10 Ways Your Job Can Hurt Your Heart

Your job, your heart

By Amanda Gardner
Although most people don't think of heart disease as an occupational hazard, certain characteristics of your job may be upping your risk for heart attacks and other problems.

Some work-related factors—such as sitting long hours at a desk, stress, irregular work hours, and exposure to certain chemicals or pollution—could also harm your heart.

Here are some jobs and job characteristics that could be upping your risk—and what to do about it.

Desk jockeys

People who are sedentary at work have a higher risk of heart problems than those in more active jobs, says Martha Grogan, MD, a cardiologist with the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. and editor of the book, Mayo Clinic Healthy Heart for Life!

It's not clear why, but prolonged sitting may cause a drop in insulin sensitivity and enzymes that normally break down fat, she says.

Standing up and walking around once in a while or working at a standing desk may help.

Emergency responders

Jobs that combine inactivity with bouts of high stress activity—like fighting crime or fires—aren't that great either. About 22% of on-the-job deaths in police officers and 45% in firefighters are due to cardiovascular disease compared to 15% in other jobs.

Long hours, shift work, unhealthy eating at work, stress, exposure to carbon monoxide or other pollutants, as well as high rates of other risk factors, like hypertension (which have been documented in emergency responders), may play a role.

If you can't change your job, focus on things—like healthy eating, exercise, and lowering blood pressure—that you can control.

Bus drivers

Bus drivers are more likely to have hypertension than other workers, says Peter L. Schnall, MD, professor of medicine at the University of California, Irvine.

It may be because it's a sedentary occupation that requires vigilance to avoid accidents and keep passengers safe, which can stress your system, he says.

While you may not be able to control stress or pollution, you can address other risk factors.

In one study, 56% of bus drivers in Taipei had hypertension compared with 31% of other workers. They also had higher cholesterol, body weight, trigylercides, and heart disease rates.

Shift workers

Rotating shifts, a schedule common for doctors, nurses, and others, is linked to a higher risk of heart disease and type 2 diabetes. Shift work itself may disrupt circadian rhythms, the "body clock" that plays a role in blood sugar, blood pressure, and insulin regulation.

But lifestyle may be a factor too. Night-shift workers seem to be more likely to smoke, says Nieca Goldberg, MD, medical director of the Joan H. Tisch Center for Women's Health at NYU Langone Medical Center in New York City. And short sleep duration is linked to greater heart risk (5 to 6 hours per night vs. 7 to 8 hours).
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