Stress in the workplace = heart disease risk

Stress in the workplace is a major factor in the development of heart disease and diabetes, a study says.

Stress has long been linked to ill health, but the British Medical Journal study may have identified the biological process for the first time.

The study of 10,000 civil servants found a link between stress and metabolic syndrome, which involves obesity and high blood pressure.

Lead researcher Tarani Chandola said: "Employees with chronic work stress have more than double the odds of the syndrome than those without work stress, after other risk factors are taken into account.

This relationship meant that the more stress someone suffered, the more likely they were to suffer metabolic syndrome symptoms.

The researchers said that, for example, men who suffered chronic work stress were twice as likely to develop the syndrome as men who had no exposure to stress.

Women with chronic stress were also more likely to suffer from metabolic syndrome, although they formed only a small group in the study.

The researchers said one possible explanation for the result may be that prolonged exposure to work stress affects the nervous system.

They also suggested that chronic stress may reduce biological resilience, thus disturbing the body's physiological balance.

Courtesy of BBC News