How Stressful is Your Job?

Everyone always seems to be stressed at work. How does this affect everyday life? What makes a job stressful?

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Certain careers cause a great deal of stress. And stress is far from a good thing for our bodies. According to some studies, two-thirds of U.S. residents say that stress has caused them health problems.

This isn’t surprising: Recent research suggests that many of the physical changes associated with stress may contribute to the leading causes of death in the United States, heart disease and cancer.

Here is just a brief list of the impact that stress can have on the human body:

It can help cause chronic fatigue and headaches. It can cause back pain, worsen asthma attacks, increase blood pressure and increase the risks of heart attacks. Stress can also affect the blood cells that help you fight off infections. This means that if you suffer from serious stress, you’re more likely to get diseases and colds.

If you suffer from large amounts of stress, you are also more likely to engage in behaviors that contribute to death and disability. This includes smoking, alcoholism, drug abuse and overeating. Stress also makes it more difficult for you to take steps to improve your health. If you’re overstressed, you’re less likely to be able to quite smoking, change your diet or find time to exercise more often.

Finally, stress can diminish your sexual desire and reduce your ability to experience an orgasm.

In what careers are you most likely to experience this kind of stress? Firefighters top the list. This isn’t surprising. They risk their lives on a daily basis.

Next comes corporate executives, charged with making high-profile decisions that can keep companies afloat or sink them. Taxi drivers rank third. You’d be stressed, too, if you spent all day shuffling people through traffic-congested streets. Fourth on the list are surgeons, followed by police officers.

Commercial pilots rank sixth, while highway patrol officers grab the seventh place on the list of stressful jobs. Public relations workers come in at eighth, while the ninth spot is grabbed by advertising account representatives.

Real estate agents nab the 10^th spot on the list. Considering the dismal state of today’s housing market, this isn’t surprising.

Overall, 57 percent of U.S. residents admit that they are concerned about the level of stress in their lives, while 62 percent say that their jobs have an impact on the amount of stress from which they are suffering. A total of 45 percent say that job insecurity is adding to their stress. Again, this isn’t surprising. The national unemployment rate still stands at a far too high 9.5 percent. Many people are worried about losing their jobs.

A total of 61 percent of people said that heavy workloads are adding to their stress levels. Again, this hardly qualifies as shocking. Many employers are asking their workers to take on more jobs as they continue to downsize their workforces.

Finally, 73 percent say that money is their number-one cause of stress. Again, is there anyone surprised by this?