7 negative effects of staying indoors
As we discussed in a previous post, societies are shifting constantly, forcing a lot of people to stay indoors for longer periods of time.
However, humans are not meant to spend all day inside an office or a house. We need sunlight, fresh air, and contact with nature to remain physically and mentally healthy.
While spending time indoors may be unavoidable for some people, doing it for a prolonged period of time can affect your physical and mental health negatively.
Here are the 7 most relevant consequences spending excessive time indoors could bring.
1 - Increased anxiety levels
When we're forced to stay indoors for long periods of time, we tend to become anxious. Why? Well, because staying indoors means less time getting fresh air and less human interaction with our friends. Not enjoying those two things can make you feel isolated from the world and make your problems look bigger than they are.
This effect makes itself very apparent during extreme situations; some researchers investigated the effects of quarantine due to the COVID-19 pandemic [1]. They found out that many had experienced stress, anxiety, numbness, anger, irritability, and post-traumatic stress disorder.
Going outside can be helpful to reduce stress and anxiety. Another research [2] shows that spending time in a forest can help reduce stress and negative emotions.
2 - Depression, Loneliness, and Mood Swings
This is a more extreme manifestation of the previous negative effect.
If you stay in a closed environment for too much time without much to do, you could experience negative emotions such as sadness, loneliness, irritability, and even developing mental health conditions such as depression.
Why? Well, staying indoors without anything to do could cause rumination, which creates the perfect environment for those emotions [3].
Sometimes when we stay indoors, we have the perfect excuse to scroll through social media. Social media addiction (which affects 5 to 10% of the US population [4]), has been linked [5] with depression, envy, FOMO, life dissatisfaction, and feelings of isolation.
But even those who stay busy indoors are at risk. In a recent poll [6], remote workers stated that loneliness and communication problems are constant things they have to deal with. Not having human contact can perpetuate our feelings of loneliness and depression.
Sometimes staying indoors means doing less exercise, going out less with friends, and basically not living too many rich life experiences. All of those things help to reduce negative emotional states.
3 - Insomnia
When we're indoors, we're usually not receiving direct sunlight or we're probably using light fixtures, or staring at a screen with artificial light. And this can all seriously affect our internal clock (a.k.a circadian rhythm).
Our brains naturally produce melatonin at night when it's dark. That chemical is essential to keep your body's internal clock working smoothly. If we don't get enough sunlight, it could confuse our biological clock, affecting our sleep and eating patterns. Even blue light (from artificial devices) can decrease the amount of melatonin, which will directly affect your circadian rhythm.
According to a 2013 study [7], our body recognizes sunlight better than artificial light and uses it to regulate sleep and wake-up cycles. The lack of it will cause your body confusion and will affect its ability to regulate sleep efficiently. This can result in you having insomnia or you experiencing a disorganized sleep cycle.
If you want your clock to be on point, try to have a consistent schedule when you're indoors. Open the windows to get some sunlight and avoid artificial light from your phone or computer when it's dark.
If depression and stress can already impact your sleep quality and cause poor mental health conditions, an impaired sleep schedule will worsen the problem, as part of a vicious cycle.
4 - Vitamin D deficiency and increased risk of sickness
As you may know, our bodies have the ability to create Vitamin D when our skin is in contact with direct sunlight. Sure, we can eat food rich in Vitamin D, but our main source of it still comes from exposure to natural light. Staying indoors will lead to less direct exposure to sunlight, which can affect our Vitamin D levels.
Some of the consequences of having low Vitamin D levels are:
- A weaker immune system: Our immune system needs Vitamin D to stay strong, so when you take it off, you get a weaker immune system. Getting a cold or catching viruses easily could mean that your immune system could need a boost-up.
- Weaker bones and muscles: Not getting enough Vitamin D can weaken your bones and muscles. Old adults who don't spend enough time doing activities or going outside can suffer from osteoporosis.
But experiencing lower levels of Vitamin D is not the only possible drawback. Another thing to consider is indoor allergies. Surprisingly, allergens can also be found indoors.
And since these spaces are often closed, these allergens can affect you easily. So if your allergies are blooming, it's probably a good idea to open the windows and get some fresh air.
You can read much more in-depth information about Vitamin D in our article on this specific topic.
5 - Sedentarism and Weight gain
The Center for Disease Control (CDC) says that adults who don't engage in a minimum of 150 minutes of moderate exercise or 75 minutes of vigorous exercise per week are living a sedentary lifestyle [8].
Being in a closed environment means that you have less space to move and do physical activities. If you're working at a desk or staying at home all day, sedentarism will take its toll on your body.
Moreover, there are several reasons that can lead to weight gain:
- The first one is obvious: when we don't exercise we don't burn as many callories, resulting in the retention of fats and sugar in your body. This behavior is obviously unhealthy and can lead to other medical conditions such as cardiovascular diseases.
- Anxiety can also be linked with appetite changes. And since spending too much time indoors can increase your anxiety levels, you might feel more pressure into eating for comfort.
- Your circadian rhythm is also responsible for controlling hunger [9]. If your sleep is disorganized, so will be your appetite, causing you to eat less, eat more, or experience digestive disorders.
- And the final one is... availability. Staying home all day, or long hours in an office, means food is available virtually at arm's reach so that people tend to overeat.
Given all this, we have the perfect recipe for gaining extra pounds.
So it's important for you to try your best and do the recommended amount of exercise to avoid sedentarism. If you have a backyard it'd be excellent if you could take a few minutes every day to exercise there and get some sunlight and fresh air.
6 - Fatigue
Low physical energy and the feeling that one can sleep forever is an indicator of fatigue. It can happen for different reasons, but let's explore how being indoors can cause fatigue:
- If you don't get enough sunlight you could experience Vitamin D deficiency, and indulge in binge unhealthy eating, which completely destroys your body's nutrients balance and leads to low energy levels.
- According to numerous studies, days with a high amount of sunshine have positive impacts on our moods, so it's safe to conclude that not getting enough sun could prevent you from reaching those positive mental states.
- If your biological clock gets affected and you suffer from insomnia, this can make you feel fatigued during the daytime and restless during nighttime.
7 - Postural issues
Sitting all day really isn't that good for you, as harmless as it might look. Staying indoors makes it difficult for you to improve your posture. And sitting is one of the things that is ruining your posture and causing all sorts of muscle and joint pains.
Sitting puts pressure on your back, your neck, and your spine, which will obviously lead to poor posture and back pain. Using an ergonomic chair can only improve your posture, but you'll still be better if take a few minutes to stand up and stretch your legs.
If you work with computers, this can also affect your arms and wrists, leading to pain or even carpal tunnel syndrome.
Conclusion
There's no doubt that staying indoors can increase the risk of you experiencing negative emotions, and suffering from numerous physical complications.
If your lifestyle forces you to spend a considerable amount of time indoors don't forget to take the necessary measuers to avoid such consequences.
Take a walk at the park, get some sunlight, eat a healthy diet, connect with friends, live fulfilling experiences and you'll mitigate the effects of staying inside for too much time.
And, as you may need a kickstart or some help to gain the balance your body may have lost, take a look at our supplements range, and pick the ones that are most suitable for your situation.
Sources
[1] The psychological impact of quarantine and how to reduce it: rapid review of the evidence: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)30460-8/fulltext
[2] Psychological effects of forest environments on healthy adults: Shinrin-yoku (forest-air bathing, walking) as a possible method of stress reduction: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17055544/
[3] The Hazards of Rumination for Your Mental and Physical Health: https://health.usnews.com/wellness/mind/articles/2018-03-14/the-hazards-of-rumination-for-your-mental-and-physical-health
[4] What Is Social Media Addiction?: https://www.addictioncenter.com/drugs/social-media-addiction/
[5] No More FOMO: Limiting Social Media Decreases Loneliness and Depression: https://guilfordjournals.com/doi/10.1521/jscp.2018.37.10.751
[6] State Of Remote Work: https://buffer.com/state-of-remote-work-2019
[7] Entrainment of the Human Circadian Clock to the Natural Light-Dark Cycle: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960982213007641
[8] How much physical activity do adults need?: https://www.cdc.gov/physicalactivity/basics/adults/index.htm
[9] Transcriptional Basis for Rhythmic Control of Hunger and Metabolism within the AgRP Neuron: https://www.cell.com/cell-metabolism/fulltext/S1550-4131(19)30063-4
