Last week, England’s chief medical officer issued a stark warning to remote workers in the UK about their health. 2 in 5 Brits work from home at least some of the time as of December 2025, reports finder.com.
Professor Sir Chris Whitty said hybrid working could lead to ‘a lot of people doing very little other than leave their homes, where previously people would be routinely going to work.’ But what effect does working from home actually have on our bodies?
Six main things happen to our bodies when we work from home:
• By not commuting or doing laps of the office, we often end up more sedentary, which comes with several health concerns.
• Because we’re sitting over a desk for most of the day, our posture and shoulders pull forward and in, and our neck angles downwards.
• This also leads to a tightening of the chest muscles, which in turn restricts our breathing, because the lungs are compressed.
• Our glutes and our core switch off, because we’re sitting down for long periods of time.
• Perhaps most importantly, our stress levels increase. When we go into fight or flight mode, it sends a shot of glucose into our system, intended to give us a little extra boost to help us get away from the threat. This is great when the stressor is a lion chasing you – but not so helpful when it’s a work email or looming presentation. Fight or flight also puts our bodies into fat retention mode. By engaging in physical movement and exercise, we can balance out these stress responses with the exertion that our bodies are preparing us for, but we don’t get from resolving a work conflict.
Here’s a quick and easy Strong Like Mum workout you can do at home:
There are also plenty of reasons why remote working is great. It’s especially helpful for those of us with childcare responsibilities, or people who live far away from the office, or anyone trying to maintain better work/life balance. We just need to make sure that we’re moving well and giving our bodies the nourishment they need. Here are five ways to combat the negative effects of working from home.
Start your day with movement
Whether that’s 5 minutes of stretching on your bedroom floor, or going up and down your street once, starting the day with movement is great for your emotional wellbeing as well as energy levels and focus. Jaw release exercises are great for easing tension in the neck and shoulders, and supporting better posture. Doing sets of rows or flys can help to open the chest back up. We can reactivate our glutes by doing glute bridges or squats.
It’s also recommended to take movement breaks of 3-5 minutes every hour or so to give our eyes a rest from looking at a screen and stretch our muscles – one fab way of doing this is to walk on all work calls, even if it’s just around your flat or garden.
Stop standing up to eat
When taking a lunch break, try to commit to sitting down. It can be tempting to stand while eating to save time, but there are lots of benefits to actually sitting down. First of all, it’s a chance to get away from your desk and clear your mind. It also helps to combat some of the fight-or-flight response which we get from work stressors, because sitting down to eat activates the parasympathetic nervous system, which helps us to regulate mood and anxiety. It also promotes mindful eating and better digestion.
Take yourself on a mini-commute
By working from home, we don’t have a commute. This is one of the biggest upsides of remote work – it’s cheaper, quieter, and you get to avoid busy buses and cancelled trains. However, one of the benefits of commuting is the chance to decompress and unwind after the workday is over. Because we now live and work in the same space, it can make it even more difficult to separate home and work life. A great practice to combat this is to engage in some kind of ‘fake’ commute anyway – like taking a walk around the block once you finish. It’s also important to set clear work boundaries and turn off email notifications outside of working hours, to avoid that sympathetic nervous system activation, glucose shot, and fat retention.
Calves: the second heart
Our calves are often called ‘the second heart’ because of the vital role they play in pumping blood around our bodies. Every step you take requires your calf muscles to contract and squeeze, sending blood up into our legs to be oxygenated by the lungs. Looking after our calves, therefore, has big benefits on the wellbeing of our entire body. Calf raises are also fortunately a very low-maintenance exercise, as they can be done at your desk and don’t need much equipment. I recommend using a resistance band, looped underneath your foot and held above your calf with your hand, to step up the intensity.
Don’t neglect mobility
Cardio and strength training are great, but don’t forget about the importance of pain-free daily movement. Making sure that the fundamentals are aligned leads to better progress in whichever exercise we decide to do – fundamentals like mobility, core strength, and deep breathing. Here is a fab core workout from Strong Like Mum to bring you back to your centre:
