Working from home has increased in popularity in the last three years due to the need to find a way to be able to do this due to the Global health crisis we lived through. For many people, this was a significant improvement in their life because the act of getting to work was quite stressful, especially for those with young children and those that had a significant commute.
However, there are some downsides to working from home on people’s health that are not often spoken about. This is not to say that working from home is not a good idea, but it is important that we acknowledge these downsides and realize that this change, though it does have some positive side effects, also has some negative side effects. Because of these negative side effects, it is important that we are aware of them, that we talk about them, and that we find a way to mitigate them.
We Are Walking Fewer Steps
In many cases, the change in the working environment from the office to home has meant that many of us are walking a lot fewer steps each day. Even if the number of steps has reduced by a small number such as 500 to 1000 steps – when you consider the impact of this over a year or five years, it adds up to a significant amount.
The steps that we lose our those from our house into our car, and then from the place where we park into our office building.
Other steps we miss out on are potential lunchtime walks that we may have gone on with colleagues and other strolls to get coffee or food when we were in an office.
This can be mitigated by making a conscious effort to do a certain amount of steps each day at home. It would be worth setting a target amount of steps, for example, 10,000 steps, and then using a pedometer or a smartwatch to track how many steps you do and ensure that you get 10,000 steps each day before you go to sleep each night.
Sitting Down For Longer
Many of us have saved a considerable amount of time that was being lost in the commute to and from work, and many of us have used that time to do more work. When your workstation is in your home office, which is typically inside your house, it is a lot easier to do your typical morning routine and then go straight to work.
Even though this has been great for productivity in many cases it has had some negative side effects in that people are spending more hours working, which means they are spending more hours sitting in an office chair which may not be very supportive.
This increased amount of time in a stationary position in a chair can be detrimental to your health and your posture if it is left unaddressed.
The impact of this extra time sitting in an unsupportive chair can be reversed by doing some extra physical activity. Visiting a chiropractor like Josh Howe from Northville Chiropractic is another great way to ensure your posture and your spine stay properly aligned regardless of the amount of time you are spending in an office chair.
Losing Our Wind Down Time
Psychologically, the human brain needs to have some downtime in which to process the events of the day and contemplate interactions that we had and make plans for the future.
For many individuals, a lot of this downtime was achieved during their commute to and from work.
Whether they were driving in their car or sitting on a bus or a train or even riding a bike – doing these monotonous activities gives your brain a chance to meditate and contemplate things that it needs to process.
However, when you take this time away and instead spend more time at home with your family and more time working, you take away this opportunity for your brain to do the processing that it needs to do.
This can have a cumulative negative effect on your mental health so you must keep this in mind and ensure you undertake some form of care and maintenance of your mental health given this change in routine.
Missing Social Connection
The final thing that many people miss when they start working from home, which negatively impacts their well-being, is the social connection that a workplace can offer. For many people, their workplace is also a source of social contact, so when deprived of that opportunity, it can lead to feelings of loneliness and disconnection.
Final Thoughts
Even though working from home has had a very positive impact on many people’s lives, for some people working from home is not as positive. It can lead to a range of adverse physical and mental health issues but these issues can be addressed if noticed and the appropriate interventions are undertaken.
