Working from home is great: no commuting time or costs, having the ability to work in your underwear without anybody knowing, having a nice environment to work in, or, at least, having some level of autonomy over that, and, most importantly, being readily available for your family. Remote work is usually deskwork, though, and in that regard, it does come with some unpleasant caveats if you’re not very careful.
Sleep Deprivation
One of the most prominent adverse health effects of remote work is how it can affect your eyes. Human beings evolved to walk across grasslands and see long distances to locate food and watch out for predators, so looking at a computer screen that is only a few inches away for several hours a day runs very counter to what we’re built to do. This can exacerbate genetic predispositions towards myopia (short-sightedness), which would otherwise be mitigated via constant ocular workouts. However, what is more detrimental is the intensity and hue of the light emitted, which generally comes in the form of high-intensity blue light. This can have a very detrimental effect on your circadian rhythm, as it fools the brain into thinking that it is midday, no matter what time of day it actually is, and this, inevitably, will mess with the production of melatonin and by proxy your ability to sleep. This, in turn, can lead to chronic sleep deprivation, which may have a serious impact on all cognitive and autonomic functions, everything from long-term memory to how regularly your heart beats.
Cardiovascular Health
In addition to your cardiovascular system being affected by sleep deprivation, it is also affected by your overall fitness, which may be adversely affected by a lack of exercise. This can be difficult to overcome if at least eight hours a day are spent working behind a desk, not counting time spent eating, washing, or sleeping. At least, when working remotely, one does not need to worry about time spent driving to work, but it does rob you of your ability to cycle to work also.
Mental Health
The other potentially serious aspect of remote work is that it is, by its very nature, very isolating. One of the advantages of non-remote work is that it forces employees to physically interact with each other in a dynamic social environment. By removing oneself from this environment, you effectively cut yourself off socially, leading to a sense of self-imposed ostracization or exile, which can be damaging both to the formulation of social skills necessary to work effectively with others as part of a team and to one’s mental health directly, as hormones like serotonin and oxytocin, a lack of which are overwhelmingly associated with clinical depression, anxiety, and personality disorders, are released during direct social interaction and social bonding. This is also, probably, one of the reasons the people of the world just seem less friendly now, after all the Covid lockdowns. That said, one can always check emails or conduct business calls while out and about, provided one has a decent internet connection, and you can see more by clicking here if you want to know how that can work.
Spinal Conditions
Sitting in an upright position for several hours a day causes compression of the vertebrae, which shortens the length of the spine. This, in turn, may lead to numerous spinal health conditions, such as sciatica, lower back pain, and the chances of having a herniated or slipped disc. Osteoarthrosis, though not directly caused by this, may also be exacerbated by it, if the effects lead to increased inflammation of the joints, and sitting upright for too long may also impede blood flow to key areas of the body, leading to further complications.
