Apparently there’s some dis-information floating around the web asserting that working from home is bad for your health, and that returning to the office is much healthier. It’s likely that bosses and others concerned more with money than with your health are spinning the observations of this study to suit their own agenda. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7934324/
This is, of course, bullshit. And it’s the kind of nonsense that is expected of big companies who have a vested interest in maintaining the hierarchy of their organizational chart (gotta keep those micro, I mean middle managers busy), or by people who definitely do not want to be paying rent on empty office buildings. Either way, the bullshit is real.
So, let’s look at some of the ways that it’s being said that working from home is less healthy.
Reduced Physical Activity
One of the more ludicrous claims is that if you’re working from home, you won’t be prompted to get out of the house as much, and that your overall activity level will decrease.
And, this may be true. But the fix is pretty simple. Find things you enjoy doing outside of your home, and go do them. Problem solved, no need for spending an hour or more commuting to do so.
Bad for your skin and bones.
Another bullshit claim is that with less time getting outdoors (see the above bullshit), you won’t be exposed to the sun and get that sweet, sweet vitamin D fix you need. On top of that, your skin won’t have that healthy glow that comes with getting outdoors. For shame!
And again, the fix here is pretty easy. Literally just go for a five or 10 minute walk outdoors here and there throughout the day. Generally speaking, you don’t need more than 10 minutes on a sunny day to get the benefits of vitamin D synthesis.
Work Life Balance.
The people that want you to return to the office are also claiming that working from home makes it difficult to put bookends on your workday. They contend that without a punch in - punch out time, you’ll run the risk of working constantly, and that’s not good for your health.
Of course, that’s bullshit as well. Many companies have employees take work home with them anyway. So, there’s no difference there. In reality, many people have found that they are more productive at home, which leads to getting work done sooner.
And if there truly is a problem with work expanding to fill non-work hours, then training an employee on how to manage that should be a simple thing to do during the onboarding process. Create a culture where efficiency is valued, and time is valued, and provide tools to align with those values, and everything is fine. Creating an overall culture that normalizes working from home will lead to things like distractions being a non-issue, as those problems are easily solved.
Again, walks fix most of this. Take a quick walk before starting work. Schedule a walk during a scheduled lunch break. And schedule a walk to terminate the work day and ease into non-working time.
Notice that ALL of these potential issues are fixed with just walking? Walking is the single most important exercise anyone can be doing regardless of fitness level. And if you’re not commuting, you have a LOT of time available each day to walk and get all of those health benefits.
So, don’t let anyone convince you that spending your mornings and evenings sitting in a car, bus, or train for hours each week so that you can hang out in a dimly lit cube farm for hours each week is better for your health. It clearly isn’t.
Better yet, spend some of that time you’re saving to learn kung fu, and then you can just dragon kick your boss in the ball sack if he brings it up again.
Originally posted here: https://hive.blog/fitness/@starbork/working-from-home-bad-for-your-health-dont-believe-it
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