We Are Bored With Our Work - We Eat More. Why?

Author: Ivan Red Jr. Time for reading: ~1 minutes Last Updated: August 08, 2022

In this article, learn more about We Are Bored With Our Work - We Eat More. Why?. Occupational dissatisfaction leads to emotional and uncontrolled eating..

Women who are affected by the so-called occupational exhaustion syndrome are more likely to overeat, a Finnish study found.

These women are more vulnerable to the acquisition of habits associated with so-called emotional or uncontrolled eating, and have a reduced ability to make changes in their eating behavior, says lead researcher Nina Nevanpera.

The findings are based on the follow-up of 230 working women aged 30 to 55 who are part of a clinical trial related to healthy lifestyle changes.

Overall, 22% of women experience some degree of dissatisfaction with their work. Analyzing their eating habits, the researchers found that this group of women have a habit of consoling themselves and overeating.

The results also show that women who are satisfied with their work, but have uncontrolled eating, manage to limit bad habits for a year. While, the group of dissatisfied do not achieve this change.

If a person is dissatisfied with their job, has an unhappy marriage or other problem, often in such cases food becomes one of the few pleasures in life, says Sherry Pagoto of the Medical School at the University of Massachusetts, who did not participate in the study.

Dissatisfaction with work commitments has no particular effect on weight, the researchers said. Half of women who are dissatisfied with their work are of normal weight, compared to 1/3 of those who are professionally happy.

One reason could be education, experts suggest. Women affected by "occupational exhaustion" generally have a higher level of education, which in turn is associated with lower weight, they explain.

However, emotional eating is a potential risk factor for gaining weight in the future. And it's not very healthy, because stressed people are more likely to comfort themselves with chocolate or fast food than with an apple, adds Nina Nevanpera.

The results are published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition .

We Are Bored With Our Work - We Eat More. Why?

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