Hate Your Job? Be Careful, It Can Ruin Your Health

By Mel Sim

Because bad days at work can have negative health consequences.

Everyone has bad days at the office and come home feeling miserable, wanting to call it a day and hide under the covers. But if this is you Monday to Friday, then you have a bigger problem at hand: You hate your job and it is actually making you physically and mentally sick. Your job is literally an occupational hazard, and considering how much time is spent at work, being miserable all those long hours at the office will impact your long-term health.

It’s not an excuse made up for you to call in sick; science backs it up. A study by researchers at Ohio State University found that those who are dissatisfied with their jobs in their 20s and 30s were more likely to have problems with sleep, anxiety and depression later in life.

Here’s how hating your job can harm your health.

#1 It gives your restless night
Constantly tossing and turning thinking of work all the time and how you wish you were doing something else? If this is happening almost every night, it’s a sign the stress you’re experiencing is disturbing your peace. Either you are finding it hard to fall asleep, wake up feeling like you’ve not slept well or completely didn’t sleep at all the night before. Sleep restores the body and strengthens the immune system. Losing it means you’re robbing your body of what it needs to stay healthy.

#2 Your muscles and head ache
When you are stressed, your shoulders become tense and tight. Whether you realise it or not, you clench your jaw. Find yourself constantly rubbing your temples or forehead? That’s a great giveaway that the stress is getting to you physically. Hating your job can cause you to feel this pressure, which affects your muscles. That’s because our mind and body are closely linked. When you hate your job, it affects your mind negatively, which then shows in your physical self. Plus, if you’re dealing with an unreasonable boss or a generally toxic work environment, you are constantly on the edge, sending your nervous system into react mode to what it thinks is a threat.

#3 You fall sick more often
You’re already not getting enough sleep so that contributes to you falling sick frequently. But hating your job can have a serious impact on your immune system. You just need to do a Google search and you’ll find tons of research and studies that show how the stress you’re experiencing from hating your job is compromising your immune system, making you more prone to falling sick and depressed. Like this study.

#4 It affects your weight
There are two camps here for people who hate their jobs: Either you eat junk food to make you feel better about your toxic job… or you don’t have much of an appetite because the stress is suppressing your hunger. Whichever one, the underlying problem is your weight will fluctuate unhealthily. Keep an eye out – putting on or losing weight without any real reason why is a sign your job is affecting your health.

#5 You are tired all the time
Not just tired of your job but tired physically. Hating your job can drain you. You feel overwhelmed, underappreciated, not inspired, unhappy and demotivated all the time. This can suck out a lot of your energy, leaving you feeling lethargic.

Hate your job? Do something about it! You have two choices – you either figure out how to improve your current work situation (maybe talk to your boss to see how things can be improved if you’re overworked but underpaid or confide in someone you trust on the issues you have at work – unloading all that emotional stress is actually good for you!)… or you find another job that will give you the all-important job satisfaction. Something needs to be done for your health’s sake!

Photo by Kelly Sikkema Craig Adderley from on Unsplash and Pexels

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