Is working from home affecting your mental health? – words Alexa Wang
Working from home is becoming more and more popular as people seek a greater flexibility than is usually possible in more traditional employment. Some people, leave a career to launch their own business or to try and make money as a freelancer.
Others, find remote working opportunities as an employee. Either way, there’s no denying that home working has its benefits, and at first thought, it can seem like the perfect way to work. Before we start working from home, we might picture ourselves slouching on the sofa, laptop on our legs, Netflix on in the background and an endless stream of coffee and biscuits at our side.
The reality is often entirely different. Some people, love working from home. They relish the opportunity that it brings and enjoy being able to work around their life. Others, find it much harder than they thought it would be. Some of these people even find that working from home has an adverse effect on their mental health. Here are some of the things that you should ask yourself if you are worried that working from home might be causing depression and other mental health issues.
Do You Enjoy Your Days?
Some people that work from home know how to connect AirPods to MacBook, they put some music on, they love being in their office, and they have fun while they work. Others, don’t. Their work makes them feel stressed out, they struggle to focus, music doesn’t help, and they can dread the working day. The very first question that you need to ask yourself is, are you happy?
Do You See Other People?
One of the main problems with working from home is isolation. If you’ve got a family and kids, you probably see them more than you would if you worked outside of the house, but do you see other people? Do you still make time to see your friends and family? Do you occasionally work somewhere else?
Or, do you have days when you speak to no one? Some people enjoy this, but for others, especially those that are used to working around people, it can quickly get lonely and upsetting.
Do You Take Time Off?
Too many home workers, freelancers and self-employed people fail to take time off. They work every day, and they haven’t had a holiday for years. You might think that this is essential, you might even believe that you are happy working like this, but over time failing to take time off is almost certain to lead to burnout. When was the last time that you had a proper day off, where you didn’t check work emails or make calls?
Do You Struggle to Sleep?
One of the first ways that you might notice home working having a negative effect on your life is with your sleep patterns. If you are struggling to fall asleep, or you find that you are waking in the night worrying about your work, all might not be quite right, and it might be time to make some changes to your work-life balance. Luckily there are many avenues to get help. If you’re struggling with your mental health a therapist from thrivetalk.com can help.
