If you remember my last article about  How to create boundaries between private and professional life while working from home, then you also remember I promised to go get into details about psychological effects of home office.

Yes, we are all experiencing this, in one way or another. But are we aware what is happening with us on a psychological level?

Let me recap this:

In order to give you some solid-based information, I Interviewed a psychologist:

Chiorean Liviu Octavian – Clinical Psychologist and Psychotherapist, Sports Psychologist member of The European Network of Young Specialists in Sport Psychology

How does this sudden switch to home office affects us?

These changes are remodeling our lifestyle. Here is where all the problems are born. Human beings are built to use as less energy as possible which makes us follow some patterns in order to make things easier. Habit is the second nature of human beings.

What is happening with us when we switch to home office? In fact, we are changing our style of living which is pretty much based on the habits we are talking about. Every change comes with adaptation stress. So, if we consider the current situation with the pandemic, how many factors of stress can you identify? Let me tell you:

• Uncertainty about your job and financial situation – unemployment risk, bankruptcy, not being able to pay your credits;
• Uncertainty about the pandemic – the risk of getting infected or infect the others;
• Uncertainty about society and family – What will happen with the society? What will happen with the virus? Will I lose my job? How long it will last? Whom will die? My family, neighbors, friends?

Yes, this is harsh but we all thought about this didn’t we? Well, besides the adaptation stress, you should add the life-threatening stress. Maybe now you can better understand your anxiety.

The key to reducing stress when you face situations that cannot be avoided depend on how you interpret the situation. When working from home you can interpret the situation like you are isolated and you are limited or that you are in a safe place and you feel good.

Adapting to the situations we deal with depends on our personality structure but also on our inner attitude towards the context of life. Anxious people will become more anxious if they are not in contact with people that can offer them safety, while extroverts will feel limited without compensatory activities.

Other effects are excesses – If you would still work from your office, you would NOT: have access to your fridge, lay down whenever you want, oversleep, overuse your phone (social media, gaming) and so on. This is how working from home underlines the re-definition of our routines. If we won’t do that, we have the tendency to abuse the new environment, we compensate with these excesses. Sleep more – sleep less or eat more – eat less (is there anyone who eats less though?).

Humans have several Egos (or roles). Some of our diverse roles are “the employee of a company” or “my own employee”. Working from home brings us a confusion of egos. You can easily switch from “the employee” to “the mother/father”. Which obviously makes things harder and here is where boundaries can help us. If you are interested in how to create these boundaries, make sure you read the article I mentioned at the beginning.

The good part is you get some extra time. Now you don’t have to spend 2 hours stuck in traffic to reach your office and then get back home. So, what are you going to do with this extra time?

What are some of the most important aspects when you work from home?

Exercising. Breathing. Eating.

Because there is a tendency for the spine to sit in unnatural postures which in time can cause damage, some exercises are highly recommended. You don’t need to create a workout routine, don’t get scared. You just need to stand up from time to time and flex your spine however suits you best.

Another important aspect is the fresh air. Since our brain needs oxygen in order to work properly, we need to ventilate the room. That means you have to open your window at least 3-4 times a day.

Eating habits need to be controlled. Because you have access to more food, there is a great chance for you to exaggerate. With the help of proper food, you can even get rid of anxiety and depression.  Pastry and sweets need to be avoided since sugar can make you restless.

Besides that, you can add hobbies. Painting, reading, doing yoga, jogging and so on, can have a positive impact on your psychic.

If I made you curious, you can check Tanja’s article about People in a very good mental state during the pandemic. Really?!