Working from home was the pandemic gift we didn’t know we needed, but how do the notoriously freezing Maltese homes hold up in the gloomier season?
For most of us, the ability to work from home is one of the very few silver linings left behind by the COVID pandemic. We roll out of bed, bypass the 45-minute, traffic-jammed commute, and avoid having to chat to the annoying co-worker who always seems to have so much time to waste. What’s not to love?
But even the best situations come with the occasional disadvantage. Working from home in winter can be one of them, unless you’re very well set up. While it’s almost laughable to call the Maltese winter a winter – I mean, we did have a January that saw median temperatures more closely associated with a day at the beach – the rising humidity levels and our badly insulated homes don’t make a very good combo. While outside, the climate may be temperate, many will be working from a freezing room.
Add the rising costs of energy and heating, besides the environmental considerations that make keeping the AC on all day not the best of ideas, and you can be facing a very dreary home office scenario. Nevertheless, some small measures can go a long way towards mitigating this.
- Consume hot foods
My typical lunch-time snack during the warmer months tends to be cereal with a bowl of cold oat milk. Yeah, I know that’s technically a breakfast, but whatever. I’m an adult, so I can make all the unwise choices that I like. If I try pulling this stunt off in February, though, I’d probably give my system a shock. So I switch to porridge. Again, very aware it’s a breakfast – again, don’t really care.
The point, here, is not to convince you that my weird food choices make sense, but to remind you that a small switch in eating habits can spell the difference between continuous shivering and a comfy core temperature.
If you’re used to salads, switch to soups. If you prefer smoothies, check out the warm recipes, there’s plenty available online. If you’re looking for the science behind this – don’t. In reality, the digestion process of eating any kind of food means that your body temperature will actually drop a few degrees as you’re kind of burning energy. However, you’re going to get that anyway whatever you decide to have for lunch, so may as well enjoy the instant heat flush gifted by even a mug of instant soup.
2. Hot showers
Come summertime, I practically live in the shower. Since I started working from home, it’s not unheard of for me to jump in for a quick shower every two hours for a quick refresh. It works, I promise.
Wintertime, on the other hand, turns me into a slob. Showering becomes a big production that I have to mentally prepare myself for because the prospect of removing my clothes and risking my bare feet touching the freezing tiles is a big hell, no. Or at least, it used to be. Ever since I discovered that a quick blast of quasi-boiling water will keep me warm for at least two hours, this has all changed and as soon as I realise that no amount of heating or clothing is doing the job, I jump under the shower, which pretty much resets my entire body temperature. For a heat trifecta, I follow up a hot water bottle and a cuppa.
3. Wear appropriate clothing
It might sound obvious, but you’d be surprised at how many of us ignore the obvious. For example, I’m a fan of the minimalist look and don’t like carpets or rugs at home. Which is apparently one of the biggest reasons I could never get warm. Rugs are what stops the cold from the tiles from reaching your toes, and since I got myself a cute plush rug my comfort levels have soared. Add thick socks and actual shoes, rather than flimsy slip-on bedroom slippers (come on, we’ve all been guilty of working in slippers) and that should be your toes sorted at the very least.
Which leaves us with everything else. At the risk of sounding like General Obvious once again, make sure your clothes are warm enough. Layers are usually the way to go, because you can add and remove as needed. Hoodies, for example, do an excellent job of trapping heat – but if you’re worried about looking unprofessional, remove it while taking meetings and put it back on pronto.
Always remember you’re on your own turf and there’s no one around to judge. This year, so far, climate change seems to have eliminated those extreme cold weather days, but when (if) they hit again, I’ll be ready with a blanket for my lap and my trusty hot water bottle. You’ll be a lot more productive if you’re not shivering at your desk, trust me.
4. Set up your workstation in a warmer room
Again, you’re on your own turf, so there’s no rule that says you need to keep on working in that sunny spot by the window when there’s no sun. The biggest advantage nowadays is that most of us work off laptops, which makes our workstation as mobile as we wish. Even if your job requires you to use a desktop, it’s worth considering alternative arrangements if your summer spot no longer makes sense. Consider this: you’ll be spending at least eight hours in discomfort every day for a few months, so it’s certainly worth the hassle of moving everything to a different spot.
What qualifies as an unwise winter spot? Anywhere there’s a draft, big rooms, rooms without a door… these all do a very bad job of trapping heat. Don’t forget that curtains and blinds also work well as insulation, so use them. I’ve even resorted to blocking the space under a door with unused rugs in the past.
5. Let the sunshine in
Do open those windows when the weather’s good. Now, this might seem like a contradiction to my above point, but bear with me. In Malta, we tend to suffer cold in our houses not because we have extreme outdoor temperatures, but because the humidity level is very high. This means that it’s perfectly possible to type away with icy fingers for an entire morning and then go out for five minutes outdoors and start baking.
Reality is that our climate is somewhat messed up and our homes aren’t built for insulation. When you add these two things together, you get a lot of damp and humidity, and some very uncomfortable working conditions. On a nice sunny day, make sure you air out your home for at least an hour, to allow the dampness to dry out and to warm up the room naturally. The science is behind me on this one: mould specialist Dr Jill Crista explains in her book Break the Mold how letting UV light in is the best way to deal with problems caused by a humid home.
Do open those windows when the weather’s good. Now, this might seem like a contradiction to my above point, but bear with me. In Malta, we tend to suffer cold in our houses not because we have extreme outdoor temperatures, but because the humidity level is very high. This means that it’s perfectly possible to type away with icy fingers for an entire morning and then go out for five minutes outdoors and start baking.
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