The BBC is reporting that stressful jobs negatively affect the body. The study, from the European Heart Journal, was met with a collective “duh” from anyone who has ever had a stressful job.
“Stress appeared to upset the part of the nervous system which controls the heart, telling it how to work and controlling the variability of the heart rate,” the BBC reports. ” A major part of the neuroendocrine system – which releases hormones – also seemed to be disturbed by stress, evidenced by the fact that anxious workers had higher levels of the stress hormone cortisol in the morning.”
In all seriousness, though, it’s one of those studies that proves what you already knew. I have never felt physically worse than I did when I was in my most stressful job, in spite of the fact that I was going out of my way to eat right and exercise daily. It’s sad to think that work can have such a dramatic impact on our life and death.