Women with stressful jobs more prone to heart ailments--study

These professional women are also more likely to suffer from strokes, cardiac arrest and high blood pressure due to their stressful work life.

While commenting on the study results, lead study researcher Dr. Michelle Albert, a cardiologist at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, United States, said in a press release, “The big thing is, what’s happening to you now in terms of mental tension has long-term effects on your health.”

“We're never going to be able to get rid of stress - some stress is positive, actually. The negative aspects of stress we're going to need to learn how to manage,” added Dr. Albert.

Study findings
Boston Brigham and Women's Hospital researchers studied around 17415 healthy women for over 10 years, to come to this conclusion.

The women in their 50s and 60s were healthy when the study began in 1999 and possessed the experience of working full or part-time.

They were asked to provide details about the nature of their work, stress involved in the job, and job insecurity (if any).

Then researchers divided these women in four groups based on the stress levels they reported. After ten years, researches again studied the data collected from these women to find out how they were faring.

Researchers found that women in high-stress jobs with little chance to use their creativity or authority over work were more likely to suffer a heart attack than those with less stressful jobs and more control over their work life.

These women were found to be 40 percent more at risk of suffering from heart problems such as strokes/clogged arteries, heart attacks. They were also more likely to need an artery-opening angioplasty procedure or a bypass surgery.

Women who feared losing their jobs were found to more at risk of suffering from high blood pressure, cholesterol, and body weight.

Tips to combat stress
However, Dr. Albert believes that all is not lost yet and women can take some precautions to safeguard themselves against these potential health hazards that can be result of their stress careers.

As per Dr. Albert, exercising regularly, spending time with one’s family and friends, relaxing after work and most importantly not bringing work at home can do wonders when it comes to combating work-related stress.

The study was presented at the annual meeting of the 'American Heart Association' conference in Chicago on Sunday.