It’s been a year since the pandemic took us all by surprise and we are still looking for ways to deal with it. The shadow of the pandemic has affected every domain of our social set-up and subsequently, our personal and professional lives, both have undergone massive changes.
From incessant lockdown to work from home, our work life, after health care, has been at the forefront in the fight against the pandemic. Offices turning into quarantine centers, living rooms turning into offices, work from home became the major out-turn of the pandemic. Before we could know it, this work from home converted into work from bed as most of us discovered the joys of working from bed. As tempting as this work from bed or WFB is, the reality of turning your bed into an office is the absolute opposite.
According to a survey conducted in November 2020, 72% of 1,000 Americans confessed to working remotely from their bed during the pandemic, a 50% increase since the start of the crisis. Moreover, one in 10 Americans admitted to spending most or all of their workweek in the coziness of their beds. These 24 to 40 hours of work on top of sleeping hours spent in bed are bound to disrupt the ergonomic future of employees.
Another alarming factor is that young workers, aged 18 to 34, are more likely to choose a bed over a proper desk and chair than older workers. Thousands of photos under the #WorkFromBed hashtag are uploaded on Instagram on a daily basis in which smiling youth snuggled up in their beds with a cup of coffee and a laptop is seen. Susan Hallbeck, director of health-care-system engineering at the Mayo Clinic, highlights the issue;
“Young people, she points out, are particularly likely to fall victim to these bad habits, because they may not feel the strain of them right away. But the pain will flare up down the road. It depends on the person, but it may be too late to undo the ergonomic problems you’ll face when you get older.”
Spending hours in front of a bright screen without making any significant changes in posture can lead to serious physical and psychological problems. Apart from short and long-term ergonomic disasters, working from bed decreases sleep quality, work productivity, energy levels, and quality of life. It’s a never-ending vicious cycle where each factor stimulates the other.
The pandemic has also introduced ‘coronasomnia’ as there is a global spike in insomnia and sleep disorders accompanied by Covid-19. Working from bed for over a year can easily lead to insomnia or circadian rhythm disorder. That’s when our bodies’ natural clocks, that tell us when it’s time to sleep. Rachel Salas, associate professor of neurology and sleep expert at Johns Hopkins University in Maryland, asserts the importance of sleep hygiene;
“You’re really training your brain to be alert, and telling it this is where your ideas come and this is where it’s full work mode. It starts building these associations, which eventually evolve into conditioned behaviors.”
Work from bed can also induce non-sleep-related ailments ranging from simple headaches to permanent stiffness in your back, arthritis, and cervical pain (pain in the bones, ligaments, and muscles in the neck that allow motion.) If you sit in the bed, you’re sitting on an uneven surface for an extended period of time, having the monitor at an incorrect height, you are likely curving your back. This can create pain, either immediately or over time, and can also lead to musculoskeletal diseases.
“If you must continue working from bed,” says Hallbeck, “try recreating the experience of sitting in an upright chair as much as you can, and aim for ‘neutral posture’ – that is, avoid putting a strain on any one part of your body. Use pillows to support your back and avoid lying on your stomach to type; it really strains your neck and elbows.”
Ergonomic nightmare or “coronasomnia”, musculoskeletal diseases or lack of productivity, work from home during the Covid19 pandemic may feel like one more thing to worry about. By incorporating a few healthy habits and with a little change in lifestyle, work from home can be used to our own advantage. After all, it is a privilege to still be able to make your ends meet from the comfort of your home even during the global crisis.
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