The Time to Figure Out Your New Hybrid Lifestyle is Now…..
Written by: Dr. Stacy Irvine Bsc. Kin, M.Sc., D.C., C.S.C.S
Co-Owner Totum Life Science
As things begin to slowly open and our lives return to the more interactive ways of the past, you could be wondering……” How can I best take advantage of some of the new technologies that have helped me from a work and lifestyle perspective over these past twenty months?”
The time to start organizing your new, and hopefully improved, work-life balance is now. It seems that a vast number of work opportunities in the future will use a combination of scheduling. Some workdays will be “in-person” and some workdays will be virtual. We should take some time to think about what this “Hybrid” life will look like and then figure out ways to make it work best for our performance, our health and ultimately our happiness.
There are a few questions to ask yourself as you address this process:
- What things in your life do you enjoy doing virtually and what do you enjoy doing in person?
- What things are not an option for virtual and how much time do you need each week to make sure you can accomplish these things in the best way possible.
- How will these scheduling choices impact your health and where can you carve out time for activities and social life.
Like your work environment, you will now also be able to participate in many aspects of your health care virtually, along with many aspects of your regular fitness routines. It is important to develop an efficient strategy to make this new hybrid system work well for you from a health perspective. The most important part of this is understanding what you are comfortable with. Do you enjoy meeting with screens, or is it very stressful? Do your healthcare providers even give you this option now that things are opening up a bit more? What times of the day will work best for you to schedule health-related appointments? Maybe it is easier to schedule personal appointments that are closer to your home because you might have more flexibility on the days you work from home.
Like your work environment, there are parts of health care and fitness that do not work well virtually. For example, you may not benefit as much from a virtual massage, but seeing your doctor for a virtual appointment to renew a prescription could be very efficient and helpful. However, if you take the time to book a virtual appointment, and then find out you need to be seen in person, it can feel like you wasted your time with the initial appointment.
As a healthcare provider, if I was booking an initial assessment with a new patient I would always want to see them in person first. I need to be able to watch closely how they move, what their posture is like, and I also want to be able to assess their overall health unrelated to their injury. However, if someone I have been working with in-person wants to do a quick exercise review, this is a perfect type of appointment to do virtually. I can easily watch them do their exercises and make any corrections needed during a virtual appointment. Also, if you are travelling and you have an incident that causes an acute injury this could be a good time to book a virtual appointment with a trusted provider as opposed to trying to find someone in a location you are unfamiliar with. The initial management of an acute injury can be very influential on the long-term outcome, and I often find that people want to do the wrong thing because they are in pain and are looking for fast relief. If you can jump on a virtual call, you can often find some peace of mind along with a good plan to move forward safely.
I believe that fitness and many types of training can work well in a similar way. If you are starting a new class, with a new instructor I would suggest you begin in person. This way the instructor will get to know you and what your specific needs are. It gives you an opportunity to connect and understand what the goals of the class are and the types of things you will be working on. Once you have a good idea of these things and you feel comfortable performing the movements required on your own, it is a great time to try the option of taking the class virtually. Personal training is no different. Seeing someone in person is more effective, however, virtual is great for “homework” between in-person sessions.
Finally, we all need to understand, that from a health perspective, connecting with people in person has many additional and important benefits. Interacting with people enhances our hormones, our motivation, and our mental wellbeing in very positive ways. If you add to this the fact that, working from home drastically decreases our overall movement for the day, we need to make sure our plan takes these important concepts into account. To maintain, or possibly even improve your health and fitness you will need a good strategy. It could be as simple as meeting a friend for a walk and coffee on the days that you work from home. The planning is up to you, but the important thing is to have a plan that allows you to benefit from our new way of working and living.