Work Burnout Causes Comfort Eating In Today’s Women

In our times of busy working life, most women start thinking about their jobs and careers much more than they think about their families and private life. As a result, their work-life balance is distorted and most of today’s women suffer from severe work-related stresses. According to the Employee Assistance Professionals Association, up to 75 per cent of the most common diseases in modern world have something to do with increased work-related stresses and their consequences. “The workplace has become the single greatest source of stress,” Steven L. Sauter, an expert of the Applied Psychology and Ergonomics Branch of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, wrote in his book on analyzing the problems and possible public consequences linked to work-related stresses.

Another study by a group of the scientists of the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health has revealed the fact that every fifth woman in modern world suffers from serious work burnout related to the hardships of today’s business life. Being overworked or, on the contrary, bored of their jobs are considered two main causes of work burnout. The Finnish experts found out that a great number of women affected by serious work burnout try to look form more comfort and pleasure in their life. As a result, a great deal of them start experiencing irresistible cravings for foods like chocolates, biscuits, ice-cream, and all other sorts of comforting foods. In other words, they start having very clear and very string signs of comfort eating.

At that, in most cases comfort eating caused by work burnout turns into uncontrolled bad habit affecting general health of modern women to a great extent. These findings were received after analyzing eating habits and working environment of 230 women aged between 30 and 55. They all were employed and were considered by the scientists as displaying the signs of obvious work burnout. Actually, 22 per cent of women in the focus group displayed the signs of suffering from chronic and severe work burnout, and these very participants of the experiment scored the highest in the tests revealing uncontrolled comfort eating. ‘Those experiencing burnout may be more vulnerable to emotional eating and uncontrolled eating and have a hindered ability to make changes in their eating behavior,’ said Nina Nevanperä, an expert at the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health and one of the study leaders.

Therefore, Finnish experts recommend those business ladies who started feeling really strong and uncontrolled cravings for foods and can not stop eating until the last piece is consumed, think about changing their jobs. At the same time, other world experts say that in our times, not only work burnout can be linked to uncontrolled comfort eating. For example, those women who are unhappy in their private life and marriage very often find pleasure in comfort eating, too. If you want to learn more about these interesting findings of Finnish experts, as well as read more about the backgrounds, objectives and the course of the study, can check out one of the latest issues of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

Author Info: Hi! My name is Carla and I am a 5th year medical student at HYMS. I am interested in alternative medicine and I have done months researching the topic of herbal medicine. Besides, I like interviewing people and learning more about their experiences with one or another type of herbal treatments. I am willing to contribute to this site with my knowledge, and I would be happy to help you out to the best of my ability with any specific questions or problems related to alternative medicine.

Comments are closed.