Home gym, quiet working environment with walls and a door, ability to receive online orders, monitors as large and high res as I wish to pay for, fridge and kitchen to myself stocked as I wish. Friends and family nearby if you want to lunch with them.

You bet it's healthier. Except perhaps slightly increased exposure to the three germ incubating kids under 5 that live here, but there's not much I can do about that now apparently.

Not to mention: able to live in a large, comfortable house in the country side in the middle of nature (if that's your thing).

EDIT: I think kids-flu is hard to avoid at that age, home office or not :P

> slightly increased exposure to the three germ incubating kids under 5 that live here, but there's not much I can do about that

You could homeschool them.

My cycle to work and back is half an hours hard cycling each way. I am in good shape since I started this job. (Previously it was a <10 minute roll down a hill followed by 15 minutes cycle back up).

no doubt there are positive outcomes! I guess what I'm speculating about specifically is a reduction in the number of people one socializes with in a collaborative way and a blurring of the line between work and home that may affect a significant portion of the work-from-home population in a negative way.

for me the best situation has always been being a few minutes walking distance from the office. work stays at work, home stays at home, no commute, no bullshit.

More distraction, less diverse social interaction, more requirement for stringent routines (assuming for a percentage of people)... It would be interesting to weigh up the pros/cons.

Wait, these are cons to working from home? If you get distracted at home, you probably get as equally distracted at work. I have been working from home for close to 5 years now and for me it's been the exact opposite - less distractions, more work done in shorter amount of time it would take me to do it in the office. Less social interaction - sure, but it doesn't have to be that way. Social interaction lost one place can be gained elsewhere. Stringent routines? What's wrong with discipline and having the ability to engage and disengage when you please?

Modern employers provide better lunch. Family time isn't necessarily quality time.

I disagree with your first assertion :) And I have a long daily commute which takes a lot of time and energy that would otherwise be available for my family. I'd argue that the little interactions throughout a workday at home are more valuable than few or no interactions from the office - quality time or not.