Stress at work can have a devastating effect on employees' physical and mental health, based on the findings of a new study. After reviewing a large amount of scientific data and related past studies, researchers concluded that the negative health impact of workplace stressors can be as bad as secondhand smoking, and can result in a greater risk of illness, disease, and death.
The research was conducted in a joint effort by Stanford University and the Harvard Business School.
Today more employers are providing tools to help their workers make healthy lifestyle choices, such as gym memberships and nutritious lunches. They sometimes even provide programs.
However, companies often fail to provide stress-reducing programs that directly address stress from work and home. It could cancel out the benefits of healthy lifestyle programs.
The goal of the study was to transfer the focus from employees' behavior, to managers' actions. It included the review of 228 past studies.
Researchers classified 10 workplace stressors. They also examined their effect on morbidity (disease risk), mortality (death rates), and physical and mental health. All of the studies had at least 1,000 participants and half of them were long-term.
The list of workplace stressors included long work schedules, high job demands, lack of health insurance, and conflict between personal and professional life. Job insecurity was the biggest stressor, causing a 50 percent spike in the risk of poor health, according to AmeriPublications.
High job demands caused a 35 percent increase in the risk of severe illness diagnosis. Meanwhile, long work hours and overtime caused mortality to rise one-fifth, according to Trinity News Daily.
Stress seems to statistically affect health like secondhand smoking does. In addition, researchers found that second-hand smoking's effects can be just as harmful to health as workplace stress.
Fortunately, workers can take steps to lower stress levels. For example, they can keep a journal of the causes of stress, set work limits, and ask themselves if they like their job.
Here is a video about stress-management: