Your Health and You

Your Health, your Job

The stage is set almost on a daily basis in the work place. Obnoxious bosses ("Toxic boss") and difficult, overbearing co-workers. There're those of us whose daily routine is fraught with stresses by virtue of job type. Customer service and the medical industry comes to mind. The sense of feeling helpless to effect ones environment can be a daily hell.

It all adds up to one thing, stress. The precursor of a multitude of symptoms that can rob you of your physical, as well as, your mental health.

Being informed as to how these maladies can creep up on you, with your consent of course, is important.

According to the studies of human development. Innate to the human race is something referred to as "fight or flight" response or acute stress response.

When we are challenged in any way, the body responds by increasing heart rate and blood pressure. This gives us a burst of energy to run away or to fight.

Unless this energy is used these hormones stay in the body, raising hell with your heart rate. This is a condition that can lead to high blood pressure and a host of many other maladies.

Your job may be effecting your wellbeing when: you notice subtle changes like, getting to work late, leaving early, poor sleep habits, depression, and poor focus. Just to mention a few.

Some of the other tell-tale mental and physical signs are: Eczema, migraines, short temperament, and fatigue.

The Hazardous Chemicals Factor

But what about exposure to killer chemicals at work? In a previous article on this site "Cancer Causes and Prevention" we touched on chemicals in the work place.

According to Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA ) :30 million workers are exposed to chemicals. There're 650,000 hazardous chemicals in the work place. The reality is that chemical effect practically every phase of our lives.

There's is an OSHA, Hazard Communications Standard (HCS) requirement that employers provide employees with initial information and training on hazardous chemicals in our work area. This training must be followed through, when ever new chemical hazards are introduced.

Based on the number of citations issued to business. They're not all following this law. In 2003 OSHA issued over 7000 citations and 1.3 million in penalties for HCS violations.

Do you have to quit your job before the stress kills you? For most of us that is not an option, so here are some helpful hints on managing job stress.

Toxic boss: an interesting websites

Government Agencies
OSHA
Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease