If you’ve started working from home, you’ve probably already congratulated yourself on skipping rush hour traffic. You might be taking a break right now reading this in your work pajamas. Working from home can be a blessing, but it can also be a curse. While you get to sip your morning coffee on your back porch checking reports on your phone, you also may not have seen another human in the flesh in two days. With the list of cons that come along with working from home, CBD may be able to help with some of them.

Working from home can cause health problems if you fall into an unhealthy routine. Cannabidiol (CBD) may be able to help with some of the issues you come across like depression, anxiety, and weight gain. Because cannabidiol works with the endocannabinoid system, it has access to many aspects of your physical and mental health. Combined with healthy practices, CBD may be able to benefit you as someone who works from home.  

Pros And Cons Of Working From Home

Pros

No Traffic

It almost feels like robbery that you spend at least eight hours at your job and then an hour of your day away from family and friends is stuck in a car. For a lot of people, they choose their job based on their commute because gas prices are only getting higher and we value our time. When you work from home, the commute to your computer is about two minutes giving you more time for yourself and your family.

No Dress Code

Where whatever you want! You can even work in your underwear! Unless, of course, you do video chats then I don’t suggest that at all. You don’t have to spend money on buying new outfits for the office or following a dress code that makes you uncomfortable. Of course, you look good in business attire, but that doesn’t mean you like to wear it.

No One Breathing Down Your Neck

Working from home, you don’t have supervisors staring at you from their desk making sure that you’re working. You know you have a good work ethic, and probably work better without being micromanaged. When you are working from home, you’re the boss of yourself. You make sure you get your work done, and you do a great job of it.

Write Off On Taxes

Your internet bill can go on your taxes now! Thank you, Uncle Sam, for appreciating the homebound workforce! Your phone bill, equipment that you’ve bought to make your work life more manageable, and supplies can all be written off on your taxes.

Can Work At The Bahamas

Can’t afford a week off for vacation but still want to dip your toes in uncharted waters? As long as there is internet, just take the work with you! If your job doesn’t require you to come into the office frequently, you can work wherever you please.

Cons

Avoiding Distraction Is Very Difficult

If you have kids at home, even pets, you might find yourself away from your desk more than you’d like. When you walk into the kitchen to make a snack, you might get distracted by getting the dishes cleaned or find yourself picking up toys in the living room when you walk through which turns into deep cleaning the floorboards. And your TV is right there, just calling you to catch up on a show you love. It can be hard to draw a line but if you wouldn’t do it in the office, wait until clock out time to get it done at home.

Less Movement

When you work in the office, you walk from your car to your desk, your desk to someone else’s to discuss work, a walk to the break room for more coffee, a walk outside to go on break, and walking over to the bathroom several times a day to either take care of business or stop staring at a screen for two minutes. When you work from home, your movement is pretty limited. Unless you live in a house that is the size of an office building, you’ll find yourself more stationary than you’re used to.

Depression

This con doesn’t happen right away, but it can sneak up on you and take over if you aren’t careful. Working from home means you don’t get to see real-life human beings as regularly as your used to. You’re cooped up in your home office by yourself sitting in silence for hours at a time. When you get off work, you walk five feet over into the rest of your house, and sometimes it still feels like you are at the office. You don’t have a significant change in scenery, and this can get to you if you aren’t careful.

Neck Strain

When you work from home, you can lose yourself in your computer and not even realize that you’ve been sitting in the exact same position for the past hour. Your back and your neck can start to hurt if you find that you don’t have the right posture or you don’t give yourself time to look away and stretch.

Anxiety

When you live in your office, it can be hard not thinking about work every second of your life. This can cause you to become stressed out thinking about all that needs to be done. You might find yourself laying down to go to sleep, and then having a panic attack about something for work and end up sitting in front of your computer at one in the morning. You might feel like if you’re around your computer, work can get done. It doesn’t matter that you just spent eight hours in your workspace, the fact that you are able means work needs to get done. This kind of stress can be damaging if not taken care of.  

You Must Be Entirely Self Motivated

If you aren’t good at working without someone patting you on the back, working from home is not for you. You have to get your job done because you feel the urgency to do so, not because someone is making sure that you do it. If you lack this discipline, you might find that work is piling up because you give yourself too many breaks or don’t see the need to complete tasks.

Tips On Working From Home

CBD oil isn’t going to make all of your problems go away. You have to do some work yourself as well. Here are some tips you can consider when working from home that may be able to help you with some of the cons.

Report To Your Office or Clients

If you are three days in and feel like a dead zombie searching for a living breathing organism because you are so lonely, check in at the office or with your clients. Remind them that you exist and get in some social interaction. Use this as an excuse to explain what you’ve been getting done and how much progress you're making on projects or assignments.

Treat Your Work Area Like A Real Office

If you work in your bed or your living room, you might have a hard time not feeling the anxiety of work when you are off the clock or finished with a day’s worth of work. Having a space specifically for work can help you separate work from home when you work from home. Try to stay in your work area while you are working, and don’t leave until that six o’ clock bell chimes. When you walk out of your office door or out of your work area, it can help you feel like your shedding out of your work skin and getting into your homelife skin.

Dressing For Work

One of the perks of working from home is getting to wear a onesie at your desk. Every day is pajama day when you work from home! But this doesn’t work for everyone. Your mind is a complicated thing, and it needs your help when it comes to knowing when to work and when to relax. It is already programmed into feeling different by a change of clothes. I’m not saying that you need to throw on those uncomfortable business shoes, but dressing like you are at the office can help you get in the mindset of working.

Find Time To Move

While you shouldn’t let distractions take you away from work, exercising is an exception. Take time to go for a walk outside or keep weights or a yoga mat in your office. Give yourself time to make up for the lack of physical activity you have sacrificed to work from home. If you stay like a blob in front of your computer, you’ll likely turn into one. This can also help you get the change of scenery you desperately need from sitting at your desk all day.

How CBD Can Help

While CBD can’t solve all of your problems, it might be able to help with a good amount of them. Studies have expressed that cannabidiol has wonderful potential to improve our quality of life, something that may be needed if you work from home.

Depression

Depression can consume you, especially if you are stuck in your head all day. With no one to talk to, no fresh faces to see, you might feel like you have fallen into a dark hole of your own insecurities and loneliness.

A very recent study has shown that CBD may act as a fast-acting antidepressant. The study reveals that it may help elevate our brains fertilizer called BDNF which can repair the parts of the brain that have been damaged causing depression. CBD also raises levels of an endocannabinoid called anandamide which has been linked to boosting subjects’ mood.

Focus and Concentration

Do you have a hard time sitting down at your desk and getting to work? Cannabidiol may be able to help. If you suffer from ADD or ADHD, CBD may be able to help calm down your mind, so it is easier to focus on the important matters at hand.

Blood Pressure

Snacking all day has become even easier now that Karen from marketing isn’t judging every bite you take. And without the proper exercise routine, this can cause weight problems that may lead to high blood pressure. Cannabidiol has shown in studies that in just one dose, it was able to lower the blood pressure of human subjects. It also may even be able to help you lose weight if you’ve started to pack on the pounds.

Weight Loss

Losing weight is hard to do when you work all day in your office, and it makes it even harder when you work from home and have no reason to get up from your desk. Cannabidiol may be able to help you lose weight, but you have to still implement a healthy diet and exercise for it to work.

Cannabis isn’t a magic diet pill that will make you skinny. Instead, it has shown in studies to enhance the process of losing weight making it easier when you put in the work. When you work out, your body turns your white fat into brown fat so it can be burned for energy. Cannabidiol has shown that it can help enhance this process making losing weight not as difficult.

Energy

Depression and gaining weight can make it seem like you have no energy. If you feel like you may be fatigued, CBD might be able to help. Studies show that small amounts of CBD can act as a wake-promoting agent. It might also help you get a better night’s sleep so that you aren’t feeling so exhausted the moment you wake up.

Anxiety

If anxiety is plaguing your workday from being around your office all of the time, CBD might be able to help you calm down and have a clearer head. If you are constantly stressed out, your work performance will suffer and so will your health. Studies have shown that CBD may have the ability to reduce anxiety, give you better peace of mind.

Pain

If your back, shoulders, and neck hurt from your job, using CBD topicals may be able to help. You should also implement stretching and exercise into your daily routine to try to avoid this, but if it continues to happen or you don’t get to exercising that day using CBD topicals may be able to help relieve you of your muscle pain.

Remember To Be Good To Yourself

It’s almost as if everyone who works in an office would prefer to work from home, but this lifestyle isn’t for everyone. If you are trying to decide whether or not working from home is the right fit for you, take into consideration the pros and cons list. If you are already working from home, remember to take care of yourself. You can get lost in a cycle that doesn’t make sense to your mind and body. And CBD can always be there to help you along the way.

Do you work from home? If you have any tips, leave them in the comment section below!