Working from home can bring big health benefits, study finds

&gt; “In the old days of office working, people realised that if you put everyone in the same room with no sound-proofing, it was all unpleasant and you didn’t have a very productive workforce,” he said.<p>Did they? The trend I&#x27;ve seen my entire career has been finding new ways to pack more people into less space, damn the drawbacks. To the point that a common theme on here is lamenting the death of cubicles.

In 5-10 years I predict there while be tons of mental health articles about how WFH is killing us. Less social life. Less relationships. Less friends. I&#x27;d prefer my 8 hours at work to be fun. It&#x27;s not when I&#x27;m at home alone. I get that some people hate their co-workers. I&#x27;ve been lucky I guess.

I lost 10lb in 2020 while WFH. Didn’t put any real effort. I just ate a lot more home cooked meals. Didn’t even exercise. Walked very little, drove everywhere.<p>Then I went back full time to the office in late 2021 and gained all of it back. Only difference is I started eating office food again - office food that is specifically supposed to be “healthy”. I even walked and biked a lot more thanks to the commute.

My health benefit is that I walk 3 miles in the morning and 3 miles in the evening. That is time I would commute. You cannot beat that.<p>And since I keep no snacks at home I don&#x27;t snack!

&gt;<i>One of the studies reviewed found that 46.9% of employees working from home had gained weight, and another put the figure at 41%. Most of the papers reviewed showed that homeworkers were more sedentary.</i><p>This is an important caveat.<p>And the decrease in blood pressure is apparently just referring to blood pressure taken at a company office vs. blood pressure taken at home.

It&#x27;s probably a little easier on the environment too.

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if i could go to the office and leave as and when i wanted i would probably go more often. even just for an hour or two.<p>but the issue is not having a choice. presenteeism is the greater evil.

Commuting to and from the office five days a week is a hell that I never want to go back to. WFH has transformed my life. Being more productive is a nice bonus, though it’s the personal life benefits I care most about. Work is already so dehumanizing, can we just have this one thing in our favor for once. Four day work week next would be lovely.

Return to (hybrid) office working is in full swing in London now. The trains are packed again, long queues for lunch. Fully remote roles are becoming rare

Why should we be allowed to work from home yet those who work in retail, cafes et cetera don&#x27;t get the same benefit?<p>You can&#x27;t argue our jobs are more important when theirs are just the same, if not more.<p>As with out them you wouldn&#x27;t have your conveniences, food.. We are a very entitled bunch.