason to stick to your normal work schedule as closely as you can. One of the sneakiest downsides of working remotely is losing the casual time with colleagues that you’d get in an office. Anyone who’s worked in an office knows how much of the day is quick chats in the hallway. Take those away and it’s easy to feel isolated and stuck in a rut.

So make time for everyday errands throughout the day. Use them to get out of the house for a bit, stretch your legs, or even chat with people in your community. If you’d rather not leave home, set aside time for household chores, taking stock of personal matters, or relaxing activities like meditation. A little pressure at work is not all bad, either; here are 5 reasons why moderate stress is good for you.

Keep a short list instead of an open-ended day

Staying on top of your work is one of the first things to slip when you work from home. Whatever method you used to get things done in the office, adjust it to fit your new setup. Above all, stay focused on your goals. That might mean a to-do list with the big things first, a daily look at ongoing projects, or a morning review of meetings with clients, colleagues or supervisors. Whatever it is, keep doing it while you work remotely. Your workspace may be new, but your mindset doesn’t have to change much.

Working from home habits FAQ

How often should I get up from my desk when working from home?

Mayo Clinic suggests starting with a short break from sitting to standing every 30 minutes. It points to an analysis of 13 studies covering more than 1 million people: those who sat more than eight hours a day with no physical activity had a risk of dying similar to the risk from obesity and smoking.

What is the single most important work-from-home habit?

Keep a steady schedule. Get up at the same time, eat lunch at your usual hour and stop at a set time. One routine covers your sleep, your meals and your evenings all at once. Habits that ride on a routine last longer than habits you have to talk yourself into every morning.

Does working from home actually hurt your health?

The location isn’t the problem. The extra sitting often is. Mayo Clinic says sitting for long stretches has been linked to obesity and to the group of conditions that make up metabolic syndrome, and that too much sitting overall seems to raise the risk of death from heart disease and cancer. Getting up is what matters.

How do I stop work from bleeding into the evening?

Pick a stop time and close the laptop instead of leaving it open just in case. Sleep is what you protect. The CDC says adults 18 to 60 need 7 or more hours, and lists staying at a healthy weight, reducing stress and better attention and memory among the benefits of enough sleep.

This article is for general information only and is not medical advice. Talk to a licensed clinician about your own situation.