A (Post) Lock­down Surv­ival Guide

In the UK we're in another lockdown. For some there's not really been a time when they've not been isolated since this whole thing really kicked off in March.


Regardless of your opinion over it one thing is clearly true - there's a need to do the best we each can for our own and our loved ones' health.

To that end I thought I'd pop together a quick guide just to help a little bit with staying healthy and safe.

Healthy Eating

Food and drink are a good place to start with for staying healthy. We are versatile creatures who can survive on a lot of different things - some are perhaps a little better than others.


From the perspective of staying generally healthy the basic start point is what you put in your body. Sign up for my email newsletter and I'll send you my ChimpTamer Food Diary with will help you to head in the right direction for your optimal diet.

Regular Movement

While laziness may be a survival trait (if you don't know when you'll next eat it may be wise to conserve energy) it isn't really ideal for your health. If we stick with the idea of survival then historically we also had to get out and about and find something to eat. Of course with home deliveries of food, Netflix on the TV, working from home in front of a computer and all the rest of the labour saving we have in our lives there's little need to actually move so we have to come up with choices that will let us get the same needs covered.


So then the question is "What sort of movement should we be doing?". Usually followed these days by a Google search for something beneficial. That's then followed by an overwhelming list of totally contradictory information saying "this is the only way to do X Y or Z". You may have even come to this page from that very route (in which case I thank you for choosing to click through to me). Of course the answer can be both really simple and really complex.

I'm going to stick with the really simple options as this is all about remaining healthy (and improving on the health you already have).

Firstly, as the first paragraph in this section hopefully hinted at, you need to be moving regularly. Ideally aim to be doing something every hour. If you work from home it's all too easy to just sit in front of the computer the whole day and not move for anything other than the odd coffee break. So aim to move around for at least 5-10 minutes out of every hour (and don't just condense it all into a single bout of movement - actually do something within every hour of the day). What you actually choose to do is largely up to you but here are some quick grab options which you could consider (most of which may surprise you in how light they are - we don't have to be doing a training session all the time).

So you could: throw a ball for the dog; walk around the garden (maybe a bit of dead heading the plants or raking some leaves); do the ironing; walk up and down stairs a few times; play with the cat (they love those pretend mice on strings); tickle your kids; shoot some arrows (if you know what you're doing); dance to a favourite song; laugh solidly for 5 minutes; hold a chicken in the air; stick a deckchair up your nose; and now some of you have a song to dance to stuck in your head - you're welcome...

Developing Movement

This one is a little different. This is something that will help you to move better. It'll want maybe 10-15 minutes each day and can be done in little bits or all in one go. You might find you like the results so much you do it all several times a day. This one is a bit like stretching but doesn't involve actually doing stretching. You'll become more supple and it'll help you to gain strength. Tension will melt away with time and you'll find yourself in better control of your body.


Start off with some general moving around for a few minutes. Let your joints move freely and in as many directions as you like so long as they're comfortable to do so. While you do this take note of any positions that feel a little tight. For each of these positions you can then apply three movements. These are perpendicular to the tightness, in line with the tightness and rotations around the tightness. You do 7-8 slow and small movements in each of the directions but aim to finish with the in-line one. After this you can move the joint through it's full range of movement. Finish by moving yourself all over the place - just move all your joints in as many directions as you can think of.

I'll pop a video up soon to show you some of the basics of this one in case my description needs some work on it.

Something Vigorous

No need to scared by this one. You don't have to spend hours at the gym. For optimal health and improving your longevity the science tells us that just 30 minutes per day of some activity that brings a light sweat or gets you a little out of breath is enough. Feel free to do more than this but don't feel pressured into it by the magazines and the IG starlets who are there putting in time in their 'pain cave'. I mean, who wants to live in a pain cave?


So things you could do here: go for a brisk walk and keep the pace up - of course you could go for a longer walk and have about 30 minutes of it at a higher pace; do some weights (it has to be there somewhere - use other ideas if this doesn't appeal); CV machines like the rower, indoor bike or the stepper are good options, as are their real outdoor versions; swing a kettlebell (but keep good form while you're at it - I'll likely do a video on this one soon); there are various garden and DIY tasks which would tick the box as well.

Talk to Real People

Yup, lockdown means we're not allowed to actually socialise and it seems that the odd trips to the shops mostly entail hiding behind a little bit of anonymising cloth and apologetically turning away from people if you get within 10' of them. Eye contact is a no-no and the hint of saying hello to someone is now one of the worst social blunders going. Luckily for me I have no social skills so I smile at people I pass and I wish them a good day and have a chat if they seem happy to do so.


As for the rest of the time, we're likely to be very isolated in our own homes. Poor mental health has already been shown to have risen massively in the first half of this year and this (in my opinion) is far worse and further reaching than the virus we're hiding from. So it's extremely important to have human contact. Many of us have already added to our skills by using video chat tools like Zoom to be able to carry on working and having meetings as well as to video chat with family and friends. If that's all you can do then I'd encourage you to do it. If you're alone in the house then contact someone to have in your bubble and go see them. If you can't visit then ask them to come to you. If those aren't an option have a look into your local community and see if there are people who can come and help out. Delivery people probably don't have much time to stop and chat but I've found the mail people to be quite chatty and I'm sure you can easily talk to neighbours over the fence.

If you know someone locally whether it's a family member or a neighbour etc who is on their own, make a point of checking in on them. It'll do both of you good and it may well be the best part of their day ... and yours.

In person contact is best but contact of any sort is important. We're not meant for total isolation and it doesn't do us any good to be on our own all the time.

Working From Home Workspace

Offices are fine (I can't stand them but at least they're a space with a comfortable chair and a desk to work at). If you are working from home at a computer then let's see about getting your workspace set up to be healthy.


You'll have seen all sorts of things about having the right sort of support from your chair and the right position for your screen and your keyboard to be at. I'm going to fly in the face of most of that and call "rubbish". I don't really care how 'correct' the position you're in is - being in it for long periods of time is just not good for you. A few years ago the WHO listed prolonged sitting as being as bad for your health as smoking.

Being in a position where you're bent at the waist and the knee acts to weaken the muscles in your back, legs and backside while it shortens the ones in the front of your hips. This leads to all sorts of problems including a greater chance of injury (pulled muscles, cramps etc), less overall stability, poor spinal posture (excessive lordosis and kyphosis - both of these are made worse by the constant reaching forwards to a keyboard or mouse), and less effective digestions (because the organs are pressured in a way they shouldn't be).

So what should you do instead? The answer is sort of similar to the section above where I talk about regular movement. When it comes to your work area you really would benefit from frequent changes in your position.

Try standing instead of sitting (put your laptop on a breakfast bar, raise it on boxes, tilt it towards you if it's a bit high to reach over for the keyboard (I've used one of those IKEA plastic laptop stands on a stack of boxes), get a height adjustable desk (I use one with a manual winding handle from IKEA), use an adjustable stool (my stool doesn't adjust but I can sit on it, turn it round and lean on it, put my feet on a footstool or on the floor, stand next to it etc giving all sorts of different positions), sit at the kitchen table, sit on the couch with the laptop on your lap (who came up with that idea I wonder ;-) ), lie on the floor, kneel on the floor, use one of those kneeling seats that were all the rage years ago, sit on a Swiss ball, the list of options is endless. Just don't stay in any one of these for long. Switch it up. I've even seen people put a little stand over their treadmill and work while walking. It's all good.

If you're on a meeting how about wandering about in the garden? Or further afield? I've attended and hosted many calls where I'm actually out feeding the chickens (sadly no longer with me thanks to a local fox who had more need to feed her growing family than I did), or walking the dog in the hills, or been out on my bike, or been doing some easy rock climbing (I was once interviewed for a software development job while I was part way up a rock climb).

As a general rule of thumb the best position you can be in is the next one.

The Short Version

For anyone who doesn't want to wade through all the above then the quick version is:

  • Get your diet right for you – not what some celeb says it should be but the one that’s actually best for you as an individual
  • Move regularly throughout the day
  • Make sure your movement is the best it can be
  • Do something that gets you out of breath for half an hour or more every day
  • Have contact with real people – in person is best and we’re set up to get a boost from direct physical contact
  • Get your home workspace set up so you can change position frequently