How job strain influences our health

Posted by Ricki Sharpe on February 6, 2008  
Filed Under Stress

When faced with long hours at work, women snack more on high-fat, high-sugar treats, consume more caffeine and exercise less, finds a study published in the Journal of Applied Psychology.

But for men, it wasn’t the length of the workday—or even the specific characteristics of their jobs—but their moods that triggered snacking on junk food, exercising less, and if they were smokers, smoking more.

The study followed 422 employees over a period of four weeks, during which time they filled in daily measures of their moods, working hours, snacking, physical exercise, smoking, drinking and caffeine consumption. In addition they completed questionnaires about the nature of their work.

Through the study, Fiona Jones, PhD, a senior lecturer in health and occupational psychology at the University of Leeds, and her colleagues examined how the job-strain model would play out when compared with a participant’s daily health-related behaviours.

The model holds that high-control, low-demand jobs are better for a person’s health, and that low-control, high-demand jobs are worse.

Since women are still mainly responsible for the daily tasks of meal preparation and caring for children within families, Jones speculated that longer work hours might leave them especially harried to get everything done, leaving less time for self-care.

Fiona Jones suggests that: “Ultimately, there are likely to be negative implications for people’s health and productivity if they respond to work stressors and longer work hours by smoking more or eating unhealthy snacks. It may be useful for employers to provide more support for healthy behaviours in high pressure work environments.”

To compensate when faced with longer days, women should bring healthier snacks to work and try to fit in exercise, Jones says.

“Easier said than done, isn’t it?” she says.

Reference

Jones, F., O’Connor, D. B., Conner, M., McMillan, B., Ferguson, E. (2007). Impact of daily mood, work hours, and iso-strain variables on self-reported health behaviors. Journal of Applied Psychology, 92, 1731-1740


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