By Marc Dellière, Medical Consultant & Trainer – Specialist in Stress, Prevention & Integrative Health
We read everywhere: “Teleworking reduces stress,” “Teleworking isolates,” “Teleworking will save quality of life at work.”
In reality, science says something else: teleworking is neither good nor bad for stress. It acts primarily as a neuropsychological revealer.
What studies show
For some people, teleworking reduces stress, fatigue, and the cognitive load associated with commuting.
- For others, it increases anxiety, isolation, and mental overload.
- And sometimes... both at the same time.
These mixed results are now well documented by several international systematic reviews, which show that the effects of teleworking on stress depend above all on the organizational context and internal regulatory resources.
Why?
Because teleworking is not an isolated factor, but an amplifier.
It amplifies:
- The quality of management,
- The ability to set boundaries,
- Inner security,
- Organizational clarity,
- Neuro-emotional balance.
What I observe in consultation: three very distinct profiles
🟢 The regulated
Teleworking calms them down.
They know how to shut down their computer.
They know how to recover.
Their nervous system correctly alternates between activation and rest.
🟠 The hybrids
2 days = perfect.
5 days = overload.
They need to alternate between brain, social, and movement.
🔴The overexposed
Working from home = hyperconnection, blurred boundaries, rumination, sleep disorders.
The stress was already there... it's just becoming visible.
The real issue isn't organizational
The real debate isn't:
“Should we work from home or not?”
The real issue is this:
Have we learned to regulate our nervous system in situations of hyper-autonomy?
Because teleworking means:
- More freedom,
- More emotional responsibility,
- More neurophysiological self-regulation.
And this is precisely where many people fall behind.
Teleworking is not an organizational problem. It is a problem of internal regulation: the ability to rebalance the major neurobiological brakes on stress, particularly the GABAergic systems, through breathing, refocusing attention, self-hypnosis, and sometimes appropriate neuro-nutritional support.
And until this dimension is integrated into policies on quality of life at work, burnout prevention, and sustainable performance, teleworking will continue to be experienced by many as autonomy under pressure.
Learn more about Lactium® for stress management!
Scientific sources :
Teleworking Effects on Mental Health—A Systematic Review and a Research Agenda (Figueiredo, Margaça, Hernández-Sánchez & Sánchez-García, 2024)
A Systematic Review of the Impact of Remote Working Referenced to the Concept of Work–Life Flow on Physical and Psychological Health (Wells et al., 2023)
Teleworking and Mental Well‑Being: A Systematic Review on Health Effects and Preventive Measures (Shaholli et al., 2024)
Effect of teleworking on psychological health and employee well‑being during COVID‑19 (étude observationnelle, 2025)
Effects of teleworking on wellbeing from a gender perspective: a systematic review (Castro-Trancón et al., 2024)