How does teleworking affect rest?

A few years ago perhaps it was necessary to explain what teleworking consisted of. In these times, this is dispensable, since the vast majority (at some point in their lives or during the pandemic) have had to adopt this way of working from home.

Although very convenient for some and boring for others, the truth is that teleworking is like anything else, and has its great advantages and also many drawbacks , especially where it concerns us: rest .

Advantages of teleworking

We don't like to be spoilsports, and we have to look at the positive side of things: teleworking can be a wonderful opportunity for many people (myself included).

Whether what you do is work or study from home, we have all experienced the advantage of being able to wake up a little later and save transportation time, which can be used for other things. things, like housework, homework, and in most cases, sleep.

You can also achieve a higher degree of family conciliation if you distribute your time well and are able to combine your personal and work life well.

Dangers of remote work

But it's not all good things. Remote work can bring disadvantages to physical and mental health in our daily lives.

The main annoyances that people have complained about are:

1. Muscle, back and neck pain due to poor posture and long hours sitting.
2. Headaches and eyestrain due to the constant lights of the screens.
3. Stress and deterioration of mental health, due to not leaving home often and the fear that their work is not valued due to lack of supervision.
4. Loneliness and lack of interaction and contact with other people.
5. And digestive discomfort due to lack of physical activity.

All of this, although it does not directly affect rest, is closely linked to it, since a bad physical or mental state is very harmful when going to sleep, because they interrupt it and make it difficult.

Something that does directly affect whether you sleep better or worse are the boundaries between work life and life at home. It is crucial to establish where work hours begin and where they end to make way for free time. Just as it is extremely necessary to delimit the place where you are going to work and the place where you are going to sleep.

How to remedy this situation

Regarding the aforementioned, the brain is an organ of habits: if you get used to working from the sofa or bed and at any time of the day, you will not be very clear about where you should sleep and at what time you will stop working. function. It is very important that, even if there is little space in the home, a corner is designated exclusively for working and the places where you rest are left quiet. So, when your brain lies in bed, it will know that it is time to disconnect, and when it sits at the desk, it will know that it needs to get going.

You should also create schedules that clearly show the hours you will and will not work. You should try not to look at email and other media you work with outside of work hours (yes, workaholics, I know, it's difficult).

As for body pain, the ideal would be to invest in quality furniture , such as ergonomic chairs adaptable to each type of person, good mattresses or even adjustable desks so you can work standing up from time to time. It is also essential to take breaks and walk around the house a little , and if possible, go out at the end of the day to get some fresh air . Implementing a stretching routine in the morning and before bed, as well as during some breaks, can also be beneficial.

For eyesight, if you use glasses, it would not hurt to use glasses with a blue filter to reduce the effect of lights and screens. We also recommend an application that regulates the light on computers, such as the F.lux computer extension (it makes it more yellowish as the outside light goes off), although many devices already implement this option.

Work, but also rest.