Working from home is popular, and most people wouldn't want to give it up. And yet a growing body of data shows that over the long term it can worsen mental health. New large-scale research adds a crucial refinement: it isn't working from home itself. It's the isolation it brings — and that doesn't land on everyone equally.

The mechanism: the nervous system needs regular social contact

An economist at the New York Fed and her colleagues combined five large American surveys from 2011 to 2024, over 588,000 working people in total. They compared people in occupations that can be done from home with those requiring in-person presence.

The result: people in "remotable" jobs spent noticeably more time alone after the pandemic, reported low mood more often, and more often sought psychiatric help or received a prescription. On an average workday, 84% of people working remotely spend the whole workday alone. And here's the key part: the rise in psychological strain was about twice as large for people living alone as for those living with family. So working from home itself isn't the culprit. What matters is the social context it lands in.

What the nervous system has to do with it

This is a topic that sits exactly on what polyvagal theory describes. The human nervous system doesn't calm itself down alone. It calms down through co-regulation — through the faces, voices, and presence of other people. In an office this happens without our even noticing: a hello at the coffee machine, shared laughter, the tone of a colleague's voice. These are small, ongoing doses of the signal "you're among your own, it's safe."

Working from home quietly removes these micro-doses. Not all at once, but drop by drop. And someone who comes back after work to an empty apartment has nowhere to top them up. The nervous system can then run for whole days without a single signal of social safety — and that's a strain that neither productivity nor flexibility can offset.

That's why it's worth turning the familiar line on its head: the nervous system doesn't primarily need performance. It needs regular, safe social connection. Performance comes out of that, not the other way around.

What to take from this

If you work from home, plan for contact as deliberately as you plan your tasks. Connection won't happen on its own once it disappears from your environment.

Prioritize contact with a body and a voice over text. A video call, a phone call, or an in-person meeting regulate differently than a chat.

If you live alone, take this more seriously, not less. The data say you're the one most at risk — not because something's wrong with you, but because you're missing the ongoing co-regulation others get at home.

This article describes a mechanism, not a diagnosis. If you experience persistent loneliness or low mood, it's a sound step to talk about it with someone close or with a professional.

References: 

Emanuel, N., et al. (2026). Home alone: Remote work, isolation, and mental health. Science, 392. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aec7671