If you’re trying to improve your health, the first stop is likely to be your doctor’s office. But your own office may have nearly as much influence on well-being, according to a growing body of research that suggests your job can affect everything from
mental health to risk of cardiovascular disease and
how long you live.
“Health happens everywhere,” says Dr. Eduardo Sanchez, chief medical officer for prevention at the American Heart Association. Given that the average employed U.S. adult
spends more of their waking hours working than doing just about anything else, that includes the workplace, he says.
Work-related stress is one culprit for health problems, since
unmanaged stress can contribute to heart disease, insomnia, gastrointestinal issues, and other chronic conditions. Long hours on the job can also cut into time that would otherwise be spent sleeping, exercising, cooking, seeing loved ones, or doing other activities that can boost wellness. Such problems are most effectively fixed when
employers change workplace conditions, rather than leaning on workplace wellness initiatives as a Band-Aid, says Laura Linnan, director of the University of North Carolina’s Collaborative for Research on Work and Health.
“We can provide all the coping strategies and stress-management programs possible,” she says. “But if we put employees back in an environment where the work pace is out of control, the staffing is wrong, there’s a toxic supervisor—no amount of stress management is going to save that.”
