A social stress combined with work stress can significantly increase a woman’s risk of coronary heart disease. According to research published this week in the Journal of the American Heart Association, experiencing work stress – which occurs when a woman has insufficient power in the workplace to respond to the demands and expectations of the job – coupled with social stress, it is associated with a 21% higher risk of developing heart disease. Read on – and do not miss it to ensure your health and the health of others Sign that your disease is actually coronavirus.
Women who have reported high-stress life events have a 12% higher risk of heart disease
For the new study, researchers at Drexel University evaluated the effect of psychosocial stress on 80,825 postmenopausal women conducted by the Women’s Health Initiative Observational Study from 1991 to 2015. Participants reported their stress levels and resources on questionnaires.
The scientists found that 4.8% of the women developed coronary heart disease during the 14-year study. After adjusting for age, other stressors, work period, and socioeconomic factors, they found that women who reported high-stress life events had a 12% higher risk for CVD, and that high social stress was associated with with an increased risk of 9%.
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To measure social tension, defined as the ‘negative aspect of social relationships’, study participants were asked about’the number of people going on their nerves, asking too much of them, excluding them and trying to force them into their current lives. ‘
Work disability was not in itself associated with CHD risk, but the researchers found a ‘significant association’ between work stress and social stress, and found that women who reported both had a 21% higher risk for CHD.
“Psychosocial stress usually occurs when people experience problems with challenging environmental conditions and can lead to dysregulation of homeostasis that can lead to disease,” the researchers wrote. “Recently, several large research studies have identified that psychosocial stress from different life domains (e.g., finances, work, and relationships) may play a role in the development of coronary heart disease (CHD).”
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Can COVID stress have an effect on women’s health?
“The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the ongoing tension for women in the balance between paid work and social stressors,” said senior author Yvonne Michael, ScD, SM, associate professor at the Dornsife School of Public Health. “We know from other studies that work pressure may play a role in the development of CHD, but now we can better determine the combined impact of stress at work and at home on these poor health outcomes.”
She added: “My hope is that these findings call for better methods of monitoring stress in the workplace and remind us of the dual work women face as a result of their unpaid work as caregivers at home.”
“Our findings are a critical reminder to women, and those who care, that the threat of stress to human health should not be ignored,” said lead author Conglong Wang, Ph.D. “This is especially true during the stressors caused by a pandemic.” And do not miss this, if you are going through this pandemic in the healthiest way 35 places you are likely to catch COVID.