Can Working From Home Affect Your Health?

Have you ever considered working from home? It sounds pretty good, doesn’t it? Ditching that horrendous 6 am alarm, saying goodbye to the dreaded commute, and having the comfort of your own sofa home office in the process. I mean, who doesn’t want to be able to earn money whilst wearing sweatpants? Sounds dreamy.

Having considered working from home for a considerable amount of time, I decided to do a little research, which led me to this post you’re reading right now. Apparently, working from home isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, and previous studies have shown that it can actually have a detrimental effect on your health. I haven’t been this disappointed since The OC got cancelled.

To work from home or to not work from home? Let’s weight it up.

Working From Home: The Positives

• You can switch off that 6 am alarm, the one that leaves a sick feeling in your stomach every day of the week.
• You can take a long, peaceful breakfast. You know what, you can even use this extra time to become a health god or goddess and whip up banana pancakes instead of cereal.
• You get to save money! If you’re a freelancer or run your own business, then you can save a ton of money on renting office space. It’s expensive, a UK property agent recently reported that one office space in London recently sold for £185 per square foot — Yes. Per square foot. Ouch.
• You’re in a comfy home environment. No more sitting at a desk for hours on end, no more pins and needles or stiff legs. You are free!
• You can ignore co-workers requests. Kidding, well maybe. If you work in an office amongst other workers, then working from home can mean less of other peoples’ work passed down to you. Win.
• You can choose your own hours. Want to skive off the afternoon to meet your pal for lunch? No problem, you can just make up the hours in the evening, whilst watching Netflix. Prison Break re-runs are great for “background noise.”
• Possibly the best thing ever is saying goodbye to that dreaded morning commute. So long, fellow commuters! No more cramped train carriages, no more waiting for buses, no more sitting in traffic. Your new commute is from bedroom to lounge — perfect.

Working From Home: The Negatives

• So you know how I said it’s great that you don’t get co-workers dumping their work on you? Well, what about that work that you want to delegate to someone else? Damn.
• You lose out on second opinions. You might be able to get your partner or roommate’s view on things, but ultimately it can be positive to have likeminded individuals around you all working towards the same goal.
• You might start to confuse your work and personal life. It’s a fine line, and working from home can start to cross it. When do you call it a day? Do you put more hours in because you’re at home? Do you take a lunch break? So many questions.
• It can be quite isolating. Spending a lot of time on your own can be unhealthy for your mind. As humans, it’s important that we spend time interacting with other humans (as tempting as it is to not).
• There’s a chance that your productivity might slump. Apparently, working in sweats does not a productive day make. Shocking, right?
• So you’re saving money on petrol or transport tickets, which is great. But, you might want to think about how your bills may be affected with you being at home all day, every day.
• If you work for an organization, then you might start to be left out of decision making. If you’re not present, then you could be easily forgotten. So, make sure you keep in touch regularly to avoid this.

There’s a lot to think about — an overwhelming amount, in fact. Of course, all of these points are subjective and much of what counts is dependent on your unique situation. I would recommend finding a balance. That might be working from the office for two days a week to keep in regular contact with colleagues, and working from home for the rest of the week. Alternatively, if you work alone or run your own small company, then why not grab your laptop and take it down to Starbucks? You might not necessarily be striking up conversations, but at least you’ll be around other people, plus the change of scenery might be just what you need!

Featured photo credit: Stockpic via stokpic.com

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