HealthDay News,
15
December
2016
|
20:26 PM
Europe/Amsterdam

The impact a lousy job has on your health

Being unhappy at work in your 20s could lead to serious health problems in your 40s, study finds.

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lousy-job-082216.mp4

Video Transcript:
It may pay off to be more mindful about the type of work one accepts in their 20s and 30s...A new study finds job satisfaction as a younger adult impacts mental and physical health after age 40.

Researchers tracked more than 6,400 men and women beginning in 1979 when they filled out detailed youth surveys. They looked specifically at the job satisfaction direction of people between 25 and 39 years old. These participants were then asked to report on their physical and mental health status after they turned 40.

Participants who were less happy with their work early in their careers tended to be more depressed, experience excessive worry… and have more trouble sleeping. While physical health wasn’t impacted as much, those in the low satisfaction group did tend to have more health issues like back problems and frequent colds. However, people whose job satisfaction started low but improved didn't have the health problems associated with consistently low or declining satisfaction.

One of the study authors says these findings are important because, "Increased anxiety and depression could lead to cardiovascular or other health problems that won't show up until they are older."

I’m Dr. Cindy Haines of HealthDay TV…with the news doctors are reading – health news that matters to you.