The rise of working from home has brought many benefits for employees’ mental health and wellbeing. But for some, remote working can lead to spikes in anxiety and depression.
As a psychotherapist, I often see people who are struggling with feelings of isolation and workplace stress. These feelings can be deepened by working from home, without the structure and social buzz of the workplace.
If you work from home, it’s so important to be proactive about your mental health.
Keep reading to find out more about the advantages and disadvantages of remote working for your mental health, and my top wellness tips for working from home.
Subscribe to stay updated with the latest blog posts from Leone Centre.
On This Page
- What Are the Advantages of Working From Home?
- Is Working From Home Bad for Mental Health?
- How to Stay Healthy while Working from Home
- Mental Health Tips for Working from Home
- 1. Stick to Your Routine
- 2. Keep a Separate Workspace
- 3. Set Firm Time Boundaries
- 4. Get Moving and Go Outside
- 5. Make Time for Relationships
What Are the Advantages of Working From Home?
Working from home isn’t without its perks — for some, it’s a real boost to mental health and wellbeing.
Those who have parenting or caring responsibilities, in particular, might find that working from home is easier to fit around their lives.
Many disabled people and neurodivergent people can also benefit from the accessibility and flexibility of working in their own home.
Working from home can have advantages like:
- Cutting down on commuting time: Around 30% of people spend roughly 15-29 minutes commuting each way to their workplace. This means that working from home could save them an hour each day. That extra hour per day can translate into more time for taking care of your wellbeing — not to mention, avoiding road rage and the stresses of public transport.
- Creating the ideal environment: When you work from home, you may be able to have more control over the environment you work in. This can be great for mental health. For example, you might benefit from working with relaxing music playing, using your own specialist equipment, or even having the comfort of your pet nearby.
- Getting more work done: Having the quiet space to focus can help some people to manage their workload more effectively. One study found that roughly half of employees actually feel more productive when they work from home.
- Having more flexibility: The flexibility of working from home can be invaluable when juggling external responsibilities such as picking the kids up from school, attending a doctor’s appointment, or even scheduling your weekly therapy session. Remote working can make it easier to fit work around your needs, and the everyday demands of life.
Is Working From Home Bad for Mental Health?
While working from home can have its benefits, there’s no doubt that it can also have a negative impact on mental health and wellbeing.
In fact, one 2020 study from Nuffield Health found that as many as 80% of Brits felt that remote working was detrimental to their mental health.
The same study showed that:
- 36% of people felt unable to step away from their workstation to take a break.
- A quarter reported feeling lonely and isolated from their colleagues.
- More than a third also said that working from home was having a negative impact on their relationships with their partners and/or families.
Another study, carried out in 2021 among millennial and Gen Z office workers, found that over two-thirds reported that working from home during the Covid-19 pandemic had made it harder for them to make and maintain friendships with colleagues.
Remote working has also been linked to rises in depression and anxiety, and in higher levels of burnout and emotional exhaustion.
How to Stay Healthy while Working from Home
The key word when it comes to mental health and working from home is “boundaries”.
It can be so easy, when our working life is intertwined with our home life, to lose sight of work-life balance.
I most commonly see stress and anxiety issues arising from remote working situations when people are struggling to keep these two parts of their life separate. It might begin as an email answered in the evening, or a morning of working from bed. But this can be a slippery slope, leading to an infusion of work stress in your downtime.
When it comes to managing your time, your workload, and your relationships, it’s all about setting boundaries and holding them firmly.
Mental Health Tips for Working from Home
These five remote working tips can support you in reaping the benefits of working from home without sacrificing your mental wellbeing:
1. Stick to Your Routine
Not going into the office each day can take away our sense of structure. While this might be freeing for some, it’s widely known that routines have a positive effect on our emotional health.
Give yourself a sense of routine by trying to wake up and start work at the same time each day. Make sure you’re eating at mealtimes, and getting a good amount of sleep each night.
It might sound basic, but these simple building blocks of life have a big impact on how we feel.
2. Keep a Separate Workspace
If you can, it can be really helpful to create a dedicated workspace that’s far away from your bed and other places where you relax. This helps maintain that feeling of work-life separation.
For some, it can even be beneficial to leave the house for a few minutes at the start and end of work, perhaps walking around the block as a “fake commute”.
This gives an even clearer feeling of separation between work time and downtime.
3. Set Firm Time Boundaries
As many as 41% of people have admitted to working through their lunch breaks when they’re working from home.
This is just one way that working from home can lead to your work seeping into your personal time.
Breaks are important for wellbeing. So is making sure that you finish working at the end of the day. Consider even having separate business devices, so you’re not tempted to just “quickly reply to an email” during your time off.
4. Get Moving and Go Outside
Our mental health and physical health are very closely intertwined. When you work from home, you may be less inclined to leave the house, and you probably spend a lot more time sitting and looking at screens.
Government guidelines say that adults should aim for around 150 minutes of moderate exercise per week. The benefits aren’t just physical: moving your body can do wonders for your wellbeing.
When you’re taking your all-important lunch break, perhaps try going for a walk or a jog.
It’s even better if you can do it outside, as time spent in nature has been shown to be immensely valuable for our mental health.
5. Make Time for Relationships
Working online can leave us feeling isolated from our colleagues and peers, while also having a negative impact on relationships at home.
It’s vital to carve out intentional time to form and strengthen our relationships.
This might mean making sure that you schedule in phone or video call catch-ups with people who you would normally see in the office, to build your camaraderie.
It could also mean making dedicated time to nurture your relationships with your partner and children, and make sure that work isn’t taking up too much emotional space in your home.
Making time for couples therapy or family therapy can also be a vital way to repair bonds with the people you love.
If you’re struggling with the mental health impact or relational stress of working from home, this is something that one of Leone Centre’s experienced therapists can support you with. You can book an appointment with our individual, couples, or family therapists in London or online.
- About the Author
- Latest Posts
Co-founder and director of Leone Centre, 20+ years of experience supporting people, and offering valuable knowledge through Couples Counselling and Individual Counselling. Before becoming a therapist, I worked in the financial sector.