People with high-stress jobs have twice the risk of developing serious depression or anxiety compared with others in less stressful occupations, The Independent reported. The link between rising rates of depression and rates of work stress means that “one in 20 cases of depression or anxiety annually is attributable to high stress at work”, it stated on August 2 2007.
Highly stressed jobs include head chefs and construction workers, the paper reports, and least stressful jobs include looking after children at home, “where there are no deadlines to meet, greater flexibility and no fear of public failure”. The researchers explain that “time pressure is the single most important cause of stress and of the illness to which it leads,” the newspaper said.
The research supports the intuitive link between stress at work and the mental health of young working adults.
Where did the story come from?
The research was carried out by Maria Melchior and colleagues at the Institute of Psychiatry, Kings College London. Other institutions in the US, France and New Zealand were also involved. It was supported by universities, research institutes or research councils in all of these countries and was published in the journal,_ Psychological Medicine._
Being overweight may not be as unhealthy as it was 40 years ago," BBC News reports. New research has found a body mass index (BMI) of 27 is linked to the lowest rate of death – but someone with a BMI of 27 is currently classed as being overweight. BMI is a score calculated by dividing your weight (usually in kilograms) by the square of your height (usually in metres and centimetres). Currently, a BMI of 25 to 29.9 is classified as being overweight. Researchers looked at 120,528 people from Copenhagen, recruited from 1976 to 2013, and separately compared those recruited during the 1970s, 1990s and 2000s. They were followed up until they died, emigrated, or the study finished. The BMI linked to the lowest risk of having died from any cause was 23.7 in the 1970s group, 24.6 in the 1990s group, and had further risen to 27 in the 2003-13 group. It may be the case that the suggested upward shift in optimal BMI is the result of improvements in preventative treatments for weight-rela...