As work-from-home becomes more popular, its benefits are clearer and more tangible. Besides saving time and money because there is no necessity to commute, employees who work from home are reporting how remote work enables them to adopt healthier lifestyles.  

When you work from home, you have a certain leeway that you don’t have when you work on-site. That leeway can make a lot of difference for your health – provided you make it work for you. 

Even hybrid work, where work days are divided between working in the office and at home, can have positive impacts on your overall health. 

How does working from home promote your health and boost your well-being? 

• You can maintain a healthier diet through home cooking. 

Food options in the office are limited. You either eat out or bring food from home. Additives for flavor and color are likely added to the food sold outside – and they bring their own set of health issues on top of being expensive. And, if there is no microwave in your office, you have to eat the food you brought from your home cold.   

Working from home grants you the ability to prepare your meals at any time of the day in your kitchen, using the choicest of ingredients. In his book, Cooked, author Michael Pollan famously called home cooking the “single most important thing we could do as a family to improve our health and general well-being”.  

You can also prepare vegetables, fruits, meat, and spices earlier; cut, chop, grind, and marinate and store them in the refrigerator ahead of time. When it’s time to eat, whip up a salad dressing or a stew and have it fresh and piping hot. You also get more time to plan meals and try new recipes. 

You no longer have to eat those sweet treats your co-worker shares at the office or risk sounding like a hypochondriac or disrespectful when you refuse lest you are careful about your calorie intake. 

Most importantly, you have full control of what you eat and are freer to make healthier and fresher food choices when you work from home. 

 Affirming this, a CoSo Cloud study revealed that 42% of all remote workers eat healthier than they did in an office-based environment. 

• You get sufficient sleep and rest 

“Homo sapiens is the only species that voluntarily deprives itself of sleep.”   

Few are lucky to have their bed or couch where they work – work-from-home provides that luxury.  

Working from home saves you an hour or two that you otherwise spend on getting ready and commuting to the office. You can take this extra time to get more and better sleep, be in touch with your circadian rhythms, have more energy, and reduce the dark circles under your eyes.  

Japanese sleep-at-work culture, called “inemuri” which translates to, “to be asleep while present” has proven to increase employee alertness and productivity. This Japanese sleep-valuing concept at work has awed many employers on a global scale. However, the implementation of sleeping in the office is not practiced in most parts of the world. 

That’s why work-from-home becomes a different ballgame altogether. You can take power naps in the afternoon or any time of the day when you work from home.  

Genashtim Pte Ltd is a 100% remote company employing people with disabilities (PWDs) who work from home. The company’s Total Flexibility Initiative policy was implemented in February 2022, allowing employees to achieve work-life balance. This move encourages Genashtim’s employees to take as many breaks as they need.  

Genashtim’s remote work policy helps its employees with disabilities and medical conditions manage their health better through frequent and intermittent breaks. It’s only when an employee is well rested can they be at their peak level of productivity.  

The aforementioned CoSo Cloud study also found that 45% of the remote worker respondents disclosed that they are getting better sleep since working from home. 
 

• Your stress hormone levels drop. 

While cortisol or the stress hormone is necessary at a certain level to push you to do things, too much of it causes unhealthy stress. 

Working at home means you no longer wait for unreliable public transportation, you won’t be stuck in a traffic jam for hours, and you don’t need to rush to attend meetings. Your supervisor, manager, or boss isn’t hovering around, breathing down your neck so you feel freer and less intimidated. These factors that impact your workday negatively are minimized and the stress and anxiety that accompanies them are reduced. 

With your immune system getting a boost from eating and sleeping better, stressors affect you less, enabling you to feel lighter, more energetic, and more productive. 

• You don’t fall sick often. 

Work-from-home was phased in on a global scale so that the COVID-19 virus doesn’t infect and spread among the human population. 

The continuity of work-from-home has the same effect of not exposing you to contagions in the environment. Moreover, you eat healthier, sleep better, and are less stressed. This builds a stronger immune system, so you are less susceptible to viral infections, have mild symptoms, and recover from a bout of flu faster. 

You don’t go to the office when you catch a cold although you feel capable enough to work because you risk infecting your co-workers. Work-from-home allows you to work even when you’re sick. This allows your work to continue and avoids work from piling up when you call in sick, requiring you to do it all at once after you are feeling well enough and get back to work. Working when you’re under the weather is also considered a hallmark of strong ethics. 

You can also easily quarantine yourself when you work from home when you’re sick yet log in to work. You can clean the door handles, your bathrooms, kitchen utensils, the floor, spigots, and fridge handle with disinfectants and separate your toiletries, towels, and other things you use from other home occupants. This is impossible in the office, which necessitates taking sick leave. 

However, it’s strongly advised that you don’t force yourself to work when you are advised to rest to flush out a virus from your system. If you work when your body is in dire need of rest, not only does your work performance take a beating, but your condition can also get worse and lead to more serious issues. 

• You become physically fitter. 

Working from home saves you a lot of time and combined with the flexibility of your work-from-home schedule, you can plan and practice a more extensive and comprehensive workout regime.  

Being at home all day does make you want to move your body. Go for a run in the morning before work. Do some yoga during your lunch break. Hit the gym with your gym buddies in the evening. 

Short bursts of energetic movements as you work from home are also a good way to keep fit. You can watch targeted exercise videos on YouTube and follow the instructor’s movements. Or you can do the following activities requiring physical exertion that give you multiple rewards:  

• Cultivate a vegetable, fruit, flower, or ornamental plants garden. 
• Play with your pet. 
• Record your dance routines and post the videos on social media.  
• Clean up your storeroom.  
• Do DIY projects such as building a rack or bench. 

Conclusion 

You get more time to spare, enjoy decreased stress levels, and experience increased immunity to illnesses when you work remotely. 

It’s wise to use these benefits of remote work to fit or change your lifestyle, boost your health, and strike an optimum work-life balance.