From the ArcaMax Publishing, Health & Fitness Newsletter:
http://www.arcamax.com/news/healthtips/s-563040-227832
DAVIS, Calif. (UPI) -- Executives and others with high-status careers
are less likely to have hypertension than those with lower-status
jobs, U.S. researchers say.
However, the study, published in the Journal of Occupational and
Environmental Medicine, also finds that retirement from some
occupations may not provide relief from the health effects of
work-related hypertension.
"People's occupations during their working years can clearly be a risk
for hypertension after they retire," senior study author Paul Leigh of
the University of California, Davis said in a statement. "The body
seems to have built up a stress reaction that takes years to ramp down
and may last well beyond age 75."
Leigh and Juan Du of the College of New Jersey looked at 7,289 men and
women age 65 and older, whose occupations ran from managers and
white-collar professionals to clerical and blue-collar workers.
After controlling for education, race, income, smoking, alcohol
consumption, body mass index and co-morbidities, they analyzed the
data for statistical associations.
"The conventional wisdom was that the people at the top would be more
likely to have hypertension, but just the opposite is true," Leigh
said.
Unlike executives and professionals, workers on the lower rungs have
little control over decisions, they do not control their time and they
may feel insecure in the workplace hierarchy. Consequently, their
stress levels tend to be higher, which can lead to high blood pressure
and, eventually, hypertension, Leigh said.