Getting isolated, lacking important social connections, and getting trapped inside a home, not being able to go out, takes a toll on a person's mental and physical well-being. On top of that, losing a routine and not being out in the sun has really put a light on how we have taken care of ourselves over the years.
With pandemic came the Work From Home arrangement which made it easy for people to work virtually without stepping out. The option to work remotely gave us more time to think about our priorities and pursue them fearlessly. That's why we keep seeing people getting popular on social media, either for their content, for their achievements, and even for their businesses.
With Work From Home, there's also been a rise in the number of people taking health and wellness seriously post pandemic. Pre-pandemic, we were somehow always busy taking care of one thing or another. But now, times are different. Wellness is not just a word to express medical fitness but the health industry itself which has evolved to take care of various needs of a person's mind and body.
Taking that into account, the Wellness Industry has reshaped itself and now offers more personalized experiences. The Work From Home condition has really worked as a support for wellness communities that have found a way to merge wellness and working together like this Rest and Digest's website. Let's take a look at a few ways how Work From Home changed wellness forever for us.
Changing Perspective Towards Physical Health
Before the pandemic hit, we had our daily commute to work and then socializing all day. It used to make us exhausted enough to skip working out for sometimes weeks. With Work From Home, it became even more evident why physical fitness is important. With more time and energy in hand, many of us soon realized the importance of fitness and with daily commutes out of the way, no more excuses.
People started investing in home gym equipment and accessories, there are now more virtual fitness sessions, and higher engagement in outdoor activities. Also, the perspective towards home kitchens has also shifted where most people had limited access to fast food and takeouts. And now many people associate their kitchen as a place to cook and eat healthy, exactly how it's meant to be.
But Work From Home is not all great at evolving physical health. It has also led to a sedentary lifestyle with less daily movements and out-of-routine breaks. This can disrupt someone's routine who has limited access to resources at home to keep them physically engaged. Also, with long sitting hours, issues like back pain and neck pain have become more prominent. Since it's a fairly new concept for many companies and places, with access to information and awareness these problems may be eliminated.
Challenges with Mental Health
The major benefit of Work From Home is more control over typical working hours. This can help set the agenda for the day clearly and make a person more productive throughout, while reducing stress. Many found it easy to find balance between professional and personal life, while managing both in the same place. Also, the part where one doesn't have to go through traffic or take the subway to work can do wonders in reducing the overall stress levels.
Work From Home has given a lot of people time to reflect on their mental well being. It also made it much easier for many to take action on it while working from home. On the other side, it also caused isolation and loneliness leading to an increase in mental health problems.
The interactions that occur naturally outdoors like at college, at workplace, or at check-out counters stopped. But with easy access to therapists virtually, many people found it easy to seek therapy. So those dealing with loneliness or blurred boundaries between work and personal life found therapy as a way to cope with the stress and burn out.
Rapid Changes in Lifestyle
With a flexible work environment where one is not confined to an office space, individuals had the opportunity to personalize their workspaces. This led to higher productivity, improved comfort, and more job satisfaction. Also, this allowed people to spend more time with their family and build deeper bonds. Work From Home allowed individuals to add more activities in a single day and especially take care of their health.
While some may argue that virtual meetings and tools cause a barrier in effective communication, and affect workplace productivity and involvement, it also depends on the type of work one does. The jobs that require one to go out on the field when done from inside may hinder one's job satisfaction in the long run.
Long Term Implications of Work From Home
For many organizations, Work From Home has taken the shape of hybrid models where the employees are offered flexibility to work from home a few days a week. This keeps the wellness of individuals in mind and how WFH can help one find balance.
Also, more and more companies are investing in wellness programs that are aimed to improve mental or physical health. Some of the initiatives include mental health resources and programs for employees, virtual fitness classes, and consultations to employees in distress.
There's also been a higher awareness around mental health post-pandemic. This has led to a greater emphasis on providing as much support as possible to the employees to keep their mental well-being in check. Workplaces are now more like a place for collaboration than just a destination to everyday commute. This opens the door to giving more time to health and wellness.
Key Takeaways from Work From Home
Work From Home has truly changed the way we looked at health and wellness pre-pandemic. While it made sense having a schedule that involved every day commute, socializing, working among peers, and going for a movie after office, WFH changed the way we perceive things now.
But with a very thin line left between work and personal life, there were some challenges like poor diet, lack of exercise, mental burnout, and isolation. With time, as WFH has become more acceptable, more and more people are getting aware about some of the basics of taking care of health like eating healthy, staying active, meaningful communication/conversations, taking mental breaks, and balancing the work life and personal life better.
Many workplaces are also being reimagined to support WFH and hybrid work models. Designing them more for the purpose of collaboration than a workstation for an individual. This shift of Work from Home has permanently changed the landscape of wellness. Bringing beneficial changes like more flexibility to help tackle poor well-being. While there are some existing challenges that need to be eradicated if we want to evolve WFH further that benefits both the employees and the organizations. The lessons that we learn during this period can help in shaping the roadmap for the development of better WFH tools and strategies that change the way we approach wellness. With a more holistic and adaptable approach towards health in the workplace, we can predict that wellness will play a major role in supporting the Work From Home model.