Coronavirus Corpulence - Taking Care of Yourself During Covid

Posted by Alison ONeill | Mon, Aug 31, 2020

First it was the Freshman 15 and Now we battle Coronavirus Corpulence

Remember the dreaded “freshman 15” – those 15 pounds most students gain during their freshman year of college? Hopefully those pounds are just a memory now and not a lasting reminder of college days.

Now we have to deal with Coronavirus Corpulence – the weight we are gaining as a result of quarantines in effect due to the global pandemic which is forcing many of us to work from home.

As eDiscovery professionals our workday is already sedentary. We sit in front of the computer reviewing documents, marking documents, issue coding documents, redacting documents (you get the picture here). At least when we were working at the office, we could stroll the hallways or take the stairs to meet and discuss eDiscovery issues with our colleagues. Now we don’t even get the limited exercise of walking from the parking lot into the office and taking the stairs to our floor of the building.

I have the added disadvantage of living in a ranch-style house. I don’t even have to use steps to get to my home office, sigh. For many of us these days the most exercise we are getting is walking back and forth to the kitchen to get a snack.

To add insult to injury there is such a thing as “stress eating” and whether you are stressed about your health, your family member’s health or if you are stressed about the new reality of trying to work from home with your family (especially those of us with young children in the home), we have more than enough stress in our lives these days to eat our way to our own episode of “My 600 Pound Life”.

It seems that information regarding the global pandemic is changing on a daily basis and we all might be working from home for the foreseeable future. With that in mind, what can be done to avoid Coronavirus Corpulence?

Since we all know we are going to snack, try to make sure the snacks you have on hand are healthy snacks such as fruits, vegetables, nuts, yogurt and things that are high fiber, high protein. Try not to bring home from the grocery those oh-so-tempting and convenient snack items such as chips, cookies, and my personal favorite – ice cream.

While going through megabytes of eDiscovery data is a riveting pursuit, be sure to get up and move at least once every 30 minutes. Set a reminder on your cell phone, watch, or fitbit. Even better is to get up and get outside. That small change of scenery can help make you more alert and focused when you get back to your desk.

We have all heard it over and over but that is because it is true – drink lots of water. The benefits of drinking water throughout the day are significant. Drinking water helps increase brain function, helps to prevent, and treat headaches and even aids weight loss. I have a friend who has an alarm on her cell phone set to remind her to drink water at several times throughout the day.

Many firms and businesses are extending their work-from-home policy into the foreseeable future. With that in mind we need to be conscious about taking steps to maintain our health and avoid Coronavirus Corpulence.

In this new normal, we need to create new habits focused on our health including regular exercise even though gyms and rec centers are closed, and healthy eating, even though tempting snacks call to us from the next room.

So the next time you are at the grocery (with your mask on) steer clear of the snack aisle and spend more time in the fruits and vegetables section. Create an environment filled with healthy, delicious snack options. And I count walking the aisles of the grocery store as exercise!

With that I hope everyone is staying safe and healthy but I still want to know who took the last bag of cookies from the pantry?!