There’s no doubt about it. Work can be stressful. Americans are working longer hours, in fast-paced, high pressure environments. Many of us look to break out of our cubicles, and work in a setting in which we feel more comfortable. This leads some people to look for jobs in which they can work remotely. Others leave the corporate world completely, preferring to function as freelancers, or starting their own small businesses.

It’s a viable solution, to a great extent. Working from the comfort of your own home can certainly be less stressful than dealing with the ups and downs of a busy office. But it often leads to another concern. Home is, for most of us, the place we return to at night, to relax, unwind, and forget whatever we had to deal with at our jobs. If home is also the workplace, the distinction between home and work is blurred, resulting in losing what has come to be known as “work-life balance”.

Co-working spaces offer an alternative for people who are struggling to maintain that all-important balance. Here are some of the ways they do:

It gets you dressed for work and out of the house.

I know that getting rid of your commute, and dropping the need to get dressed up for the office are part of the reason you wanted to work from home. “I want to take the conference call in my bunny slippers”, an associate once told me. The downside of that is that one may never leave one’s rest and relaxation mode, and that’s not always conducive to productivity. Even the act of getting dressed in business casual attire and crossing the threshold of your door is likely to serve as a psychological transition to “work mode”.

It gives you a dedicated work space.

As appealing as it is to work in one’s own comfortable, homey space, it sometimes produces an unexpected result. The concerns of business seem to invade your personal space, and vice versa. Paperwork that used to stay in the office starts to clutter up your home, and the concerns of home spill over into your work. It’s hard enough to leave one’s family concerns behind when one is working in a job at an office. Having the kids and pets and more around you while you work can distract you enough to lower productivity. Moving it all to a co-working space provides a boundary line that allows us to work more efficiently and enjoy our relaxation time more fully.

It makes the life of a freelancer less lonely.

No matter how much we crave to get away from the politics of the office, it can be a drag to work at home in isolation. There’s a “buzz” in the air in an office filled with one’s colleagues that we just can’t seem to find when we’re alone. Though our office neighbors in a co-working space may not even be a part of the same company, there’s a sense of camaraderie and networking that inspires and rejuvenates our work.