Stress at work is dangerous, yet often overlooked. Whether you work long hours, you’re always under pressure to make deadlines or you feel as though you can’t meet your boss’s high standards, work could be causing your stress levels to soar. As well as making your daily life more difficult, this could be having a negative impact on your health.
3 health problems caused by stress at work
Here, we take a look at a few medical issues that many people don’t realise can be triggered or made worse by excessive stress at work.
Hair loss
As well as affecting your psychological state, stress can have a major impact on your physical wellbeing. In extreme cases, it can result in a particular type of hair loss. Telogen effluvium is a form of alopecia and it’s characterised by a widespread thinning of hair across the scalp. It can be caused by a range of things, including dietary changes, hormonal fluctuations and intense and prolonged emotional stress. So, if you’re been subjected to too much pressure at work, there is a risk that this will result in your hair thinning. The good news is, hair usually grows back within around six months in cases of telogen effluvium.
Of course, not all hair loss has this trigger. If your tresses are falling out and you’re not sure why, you might want to seek medical advice from your doctor. The most common cause of hair loss is male pattern baldness, and there are now effective treatments available to tackle this, including the medicine finasteride. You can find out more about it by speaking to your GP or visiting health websites like https://onlinedoctor.lloydspharmacy.com.
Heart problems
High stress levels are also associated with an increased risk of serious medical problems like heart disease and stroke. One of the reasons for this is that when people find their work – or their lives more generally – difficult to cope with, they are more likely to engage in potentially damaging behaviours like overeating, smoking and drinking high levels of alcohol. These habits can take their toll on health and make people far more susceptible to heart problems and a range of other medical issues.
Depression
Short-term stress can make us feel tired, irritable and strung out. However, if it persists for a long period of time, it can have more profound effects on our mental wellbeing. It can disrupt sleep patterns, harm relationships and discourage people from doing mood-boosting activities like exercising and spending time with loved ones. In turn, this can raise people’s risk of suffering depression. Symptoms of this condition include feelings of hopelessness and sadness, losing interest in things you used to take pleasure in and having no appetite.
Takeaway
If you think stress at work is putting you at risk of health problems like these, now could be the time to take action to address the problem. Making changes to your daily routine, delegating more responsibilities to other people or even switching to a new job may help you to take control of your stress levels.