LITTLE ROCK — Women Can’t Win, Example No. 38,394: Heart attacks.
A study conducted by researchers at Harvard University, Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Yale found a link between stressful jobs and cardiovascular disease in women.
U.S. working women who rated their job strain “high” were 67 percent more likely to have a heart attack and 38 percent more likely to experience a stroke or high blood pressure than women who rated their job strain “low.” This according to “Job Strain, Job Insecurity, and Incident Cardiovascular Disease in the Women’s Health Study: Results From a 10-Year Prospective Study” that was published on the PLos One (Public Library of Science) website, www.plosone.org.
Just the high job strain involved in reading that doozy of a study title taxed me greatly. Pass the nitroglycerin.
This heart study would seem to be a bit of a no-brainer.
Frazzled women are well aware that our work worries are harming our overfed, under rested, over caffeinated and under exercised physical bodies as well as exhausting our undernourished spirits. We didn’t need medical degrees and “Cox proportional hazard models” to conclude that demanding jobs demand compromises to our overall well-being.
From the study: “High strain and active jobs, but not job insecurity, were related to increased [cardiovascular disease] risk among women. Both job strain and job insecurity were significantly related to [cardiovascular disease] risk factors.”
So, what society considers “good” jobs can be “bad” for individuals.
And yet it’s unlikely having lesser jobs - or no jobs - would be any less worrisome for women.
“Oh no, I can’t pay the rent!” “How am I going to afford the car, gas, food, clothing, the utilities and credit card minimum payment?” “Not another late fee on a bill because I didn’t have money when it was due!” “Will I ever be able to retire?”
Such distresses are also enough to make you sick. You who wouldn’t have sufficient funds and insurance to handle being ill either.
“With the increase of women in the workforce, these data emphasize the importance of addressing job strain in [cardiovascular disease] prevention efforts among working women,” the study says.
What it doesn’t say: How to address it.
Still these data provide inspiration for calling in sick.
“Hi, boss, I can’t come in today. I’m warding off myocardial infarctions, ischemic strokes and coronary revascularizations.” It does my heart good when you e-mail:
What’s in a Dame is a weekly report from the woman ’hood.
Style, Pages 27 on 07/24/2012