Why working from home is bad for the health of younger workers

Working from home could be bad for your health – with young adults who do it getting half an hour less exercise per day.

A study of people starting their first job in-person showed they got an extra 28 minutes a day of moderate physical activity such as walking or cycling.

But those working from home saw an average 32-minute drop in their activity level.

To judge how starting work affected people’s physical activity, sleep and diet, researchers looked at adults aged 16 to 30 in the UK who took part in a national household survey.

These volunteers reported their employment status every year and, every three years, also said how much exercise they got in a typical week.

This included moderate physical activity as well as vigorous physical activity like heavy lifting or aerobics.

Researchers compared 128 people who worked from home with more than 3000 who went to an office or other workplace.

The results, published in the International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, showed the fall in physical activity for people working at home was the equivalent of 32 minutes of moderate activity, or 16 minutes of vigorous activity, a day.

The rise in physical activity among young adults was generally seen in those in semi-routine jobs, such as bus drivers and hairdressers, routine jobs such as cleaners and waiters and technical jobs.

There was little change among people entering managerial or professional occupations.

Dr Eleanor Winpenny, senior author of the study at the University of Cambridge, now at Imperial College London, said: “Those working at home might want to consider incorporating physical activity into their day, for example by going for a walk before or after work, or during a lunch break.”

These results may provide a little comfort to Genesis Cuesta, whose online outburst about Donald Trump ordering government employees back to the office went viral last week.

The American influencer and federal worker said: “I am so upset, I am so mad. Like this f****** sucks. This sucks! And the crazy thing is, we’ve only just begun...”

Ms Cuesta was met with harsh criticsm online.

One X user said: “There is no Covid so get back in the office. Because there is no way you’re 100 per cent productive working from home while doing the laundry.”

The President’s instruction forces large numbers of US government employees to forfeit remote working arrangements they made in the pandemic, as they will soon be required in the office five days a week.