Job Burnout Linked With Higher Coronary Heart Disease Risk

Getting burned out from your job isn't just bad for mental health -- it could be bad for your heart, too.

A new study in the journal Psychosomatic Medicine shows an association between coronary heart disease, which is a major risk factor for heart attack, and job burnout.

The findings are based on analysis of 8,838 employed men and women between ages 19 and 67. The study participants underwent typical health exams, and then were followed for 3.4 years by Tel Aviv University researchers, at the end of which their coronary heart disease status and job burnout status were analyzed.

At the end of the study period, researchers identified 93 people who had developed coronary heart disease. After taking into account other factors like smoking, age and family history, researchers found that experiencing job burnout raised heart disease risk by 40 percent. And people who were the most burnt out - scoring in the top 20 percent on the job burnout scale - were 79 percent more likely to have coronary heart disease.

Researchers noted that the findings should motivate employers to take measures to prevent job burnout among their employees.

Earlier, Tel Aviv University researchers found an association between job burnout and Type 2 diabetes. Specifically, people who were the most burnt out had an 84 percent higher risk of being diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes, compared with their less burned-out peers, CBS News reported.

So what's a person to do to prevent job burnout? Research in the Journal of Applied Psychology shows that exercise could be a good way to boost employee wellbeing and keep depression and job burnout at bay.

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