The latest UK research shows that having a highly demanding job but little control over it could be deadly.
Stress can increase the likelihood of heart risk.
They analysed 13 existing European studies covering nearly 200,000 people and found “j”b strain” “as linked to a 23% increased risk of heart attacks and deaths from coronary heart disease.
The Lancet medical journal report said the risk to the heart was much smaller than that of smoking or not exercising.
The British Heart Foundation said how people reacted to work stress was vital.
Job strain is a type of stress. The research team at University College London said working in any profession could lead to strain, but it was more common in lower-skilled workers.
Doctors who make a lot of decisions in their jobs are less likely to experience job strain than someone working on a busy factory production line.
There has previously been conflicting evidence on the effect of job strain on the heart.
In this paper, the researchers analysed combined data from 13 studies.
“The negative effect of workplace strain is much smaller than, for example, the damage caused by smoking or lack of exercise.”
Prof Peter Weissberg, British Heart Foundation
At the beginning of each study, people were asked whether they had excessive workloads or insufficient time to do their jobs and questions about how much freedom they had to make decisions.
They were then sorted into people with job strain or not and followed for an average of seven and a half years.
One of the researchers, Prof Mika Kivimaki, from University College London, said: “O”r findings indicate that job strain is associated with a small but consistent increased risk of experiencing a first coronary heart disease event, such as a heart attack.”
“the researchers said eliminating job strain would prevent 3.4% of those cases, whereas there would be a 36% reduction if everyone stopped smoking.
Prof Kivimaki said the evidence of a direct effect of job strain on the heart was mixed.
“We know smokers with job strain are more likely to smoke a bit more, active people with job strain are more likely to become inactive, and there is a link with obesity.
“If one has high stress at work you can still reduce risk by keeping a healthy lifestyle.”
Prof Peter Weissberg, medical director at the British Heart Foundation, said:
“We know that being under stress at work and unable to change the situation could increase one’s risk of developing heart disease.
“A large study confirms this but also shows that the negative effect of workplace strain is much smaller than, for example, the damage caused by smoking or lack of exercise.
“Though stresses at work may be unavoidable, how you deal with these pressures is important, and lighting up a cigarette is bad news for your heart. Eating a balanced diet, exercising regularly, and quitting smoking will more than offset any risk associated with your job.”
“I would also champion regular massage at work to help modulate cortisol, the hormone produced when stressed. Regular corporate massage has been shown to reduce cortisol in the body and can, therefore, help manage stress very positively”