Work Stress Is As Bad As Secondhand Smoke?

New findings published in the journal Behavioral Science and Policy show that stress at work may be as damaging as second-hand smoke.

A team of researchers at the Harvard Business School and Stanford University found that neglecting stress levels caused both by work and personal lives can result in a poor effect on the health of workers who may be eating poorly as well as not exercising.

"Wellness programs are great at doing what they're designed to do," Joel Goh, an assistant professor at Harvard Business School, told the Boston Globe. "But they're targeting [employee behavior], not targeting the cause of stress. There are two sides of the equation and right now we focus on one side. We're trying to call attention to the other side [of the equation], which is the effect of managerial practices."

In this recent study, the researchers performed a meta-analysis on 228 studies that assessed the effects of 10 workplace stressors on employees physical health and mental health, morbidity and mortality. This included the stressors of work-family conflict, job insecurity, no health insurance, high job demands, long work hours and low organizational control.

The study included over 1,000 participants and 115 participants were followed for longer periods of time.

Findings revealed that job insecurity increased the odds of poor health by up to 50 percent while long work hours (those working more tha 35 to 40 hours a week) increased morality risk by up to 20 percent. High job demands also increased overall mortality rate by 35 percent.

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