The pressures and stress of working life cause weight gain in women.
Heavy work pressures predispose women to weight gain, says a recent study conducted by the University of Göteborgsur (Sweden) on 3872 people. The latter were the subject of a long survey carried out over a period of 20 years: variables such as their body mass index (BMI), the demands linked to their job or even the control of their professional life were followed by their 30s to 50s, or their 40s to 60s.
The harms of stress at work
Specifically, the participants were questioned for 20 years about their pace of work, the psychological pressures they suffered, whether they had enough time to carry out their tasks or even the frequency with which they learned something new, whether their work required imagination, even advanced skills.
The results show that respondents with little control or responsibility in their work often gained considerable weight (10% or more). Nevertheless, it would seem that long-term exposure to high professional demands would mainly impact the weight of women: in a little more than half of them, the weight gain was about 20% higher than in those under low pressure. In summary, lack of control at work leads to weight gain in both sexes, but prolonged exposure to stress and pressures has a greater impact on women’s well-being and weight.
Pressures at work and responsibilities at home
How to explain such a difference in reaction? “We haven’t investigated the underlying causes, but it’s likely to be the combination of work demands and the greater responsibility of the household that women often take on. This can make it more difficult to finding time to exercise and lead a healthy lifestyle,” says Sofia Klingberg, community medicine and public health researcher at the University of Gothenburg and lead author of the study. Researchers believe that identifying people at risk of stress and pursuing efforts to reduce it at work would likely reduce obesity, as well as cardiovascular disease and diabetes.
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