Is Your Job Damaging Your Health?

by Jennifer Pirtle

The Japanese have a word, karoshi, to describe a death resulting from overwork. Though there’s no exact equivalent in the English language, there is no shortage of names given to illnesses that stem from a growing preoccupation with our jobs: heart disease, depression, irritable bowel syndrome, panic attacks and asthma, to name a few. What’s more, in the UK, it’s estimate that around seven million working days are lost to the more generic catch-all known as stress.

Even if you haven’t reached the breaking point of illness, you’re probably aware that your job could be leading you down the road to poor health. The very fact that you’re reading this article means you’re probably among the 70 percent of women who count work as the major stress in their lives. And stress is just one of a long list of work-related factors that could be affecting your health. What we eat at work, how we sit at our desks and the air we breathe; these and countless other elements of working life could be having an ill-effect on your minds and bodies.

Far too many of us live to work, rather than work to live. When I lived in New York City, I was one of many workaholic women teetering near the top of editorial mastheads. Since moving to London, however, I’ve made a conscious decision to work less and enjoy myself more.

I was one of many workaholic women teetering near the top of editorial mastheads. When I moved to London, I made a con­scious effort to work less and enjoy myself more. I'm not perfect, though. Occa­sionally, I'll revert to my old ways—work through the night, skip meals and generally neglect the things in my life that make me feel better about myself. I'm hardly alone, either. It is estimated that at least four million employees regularly work more than five extra unpaid hours per week, with half of those working on their days off. But though we might be working longer hours, few of us are receiving additional financial compensation or even accruing additional holiday time. All we are getting for our efforts, it seems, is unhealthier.

So why do we work so hard, especially when there doesn't seem to be any financial incentive to do so? Julie Hurst, founder and director of the Work Life Balance Centre, says that most over-workers (she prefers this term to 'workaholics') fall into one of two categories: those with external pressures and those who place themselves under undue pressure. As she explains it, the first group literally have too much to do in their jobs—they're overburdened and the organisational or support mechanisms they require aren't in place. ‘These people can be helped,' says Hurst. At her CAFE workshops (the name is an acronym for categorising, allocat­ing, filing and executing) she teaches participants a system of workload management aimed to establish greater control over their working lives.

But the econd group, those individuals who derive their sense of self-worth from their jobs, who drive themselves to work harder and harder, are more problematic. Ten years ago, Hur t unknowingly found herself in this group: she obsessed about work when she wasn't there, became underweight, plagued by sleep problems and unable to concentrate. 'I'd lost sight of the fact that other things were important,' she says. Today, she lives in the country and enjoys friends and hobbies outside of work. 'Even so, I'm very careful to ensure that I keep a good balance. Now when I stop working, I really stop.'

But it's the stopping that workaholics often find so impossible. No one would encourage an alcoholic to drink, or a drug addict to take drugs,' Hurst notes. 'But it is acceptable to allow, and even pressure, a workaholic into staying ever later at the office, taking additional work home, and grinding them elve down until they snap.'

And snap they do, as I learnt first hand some years ago. I'd just finished an intensive graduate degree programme and was riding the crest of the first wave of Internet mania, working in the lucrative role of editorial consultant to start­ up and existing media companies. But within a year or so, my high eventually turned into a nose dive. Exhausted and burnt out, I began to have panic attacks, suf­fered from allergies, and was unable to shake my repeated sinus infections. Eventually, I plummeted into depression and found it nearly impossible to get out of bed each day. My body had told me, in no uncertain terms, to stop working so hard. Today, I'm much more rounded. I take yoga classes, love to cook, and have taken to reading books again—this time for pleasure rather than work.

But no matter how hard we try not to let work encroach upon our peace of mind, it can still find a way of creeping into our after-hours Life. Thanks to longer working hours, we may be cash-rich, but we are also time-poor. You just have to look at how many of us use the Internet now to pay bills and shop (we spend £200 million through Tesco online each year) while still in our pyjamas to get some mea­sure of how important convenience is to us these days.

This translates into how we eat and live generally, too. Popping into Marks & Spencer during our lunch hour (if we take one, that is—more than one third of us don't) or dashing into Sainsbury's on the way home has become almost derigeur. Convenience foods have proved so popular, experts predict that we’re spending £10.2 million each year on pre-prepared, chilled foods. (And let's not forget fast food: those Chinese takeaways, double hamburgers, home-deliv­ered pizzas and other short-order foodstuffs add up to £3.7 billion annually.)

This demand for convenience, however, may be causing u long-term health damage. Especially, says Andrea Crivelli­ Kovach, assistant professor and coordinator of community health and public health at Beaver College in Pennsylvania, when it comes to our increasing reliance on convenience food and the quick-fix meal.

Fast food, for example, is particularly high in saturated fats. These fats have been linked to the development of certain can­cers, such as breast and colon. (Breast cancer is thought to be more prevalent in women who eat high-fat, low-fibre diets.) And pre-prepared 'healthy options' may be low in fat, but they probably have an unhealthily high salt and sugar content which can increase cholesterol levels and cause heart disease and diabetes.

Women are also more likely to skip breakfast or lunch in an effort to slim down as well as save time. 'But if a woman is starting the day without breakfast, then working straight through lunch, by the time he gets to 4pm she's really in a sugar low,'  Crivelli-Kovach explains.' To counter the low , women often reach for something sweet. Unfortunately the refined sugar in most snacks causes our blood sugar levels to peak, then crashing to levels lower than before we ate. Reaching for a coffee to keep you going is no cure, either. Though it’s a stimulant, caffeine sends signals to the liver to release glycogen, a stored sugar, into your bloodstream.

Skipping meals also affects our body’s levels of serotonin, the brain chemical that regulates our feelings of satiety and hunger. ‘Seratonin levels are low in the morning when we wake up, then rise graually during the day, peaking in the evening. If you skip meals, those levels don’t rise properly and never get to the level where you feel satisfied, so you’re likelyl to overeat at dinner.’ A better bet? Eating three or more small meals per day and choosing nutrient-rich foods, such as whole grains, fruits, vegetables, and lean meats and fish.

Kate Steele is an account director at a busy London public relations firm. Though she routinely works nearly 12 hours a day, she always makes supper from scratch when she gets home, using fresh, organic produce. ‘The hours I work, it would be easy to be constantly grabbing for quick on-the run food. To counter this, I have consciously made cooking time my winding-down time,’ she explains. ‘I listen to the radio and enjoy a good glass of wine as I chop and slice.’ Another smart move? Relocating closer to the City. ‘Now, instead of spending two hours a day commuting, I walk to work which means I have some exercise even if I don’t have time to go to the gym. It also means the time I used to spend sitting on the train or Tube, I now spend cooking.’

But while it’s relatively easy to make changes to our diet, our working conditions are usually more difficult to alter. Even the air in our office can be dangerous. Studies by the US Environmental Protection Association indicate that indoor air levels of many pollutants may be two to five times—and occasionally more than 100 times—higher than outdoor levels.

Commonly found office pollutants include asbestos from insulating and fire-retardant building supplies; biological contaminants from dirty ventilation systems or water-damaged walls; chemicals from building materials, carpets, cleaning agents and materials, and rest room air fresheners; paint adhesives and inks from photocopier machines.

According to Professor Gary Raw, director of the Building Research Establishment in Watford, the symptoms of sick building syndrome (SBS) often mimic those of the common cold or flu. ‘Key symptoms are irriation of the eyes, nose, throat and skin, together with headaches, lethargy, irritability and lack of concentration. These symptoms are more prevalent in some buildings than in others, and dminish over time when the afflicted person leaves the building concerned.’ Though it is difficult to identify a direct link between SBS and particular illnesses, others have been well documented, such as certain types of pneumonia and Legionnaire’s disease.

Though most sick buildings require the concentrated efforts of management and engineering to overhaul the problems, there are steps you can take to make your working environment healthier. Takes a plant to work: a study conducted by the Associated Landscape Contractors of America and NASA found houseplants to be surprisingly useful in absorbing potentially harmful gases and cleaning the air in modern buildings.

Spider plants and philodendron were found to be the most effective in removing formaldehyde, a substance found in the pressed wood products used in the manufacture of office furniture as well as in paper products. Meanwhile, flowering plants such as gerberas and chrysanthemums were rated superior at removing benzene, an irritant to skin and eyes found in inks, oils, paints, plastics and rubber.

Plants also release oxygen and add moisture to the indoor atmosphere. If you find yourself with a sore throat, coughing, or have dry skin or irritated eyes, it’s probably because humidity levels in your office ar too low. Computers and printers pump out heat and dry air, while heating, air conditioning and artifical light sources can aggravate respiratory problems and dry skin. Drinking plenty of water—at least 1.5 litres per day—will help prevent dehydration.

A healthy working environment comprises more than just the air we breathe. Equally important are the fixtures and furniture inside the office—the desks, chairs, computers and lights. Ergonomic inefficiency can lead to headaches, backache , and forms of repetitive stress injury (RSI) such as carpal tunnel syndrome, a painful nerve irritation which can affect the hands, wrist and forearms. Robin Sklar, an occupational therapist at Health South, New England, says that for all the strides women have made in the workplace, in terms of ergonomic health we were better off as secretaries 30 years ago. 'In the secretarial pool, the desks were much lower—a better height for typing,' she explains. 'Also, you were forced to take a break from typing to push the carriage across or get up to change the ink cartridge.'

In the past, there used to be a timed tea break complete with a tea trolley that came round every morning and after­noon which gave everyone a guaranteed welcome breather. Today, with every gain in productivity counted, workers are hardly encouraged to get up and move around. Our indefatiga­ble computers have made it possible for us to work for hours on end without rising from our chair. But while computer were built for working this way, people aren't. 'You have to take breaks,' klar stresses. 'Get up, walk around for a few min­ utes every half an hour. Do anything that will get you moving. Even a bathroom break is a great excuse to stretch.'

the floor. 'lf they're not, use a phonebook to rest them on to ensure your back is arched naturally’, advises Sklar.

Then check your posture. Make sure that your wrists remain straight when you type (no bending, as this causes strain and can lead to carpal tunnel syndrome). Your elbows should be near your side at 90 degrees. If you use your phone often, you should consider purchasing a hands-free headset, says Sklar. ‘This will allow your neck and shoulders to move more freely and avoid strain.

These small steps might seem insignificant, but their results, both in terms of physical and mental health, can be enormous. Also, experts agree that simply gaining a sense of control over how we work can make all the difference in terms of how healthy we are and how well we perform. Stephen Palmer of the Centre for Stress Management says: ‘Our stress levels depend largely on the way we view the world. Stress occurs when your perceived pressure exceeds your ability to cope.’

It’s when we’re feeling particularly overloaded that stress affects us most, striking us physically, behaviourally, psychologically—or aocmbination of all three. We may tire easily and have difficulty concentrating on specific tasks. Or we may find ourselves getting angry and snapping at our co-workers, convinced that they are picking on us. Stephen Palmer adds: ‘For the person who tends to “awfulise” situations, additional pressures placed on them can be overwhelming. but the person whose thinking is flexible is likely to be far better off.’

Sue Pegg, practice manager for a legal firm in Nottingham, learnt lessons about change the hard way. Within five weeks of taking up her new position, she had taken on two other people’s jobs and continued juggling her duties, even taking on new ones. Inevitably, this took its toll. ‘The pressure grew and grew,’ says Pegg, a slef-confessed perfectionist. Soon she was tired, anxious and often tearful. ‘My brain literally hurt from trying to switch from one job to another.’

When her boss expressed concern and suggested she see a doctor, she was astounded by what resulted. ‘The doctor signed me off work for a fortnight,’ she recalls. After she returned, she enrolled herself in a time-management workshop where she learnt to book every detail of her job into her diary. In addition to being able to prioritise her duties, she was eventually able to justify hiring an assistant. ‘It was a valuable experience,’ Pegg says. ‘I was able to show, in quantifiable terms, what I was trying to achieve. I’m still very busy, but I enjoy my job again and feel in control and a lot healthier.’