Front-line physicians stressed and anxious at work and home

New study reports moderate to severe stress levels in ER doctors during the frenetic early phase of COVID-19 pandemic

July 21, 2020

Science Daily/University of California - San Francisco

Amid the COVID-19 chaos in many hospitals, emergency medicine physicians in seven cities around the country experienced rising levels of anxiety and emotional exhaustion, regardless of the intensity of the local surge, according to a new analysis led by UC San Francisco.

In the first known study to assess stress levels of U.S. physicians during the coronavirus pandemic, doctors reported moderate to severe levels of anxiety at both work and home, including worry about exposing relatives and friends to the virus. Among the 426 emergency physicians surveyed, most reported changes in behavior toward family and friends, especially decreased signs of affection.

"Occupational exposure has changed the vast majority of physicians' behavior at both work and home," said lead author Robert M. Rodriguez, MD, a professor of Emergency Medicine at UCSF. "At home, doctors are worried about exposing family members or roommates, possibly needing to self-quarantine, and the effects of excess social isolation because of their work on the front line."

The results, which appear July 21, 2020, in Academic Emergency Medicine, found slight differences between men and women, with women reporting higher stress. Among male physicians, the median reported effect of the pandemic on both work and home stress levels was 5 on a scale of 1 to 7 (1=not at all, 4=somewhat, and 7=extremely). For women, the median was 6 in both areas. Both men and women also reported that levels of emotional exhaustion or burnout increased from a pre-pandemic median of 3 to a median of 4 after the pandemic started.

Lack of PPE was associated with the highest level of concern and was also the measure most often cited that would provide greatest relief. The doctors also voiced anxiety about inadequate rapid diagnostic testing, the risk of community spread by discharged patients, and the well-being of coworkers diagnosed with COVID-19.

But the survey also showed clear-cut ways of mitigating anxiety:

• Improve access to PPE;

• Increase availability of rapid turnaround testing;

• Clearly communicate COVID-19 protocol changes;

• Assure access to self-testing and personal leave for front line providers.

The responses came from faculty (55 percent), fellows (4.5 percent), and residents (about 39 percent), with a median age of 35. Most physicians lived with a partner (72 percent), while some lived alone (nearly 15 percent) or with roommates (11 percent). Nearly 39 percent had a child under age 18.

The study involved healthcare providers at seven academic emergency departments and affiliated institutions in California, Louisiana and New Jersey. Researchers noted that the majority of study sites were in California, which at the time of the survey had not yet experienced the large surges of patients seen in other areas of the country. But the study found that median levels of anxiety in the California sites were similar to those in the New Orleans and Camden sites, which were experiencing surges at the time.

"This suggests that the impact of COVID-19 on anxiety levels is pervasive and that measures to mitigate stress should be enacted universally," Rodriguez said. "Some of our findings may be intuitive, but this research provides a critical early template for the design and implementation of interventions that will address the mental health needs of emergency physicians in the COVID-19 pandemic era."

The study is longitudinal, with this first phase focused on the early "acceleration" phase of the pandemic. Subsequent studies will address stressors that have arisen throughout the course of the pandemic, including childcare and homeschooling demands, the economic impact of fewer patients overall in the ER, and possible development of long-term post-traumatic stress.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/07/200721084205.htm

Language may undermine women in science and tech

August 3, 2020

Science Daily/Carnegie Mellon University

Despite decades of positive messaging to encourage women and girls to pursue education tracks and careers in STEM, women continue to fall far below their male counterparts in these fields. A new study at Carnegie Mellon University examined 25 languages to explore the gender stereotypes in language that undermine efforts to support equality across STEM career paths. The results are available in the August 3rd issue of Nature Human Behavior.

Molly Lewis, special faculty at CMU and her research partner, Gary Lupyan, associate professor at University of Wisconsin-Madison, set out to examine the effect of language on career stereotypes by gender. They found that implicit gender associations are strongly predicted by the language we speak. Their work suggests that linguistic associations may be causally related to people's implicit judgement of what women can accomplish.

"Young children have strong gender stereotypes as do older adults, and the question is where do these biases come from," said Lewis, first author on the study. No one has looked at implicit language -- simple language that co-occurs over a large body of text -- that could give information about stereotypical norms in our culture across different languages."

In general, the team examined how words co-occur with women compared to men. For example, how often is 'woman' associated with 'home,' 'children' and 'family,' where as 'man' was associated with 'work,' 'career' and 'business.'

"What's not obvious is that a lot of information that is contained in language, including information about cultural stereotypes, [occurs not as] direct statements but in large-scale statistical relationships between words," said Lupyan, senior author on the study. "Even without encountering direct statements, it is possible to learn that there is stereotype embedded in the language of women being better at some things and men at others."

They found that languages with a stronger embedded gender association are more clearly associated with career stereotypes. They also found that a positive relationship between gender-

marked occupation terms and the strength of these gender stereotypes.

Previous work has shown that children begin to ingrain gender stereotypes in their culture by the age of two. The team examined statistics regarding gender associations embedded in 25 languages and related the results to an international dataset of gender bias (Implicit Association Test).

Surprisingly, they found that the median age of the country influences the study results. Countries with a larger older population have a stronger bias in career-gender associations.

"The consequences of these results are pretty profound," said Lewis. "The results suggest that if you speak a language that is really biased then you are more likely to have a gender stereotype that associates men with career and women with family."

She suggests children's books be written and designed to not have gender-biased statistics. These results also have implications for algorithmic fairness research aimed at eliminating gender bias in computer algorithms.

"Our study shows that language statistics predict people's implicit biases -- languages with greater gender biases tend to have speakers with greater gender biases," Lupyan said. "The results are correlational, but that the relationship persists under various controls [and] does suggest a causal influence."

Lewis notes that the Implicit Association Test used in this study has been criticized for low reliability and limited external validity. She stresses that additional work using longitudinal analyses and experimental designs is necessary to explore language statistics and implicit associations with gender stereotypes.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/08/200803120130.htm

Troubling connection between workplace pregnancy discrimination and health of mothers, babies

Researcher shares practical steps for managers to combat discrimination

July 7, 2020

Science Daily/Baylor University

Perceived pregnancy discrimination indirectly relates to increased levels of postpartum depressive symptoms for mothers and lower birth weights, lower gestational ages and increased numbers of doctor visits for babies, according to a management study led by Baylor University.

The study -- "Examining the Effects of Perceived Pregnancy Discrimination on Mother and Baby Health" -- is published in the Journal of Applied Psychology.

"Despite being illegal, pregnancy discrimination still takes place in the workplace," said lead author Kaylee Hackney, Ph.D., assistant professor of management in Baylor University's Hankamer School of Business. "Obviously, this is troublesome. Our research highlights the negative impact that perceived pregnancy discrimination can have on both the mother's and the baby's health."

The researchers surveyed 252 pregnant employees over the course of two studies. They measured perceived pregnancy discrimination, perceived stress, demographics and postpartum depressive symptoms. The second study included the measurements of the babies' health outcomes, including gestational age (number of weeks of pregnancy when the baby was delivered), Apgar score (heart rate, respiration, muscle tone, reflex response and color), birth weight and visits to the doctor.

Sample survey statements and questions used to measure perceived discrimination, perceived stress and postpartum depressive symptoms included: "Prejudice toward pregnant workers exists where I work," "In the last month, how often have you felt nervous or stressed?" and "I am so unhappy that I cry." Mothers also logged their babies' health outcomes.

"I think the biggest surprise from this research is that pregnancy discrimination not only negatively impacted the mother, but also negatively impacted the baby she was carrying while experiencing the discrimination," Hackney said. "This just shows the far-reaching implications of workplace discrimination and highlights the importance of addressing it."

More than 50,000 discrimination claims in a decade

The study noted that over the last decade, more than 50,000 pregnancy discrimination claims were filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and Fair Employment Practices Agencies in the United States.

Pregnancy discrimination is defined as unfavorable treatment of women at work due to pregnancy, childbirth or medical conditions related to pregnancy or childbirth, Hackney said. Pregnant women perceive discrimination when they experience subtly hostile behaviors such as social isolation, negative stereotyping and negative or rude interpersonal treatment.

Examples might include lower performance expectations, transferring the pregnant employee to less-desirable shifts or assignments or inappropriate jokes and intrusive comments.

Practical steps for managers

Given that pregnancy discrimination led to adverse health outcomes through increased stress, the researchers believe managers are in a unique position to provide the support that pregnant employees need to reduce stress.

Some steps managers might take include:

• Providing flexible schedules

• Keeping information channels open and the employee in the loop, specifically with regards to work-family benefits and expectations leading up to leave/returning from leave

• Accommodating prenatal appointments

• Helping to plan maternity leave arrangements

• Normalizing breastfeeding in the workplace

"Overall, I would suggest that managers 1) strive to create a workplace culture where discrimination does not take place and 2) not make assumptions about what pregnant employees want," Hackney said. "The best approach would be to have an open dialogue with their employees about what types of support are needed and desired."

Healthcare partnerships

In addition, Hackney said the findings suggest that healthcare organizations may find opportunities to provide guidance and outreach to workplaces to help pregnant workers reduce stress via reduced pregnancy discrimination and enhanced work-family support for pregnant women.

Some steps may include training managers to be more family supportive and less biased against expectant mothers, she said.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/07/200707120650.htm

Control over work-life boundaries creates crucial buffer to manage after-hours work stress

June 25, 2020

Science Daily/University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, News Bureau

Workers with greater boundary control over their work and personal lives were better at creating a stress buffer to prevent them from falling into a negative rumination trap, says a new study by experts who study occupational stress and employee well-being.

When work intrudes after hours in the form of pings and buzzes from smartphone alerts, it can cause spikes of stress that lead to a host of adverse effects for workers, including negative work rumination, poor affect and insomnia.

But according to research co-written by a team of researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign who study occupational stress and employee well-being, those who have greater "boundary control" over their work and personal lives were better at creating a stress buffer that helped protect them from falling into a negative-rumination trap.

Information communication technologies such as smartphones and tablets enable employees to work anywhere and anytime, thereby blurring work and nonwork boundaries. But that convenience comes at the expense of increased stress and mental health woes for workers unless they have control over the boundaries between work and nonwork life, said YoungAh Park, a professor of labor and employment relations at Illinois.

"Most people simply can't work without a smartphone, tablet or laptop computer," she said. "These technologies are so ubiquitous and convenient that it can lead some people to think that employees have to be always on or always available. Clearly, this kind of after-hours intrusion into the home or personal life domain is unhealthy, and our research shows that an always-on mentality has a big downside in the form of increased job stress."

In the study, Park and co-authors surveyed more than 500 full-time public school teachers in grades K-6 to measure their off-the-clock work intrusion via technologies on a weekly basis for five consecutive weeks.

"We asked about their weekly work intrusion involving technology, specifically their after-hours work -- whether they were expected to respond to work-related messages and emails immediately, and whether they were contacted about work-related issues after hours," she said.

The researchers found that teachers' adoption of technological boundary tactics such as keeping work email alerts turned off on smartphones was related to lower perceptions of the weekly work intrusion.

The study builds on recent scholarship on how coping with off-hours occupational demands is becoming an increasingly important issue for workers, said Yihao Liu, a professor of labor and employment relations at Illinois and a co-author of the study.

"Managing your work-life balance through boundary control is not only helpful for you and your family, it also could be a benefit for your co-workers, because they also have to potentially read and respond to the back-and-forth messages that people are sending after the workday is done," he said. "Setting a good boundary between work and regular life is going to help more people and more stakeholders. Overall, it's critical that individuals manage their work-life boundaries for their own health and well-being, but also for their own productivity and their colleagues' productivity."

Moreover, the researchers found that teachers' boundary control softened the work intrusion-negative rumination link and that this boundary control was an important mechanism by which two "border keepers" -- principals, who effectively functioned as supervisors in the study; and parents, who could be thought of as clientele -- can affect teachers' weekly stress experiences.

In other words, the weekly strain symptoms involving work intrusion can be alleviated by a supervisor who supports employees' work-life balance, Park said. Or conversely, it can be aggravated by clientele who expect employees to be always accessible and available.

"A really important point around the sense of boundary control is that stakeholders can influence employees' control," she said. "Our study suggests that school principals can play a positive role in that their support for work-life balance was associated with the teachers' greater sense of boundary control. When you have supportive leaders who model behaviors for work-life balance and work effectively with employees to creatively solve work-life conflicts, that translates into less stress for teachers through boundary control."

Although the study only included elementary school teachers in its sample, the findings about drawing clear boundaries after work ought to apply to most workers, especially now that more are working remotely due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the researchers said.

"Our initial motivation was to study teachers because we tend to assume that their work and nonwork lives are separate and distinct," Park said. "Teachers have set schedules in a physical building, along with discrete blocks of free time over the weekends. But even with this working population, we found that after-hours work intrusion via technology can be really stressful for them. So although this finding is particular to teachers, a class of employees who we tend to assume have clear work-life boundaries, it's now an issue for everyone who is electronically tethered to their work after regular hours."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/06/200625122734.htm

To make a good impression, leave cell phone alone during work meetings

June 17, 2020

Science Daily/University of Kansas

To get on the good side of a new boss, colleague or acquaintance in a business meeting, leave your cell phone stashed in your pocket or purse.

That is the implication of a new study conducted by University of Kansas Assistant Professor of Communication Studies Cameron W. Piercy and doctoral candidate Greta R. Underhill. It is titled "Expectations of technology use during meetings: An experimental test of manager policy, device use, and task acknowledgment" and was published in the journal Mobile Media & Communication.

Looking at your phone during a meeting is akin to "phubbing," or snubbing your interlocutor, in a strictly social setting, the study found.

The authors prepared video vignettes of people using either a paper notebook, a cell phone or a laptop computer while participating in a business meeting. They refer to this scenario as "multicommunication." Then they asked 243 viewers to rate the distracted meeting member's competence and the effectiveness of the meeting.

Other variables studied included the meeting manager's expectations for technology use in the workplace and whether the user apologized later that their technology use was work-related.

It mattered not whether the cell phone user stipulated afterward that their usage was strictly business-related. Viewers still rated them down, and to a significant degree more than those who used a computer or notepad.

In a recent interview, Piercy said the results can largely be attributed to a phenomenon known to social scientists as "introspective illusion."

"We know you can do work on your phone," Piercy said. But he added that because we also know phones can be used to scroll idly through social-media feeds, "we assume that you're not working when we see you're using it."

This is true even of people who themselves use a mobile device during a business meeting.

"We can always infer our own thoughts and motives, but we can't ever know a partner's thoughts and motives, so we make negative assumptions about others, and we make excuses for ourselves," Piercy said.

In line with this new concept, the mobile introspective illusion, people did not rate the technology user any differently if they apologized for using their device. Piercy said, "People expect that technology is used for ill, even when the person using the technology says their use is related to the topic of conversation."

A manager's attitude toward technology in the workplace does seem to matter somewhat, in terms of viewers' evaluations.

"When the manager articulated a policy, those who acknowledged their multicommunication were evaluated higher and seen as more competent," the authors write in their paper. "In the absence of a policy, the pattern is reversed. Finally, the means for communicator evaluation and competence were highest in the pro-technology policy condition. In all, when the manager's policy is matched by employee's behavior, outcome means tend to be higher."

"The manager articulating a clear policy about expectations of technology use ought to affect the way that people engage with technology in the workplace," Piercy said. "But so is the idea that people would be excused if they apologize for using technology. And in that case, we didn't find a significant effect."

However, the effect of cell phone use on viewers' perceptions was dramatic.

"The effect for the phone is ginormous," Piercy quipped. "It's as big an effect as you'll ever see in a social-science study -- 30% of the variance. You can just look at the numbers and see it. But the notebook was less of a problem than the computer, which was less of a problem than the phone. So even if you were to use a laptop in the meeting, you'd be better off than using your phone because there was this big spike in all the numbers that are associated with using the phone, relative to the other two."

Piercy noted that the study asked viewers to judge the interactions they saw on screen, simulating a meeting with a new person or boss. Attitudes might change, he said, in a situation where all the participants know each other -- and the boss's expectations -- well.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/06/200617145932.htm

Why do so many of us feel guilty about taking a lunch break?

June 17, 2020

Science Daily/Staffordshire University

New research from health psychologists at Staffordshire University explores why some employees feel guilty about taking their legally entitled breaks.

The paper's lead author Dr Mike Oliver explained: "The legally required minimum time for a lunch break at work is 20 minutes, however there is a growing trend nationally for large numbers of people not to take breaks at work, with surveys reporting that between 66% and 82% of workers don't always take their breaks.

"So, how have we got to the point where some people feel guilty about taking their legally allowable break? We were curious to look at the psychological and social behaviours of office workers to understand the enablers and barriers."

With many employees now working from home during the lockdown, Mike believes that some people may find it even harder to take breaks.

"We found that one of the best ways to make sure that you take breaks is to take them with your work colleagues, or to be encouraged to take them by your boss. If they are not physically near you, we may find it harder to act on these social prompts."

For the research, groups of office workers at a large employer of differing levels of seniority were asked about their lunch break habits.

The analysis identified five key themes:

1. People's behaviours depend on various factors -- it is not as simple as having those who do take breaks and those who don't. 

2. The influence of social and work relationships -- if your colleagues take breaks then you are more likely to yourself and vice-versa.

3. Faced with a choice when they're really busy, even if someone wants to take a break, then work "wins."

4. Contradictory feelings -- lots of people feel anxious and guilty about taking breaks, although some simply don't.

5. Being 'fair game' for work related matters if you remain at your desk at break times.

Mike, who completed his Professional Doctorate in Health Psychology at Staffordshire University last year, said: "This paper highlights the complex relationships that people have with taking breaks, with others and with their physical environment. Some participants did recognise the importance of taking a break in the middle of the day, but others appeared to convince themselves that by doing a less intense work activity, such as responding to emails, whilst eating their lunch at their desk, would actually be taking a break.

"The greater importance that people appear to be placing on completing their work over the time they give themselves for breaks, or simply the sheer volume and pressure of work, may go some way to explaining this pattern of behaviour."

Mike and colleagues recommend further research and organisational changes to support improved workplace health and wellbeing.

He added: "There is mounting concern about the amount of time people spend sitting down at work and not being physically active, so it is really important that people don't put work ahead of breaks and their own physical and psychological health."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/06/200617121453.htm

Walking or cycling to work associated with reduced risk of early death and illness

May 19, 2020

Science Daily/Imperial College London

People who walk, cycle and travel by train to work are at reduced risk of early death or illness compared with those who commute by car.

These are the findings of a study of over 300,000 commuters in England and Wales, by researchers from Imperial College London and the University of Cambridge.

The researchers say the findings suggest increased walking and cycling post-lockdown may reduce deaths from heart disease and cancer.

The study, published in The Lancet Planetary Health, used Census data to track the same people for up to 25 years, between 1991-2016.

It found that, compared with those who drove, those who cycled to work had a 20 per cent reduced rate of early death, 24 per cent reduced rate of death from cardiovascular disease (which includes heart attack and stroke) during the study period, a 16 per cent reduced rate of death from cancer, and an 11 per cent reduced rate of a cancer diagnosis.

Walking to work was associated with a 7 per cent reduced rate in cancer diagnosis, compared to driving. The team explain that associations between walking and other outcomes, such as rates of death from cancer and heart disease, were less certain. One potential reason for this is people who walk to work are, on average, in less affluent occupations than people who drive to work, and more likely to have underlying health conditions which could not be fully accounted for.

The paper also revealed that compared with those who drove to work, rail commuters had a 10 per cent reduced rate of early death, a 20 per cent reduced rate of death from cardiovascular disease, and a 12 per cent reduced rate of cancer diagnosis. This is likely due to them walking or cycling to transit points, although rail commuters also tend to be more affluent and less likely to have other underlying conditions, say the team.

Dr Richard Patterson from the MRC Epidemiology Unit at the University of Cambridge who led the research said: "As large numbers of people begin to return to work as the COVID-19 lockdown eases, it is a good time for everyone to rethink their transport choices. With severe and prolonged limits in public transport capacity likely, switching to private car use would be disastrous for our health and the environment. Encouraging more people to walk and cycle will help limit the longer-term consequences of the pandemic."

The study also assessed whether the benefits of each mode of travel differed between occupational groups and found that potential health benefits were similar across these groups.

The team used data from the UK Office for National Statistics Longitudinal Study of England and Wales, a dataset that links data from several sources including the Census of England and Wales, and registrations of death and cancer diagnoses.

The data revealed overall 66 per cent of people drove to work, 19 per cent used public transport, 12 per cent walked, and 3 per cent cycled. Men were more likely than women to drive or cycle to work, but were less likely to use public transport or walk.

Dr Anthony Laverty, senior author from the School of Public Health at Imperial College London explained: "It's great to see that the government is providing additional investment to encourage more walking and cycling during the post-lockdown period. While not everyone is able to walk or cycle to work, the government can support people to ensure that beneficial shifts in travel behaviour are sustained in the longer term. Additional benefits include better air quality which has improved during lockdown and reduced carbon emissions which is crucial to address the climate emergency."

The team add that the benefits of cycling and walking are well-documented, but use of Census data in this new study allowed large numbers of people to be followed up for a longer time. They explain that these analyses were unable to account for differences in participants' dietary intakes, smoking, other physical activity or underlying health conditions. However, they add these findings are compatible with evidence from other studies.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/05/200519190206.htm

Is your job killing you? Stress, lack of autonomy, ability can lead to depression, death

May 19, 2020

Science Daily/Indiana University

As millions continue working from home during the pandemic or are required to report to jobs as essential employees, many have raised questions about how these work conditions impact our health -- and not just as they relate to COVID-19.

A new study from the Indiana University Kelley School of Business finds that our mental health and mortality have a strong correlation with the amount of autonomy we have at our job, our workload and job demands, and our cognitive ability to deal with those demands.

"When job demands are greater than the control afforded by the job or an individual's ability to deal with those demands, there is a deterioration of their mental health and, accordingly, an increased likelihood of death," said Erik Gonzalez-Mulé, assistant professor of organizational behavior and human resources at the Kelley School and the paper's lead author.

"We examined how job control -- or the amount of autonomy employees have at work -- and cognitive ability -- or people's ability to learn and solve problems -- influence how work stressors such as time pressure or workload affect mental and physical health and, ultimately, death," he said. "We found that work stressors are more likely to cause depression and death as a result of jobs in which workers have little control or for people with lower cognitive ability."

On the other hand, Gonzalez-Mulé and his co-author, Bethany Cockburn, assistant professor of management at Northern Illinois University, found that job demands resulted in better physical health and lower likelihood of death when paired with more control of work responsibilities.

"We believe that this is because job control and cognitive ability act as resources that help people cope with work stressors," Gonzalez-Mulé said. "Job control allows people to set their own schedules and prioritize work in a way that helps them achieve their work goals, while people that are smarter are better able to adapt to the demands of a stressful job and figure out ways to deal with stress."

The study, "This Job Is (Literally) Killing Me: A Moderated-Mediated Model Linking Work Characteristics to Mortality," appears in the current issue of the Journal of Applied Psychology. It is a follow-up to previous research the pair published in 2017, which was the first study in the management and applied psychology fields to examine the relationship between job characteristics and mortality.

The researchers used data from 3,148 Wisconsin residents who participated in the nationally representative, longitudinal Midlife in the United States survey. Of those in their sample, 211 participants died during the 20-year study.

"Managers should provide employees working in demanding jobs more control, and in jobs where it is unfeasible to do so, a commensurate reduction in demands. For example, allowing employees to set their own goals or decide how to do their work, or reducing employees' work hours, could improve health," Gonzalez-Mulé said. "Organizations should select people high on cognitive ability for demanding jobs. By doing this, they will benefit from the increased job performance associated with more intelligent employees, while having a healthier workforce.

"COVID-19 might be causing more mental health issues, so it's particularly important that work not exacerbate those problems," Gonzalez-Mulé said. "This includes managing and perhaps reducing employee demands, being aware of employees' cognitive capability to handle demands and providing employees with autonomy are even more important than before the pandemic began."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/05/200519165842.htm

Multitasking in the workplace can lead to negative emotions

Study finds constant email interruptions create sadness and fear

May 11, 2020

Science Daily/University of Houston

From writing papers to answering emails, it's common for office workers to juggle multiple tasks at once. But those constant interruptions can actually create sadness and fear and eventually, a tense working environment, according to a new study aimed at understanding what shapes the emotional culture of a workplace.

"Not only do people experience stress with multitasking, but their faces may also express unpleasant emotions and that can have negative consequences for the entire office culture," said study senior author Ioannis Pavlidis, director of the Computational Physiology Laboratory at the University of Houston.

Pavlidis, along with Gloria Mark at the University of California Irvine and Ricardo Gutierrez-Osuna at Texas A&M University, used a novel algorithm, based on co-occurrence matrices, to analyze mixed emotions manifested on the faces of so-called knowledge workers amidst an essay writing task. One group answered a single batch of emails before they began writing, thus limiting the amount of distraction, while the other group was frequently interrupted to answer emails as they came in.

The findings are published in the Proceedings of the 2020 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems.

"Individuals who engaged in multitasking appeared significantly sadder than those who did not. Interestingly, sadness tended to mix with a touch of fear in the multitasking cohort," Pavlidis said. "Multitasking imposes an onerous mental load and is associated with elevated stress, which appears to trigger the displayed sadness. The simultaneous onset of fear is intriguing and is likely rooted to subconscious anticipation of the next disruption," he added. Because multitasking is a widespread practice, the display of these negative emotions can persist throughout the workday for many people. It is this ubiquitous, continuous and persistent character of the phenomenon that renders it such a dangerous `climate maker', the researchers emphasized.

The facial expressions of the workers who answered emails in one batch remained mostly neutral during the course of their uninterrupted writing task. However, there was an element of anger during the separate email task, perhaps attributed to the realization of the amount of work needed to process all the emails in one session, the researchers theorize. The good news is that email batching is localized in time and thus its emotional effects don't last long. Solutions are possible in this case; the team suggests addressing the email batch at a later time when responding to emails is the only task, recognizing that won't always be possible due to office pressure.

Negative displayed emotions -- especially in open office settings -- can have significant consequences on company culture, according to the paper. "Emotional contagion can spread in a group or workplace through the influence of conscious or unconscious processes involving emotional states or physiological responses."

Upon return to normalcy following the COVID-19 crisis, the results suggest organizations should pay attention to multi-tasking practices to ensure a cohesive working environment. "Currently, an intriguing question is what the emotional effect of multitasking at home would be, where knowledge workers moved their operation during the COVID 19 pandemic," said Pavlidis.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/05/200511154850.htm

Feeling burned out? The contributors could be more related to depression than you think

April 29, 2020

Science Daily/Medical University of South Carolina

Researchers found that similar factors cause both medical intern burnout and depression. These findings can be used to identify and treat burnout as well as mitigate the risk of burnout by modifying workplace factors.

An article published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine looks at the relationship between burnout and depressive symptoms in medical interns.

The article is authored by Constance Guille, M.D., an associate professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Medical University of South Carolina, and Lisa Rotenstein, M.D., an internal medicine resident at Harvard Medical School/Brigham and Women's Hospital, among others.

According to Rotenstein, these findings help correct a long-held misconception about burnout and depression.

"There is a long-standing thought that burnout is associated with workplace factors and that depressive symptoms are associated with workplace factors but also heavily influenced by personal factors," explained Rotenstein. "We found that the factors that drive burnout are much more closely related to the factors that drive depressive symptoms than previously realized."

In this study, Rotenstein and Guille uncover that there is substantial overlap between the factors that predict burnout and depressive symptoms. The study surveyed 1,552 medical interns entering residency programs at 68 different institutions about depressive symptoms, emotional exhaustion and depersonalization, as well as about potential contributing factors. Depressive symptoms were measured by a standard 9-item Patient Health Questionnaire, while emotional exhaustion and depersonalization were measured with a 9-item abbreviated Maslach Burnout Inventory. Workload and learning environment satisfaction were assessed with a standardized instrument. Personal factors assessed included age, gender, ethnicity, relationship status, sexual orientation, parenting status, specialty, self-reported history of depression, early life stress and neuroticism score.

The study found significant overlap between factors that contribute to depressive symptoms and those that contribute to burnout, with about two-thirds of variance in both depressive symptoms and burnout attributable to personal factors, and one-third of the variance in these measures attributable to workplace factors.

With more than 142 definitions circulating in the literature, the definition of burnout has historically been unclear. This lack of clear definition has led to highly variable rates of burnout being reported among medical interns, residents and attending physicians. In contrast, depressive symptoms are well-defined and have been clinically validated. The results of this study suggest that assessing for depressive symptoms may be a validated, standardized alternative to assessing for burnout among medical personnel. They also underscore that interventions that help address burnout may be effective in addressing depressive symptoms and vice versa. Examples of such interventions include leveraging resources such as scribes to address documentation burdens, time banking for physician service and resources such as childcare to take stress off those physicians with familial obligations.

For Guille, the takeaway message from this study is clear.

"Previous to this work, depression and burnout were conceptualized as separate entities with different factors contributing to these outcomes," explained Guille. "This work suggests there is substantial overlap between both workplace and personal factors that contribute to an increase in both depressive symptoms and burnout."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/04/200429105914.htm

Work-related stress linked to increased risk for peripheral artery disease

April 28, 2020

Science Daily/American Heart Association

People who reported work-related stress were more likely to be hospitalized for peripheral artery disease compared to those who did not report work-related stress, according to new research published today in the Journal of the American Heart Association, an open access journal of the American Heart Association. The article appears in a special spotlight issue exploring different aspects of the complex relationships between psychosocial factors and cardiovascular health.

Peripheral artery disease, or PAD, is a cardiovascular disease that occurs when cholesterol or other fatty substances in the blood build up in the blood vessels away from the heart, usually the legs, impeding blood flow. Symptoms often include leg pain while walking. Left untreated, peripheral artery disease increases the likelihood of heart disease and stroke. Worldwide, peripheral artery disease affects more than 200 million people, including more than 8.5 million in the United States. Despite the considerable burden of peripheral artery disease, the evidence on specific risk factors, including potential primary preventive targets, for this disease is scarce, according to researchers.

Work-related stress, or job strain, refers to psychological and social stress at work, often from high expectations combined with lower levels of personal control. Previous studies have linked work-related stress to other forms of atherosclerotic disease; however, few have specifically analyzed its effects on peripheral artery disease. This study focused on the relationship between work-related stress and hospital treatment for peripheral artery disease.

The researchers evaluated the records of 139,000 men and women (36.4% men; average age of study participants range 39-49) participating in 11 separate studies from 1985-2008 in Finland, Sweden, Denmark and the United Kingdom. Participants included in the analysis had no previous history of peripheral artery disease when the respective studies began. Individual information for each participant included age, sex, BMI, smoker or nonsmoker, alcohol consumption, physical activity level, diabetes status, socioeconomic position, data on hospitalizations and the questionnaire on work-related stress.

During an average 12.8 years of follow up, 667 people (0.2 to 1.8% of participants) were hospitalized for peripheral artery disease. Researchers found that people with work-related stress were 1.4 times as likely as those without work-related stress to have a record of peripheral artery disease in the hospitalization register, after adjusting for age, sex and lifestyle variables.

"Our findings suggest that work-related stress may be a risk factor for peripheral artery disease in a similar way as it is for heart disease and stroke," said lead study author Katriina Heikkilä, Ph.D., senior researcher at the Karolinska Institute, Stockholm.

Stress is associated with increased inflammation and higher blood glucose levels. So, although there is limited evidence linking work-related stress to heart disease, stress could be contributing to complications and exacerbations of peripheral artery disease.

The investigators measured work-related stress based on participants' ratings of statements to describe psychosocial aspects of their job. This information was compared to records on peripheral artery disease hospitalizations across nearly 13 years of hospital records.

Overall, nearly one-fourth of participants with no previous hospitalization for peripheral artery disease reported work-related stress at the beginning of the 11 studies.

Researchers noted increased risk among men, those with high socioeconomic position and smokers, but noted such subgroup analysis was limited by the small number of people with peripheral artery disease.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/04/200428093515.htm

Job insecurity negatively affects your personality

New research shows that experiencing chronic job insecurity can change your personality for the worse

February 26, 2020

Science Daily/RMIT University

Drawing on Cybernetic Big Five Theory, this study proposes that chronic job insecurity is associated with an increase in neuroticism and decreases in agreeableness and conscientiousness.

The study, published in the Journal of Applied Psychology, found those exposed to job insecurity over more than four years became less emotionally stable, less agreeable, and less conscientious.

Report co-author Dr Lena Wang from RMIT University's School of Management said the study built on a growing evidence base about the negative consequences of job insecurity.

"Traditionally, we've thought about the short-term consequences of job insecurity -- that it hurts your well-being, physical health, sense of self-esteem," Wang said.

"But now we are looking at how that actually changes who you are as a person over time, a long-term consequence that you may not even be aware of."

The study used nationally representative data from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey in relation to answers about job security and personality for 1,046 employees over a nine-year period.

It applied a well-established personality framework known as the Big Five, which categorises human personality into five broad traits: emotional stability, agreeableness, conscientiousness, extraversion and openness.

The study results showed that long-term job insecurity negatively affected the first three traits, which relate to a person's tendency to reliably achieve goals, get along with others, and cope with stress.

Wang said the results went against some assumptions about job insecurity.

"Some might believe that insecure work increases productivity because workers will work harder to keep their jobs, but our research suggests this may not be the case if job insecurity persists," Wang said.

"We found that those chronically exposed to job insecurity are in fact more likely to withdraw their effort and shy away from building strong, positive working relationships, which can undermine their productivity in the long run."

Previous research has shown that insecure work -- including labour hire practices, contract and casual work, and underemployment -- is on the rise in Australia and globally.

The HILDA data drew on responses from employees from a broad cross-section of professions and jobs, who were asked about how secure they perceived their jobs to be.

Study lead author Professor Chia-Huei Wu from Leeds University Business School said types of job insecurity might include short-term contracts or casual work, jobs threatened by automation, and positions that could be in line for a redundancy.

Importantly, said Wu, there are ways that employers can support workers who are feeling worried about their jobs.

"This is as much about perceived job insecurity as actual insecure contracts," Wu said.

"Some people simply feel daunted by the changing nature of their roles or fear they'll be replaced by automation.

"But while some existing jobs can be replaced by automation, new jobs will be created.

"So employers have the ability to reduce that perception, for example by investing in professional development, skills and training, or by giving career guidance."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/02/200226151958.htm

Working in the sun: Heating of the head may markedly affect safety and performance

Prolonged exposure of the head to strong sunlight significantly impairs cognitively dominated functions and coordination of complex motor tasks

June 16, 2020

Science Daily/Faculty of Science - University of Copenhagen

Approximately half of the global population live in regions where heat stress is an issue that affects the ability to live healthy and productive lives. It is well known that working in hot conditions, and the associated hyperthermia (rise in body temperature), may impair the ability to perform physically demanding manual work. However, the effects on cognitively dominated functions, and specifically the influence from sunlight exposure on human brain temperature and function have not been documented.

This new study shows clear negative effects of prolonged exposure of the head to sunlight, implying that we may have underestimated its true effects, as previous studies have traditionally been conducted in the laboratory, without accounting for the marked effect that sun radiation may have -- in particular, when the head is exposed for a prolonged period.

"The novelty of the study is that we provide evidence that direct exposure to sunlight -- especially to the head -- impairs motor and cognitive performance," says professor Lars Nybo, the project coordinator from Department of Nutrition, Exercise and Sports, UCPH. He continues, "Adding to this, the decline in motor and cognitive performance was observed at 38.5 degrees, which is a 1 degree lower body temperature than previous studies have shown, which is a substantial difference."

Direct sunlight to the head may affect productivity

Many workers in agriculture, construction and transport are at risk from being affected by exposure to strong sunlight, such as we experience in Europe the summer months. Postdoc Jacob Piil and professor Lars Nybo from UCPH headed this study in collaboration with colleagues from Thessaly University in Greece and they are convinced that the finding have implications not only for the workers' health, but also for their work performance and safety:

"Health and performance impairments provoked by thermal stress are societal challenges intensifying with global warming and that is a prolonged problem we must try to mitigate. But we must also adapt solution to prevent the current negative effects when e.g. workers are exposed and this study emphasize that it is of great importance that people working or undertaking daily activities outside should protect their head against sunlight. The ability to maintain concentration and avoid attenuation of motor-cognitive performance is certainly of relevance for work and traffic safety as well as for minimizing the risks of making mistakes during other daily tasks," says associate professor Andreas Flouris from FAME Laboratory in Greece.

Taken together, these results suggest that science may have underestimated the true impact of heat stress, for example during a heat wave, as solar radiation has not been investigated before. Future studies should incorporate sunlight, as this seems to have a selective effect on the head and the brain.

These findings highlight the importance of including the effect of sunlight radiative heating of the head and neck in future scientific evaluations of environmental heat stress impacts, and specific protection of the head to minimize harmful effects.

Facts about the study

Eight healthy, active males, aged 27 -- 41, participated in the study. The motor-cognitive test consisted of four different computer math and logical tasks that relied on fine motor precision. Four lamps were positioned to radiate either on the lower-body or on the head (back, sides and top -- to avoid blinding of the participants).

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/06/200616083404.htm

Effects of contact between minority and majority groups more complex than once believed

New route to social change, intergroup harmony

January 27, 2020

Science Daily/University of Massachusetts Amherst

For more than 50 years, social scientists and practitioners have suggested that having members of different groups interact with each other can be an effective tool for reducing prejudice. But emerging research points to a more complex and nuanced understanding of the effects of contact between groups, say Linda Tropp at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and Tabea Hässler, leader of a multi-national research team based at the University of Zurich, Switzerland.

As Tropp explains, studies from the last 10 to 15 years suggest that the positive effects of intergroup contact tend to be weaker among members of historically advantaged groups, such as white people and heterosexuals, compared to the effects typically observed among members of historically disadvantaged groups such as people of color and sexual minorities. There has also been growing concern that contact may effectively reduce prejudice between groups but do little to change existing social inequalities, she adds.

"With our research, we wanted to examine whether and how contact between groups might help to promote support for social change, in pursuit of greater social equality, while also testing whether the effects of contact might vary depending on status relations between the groups and how the relevant variables were measured," she explains. "So, we embarked on this multi-national study, which included researchers from more than twenty countries around the world, who gathered survey responses from 12,997 individuals across 69 countries."

The authors highlight that this comprehensive study "makes substantial advances in our understanding of the relation between intergroup contact and social change." Details appear in Nature Human Behaviour.

The researchers found robust evidence, Tropp says, that when members of historically advantaged groups engage in contact with disadvantaged groups, they are more likely to support social change to promote equality. In contrast, when members of historically disadvantaged groups have contact with advantaged groups, they are generally less likely to support social change to promote equality.

However, the researchers also point out an important exception: "Among both advantaged and disadvantaged groups, contact predicted greater willingness to work in solidarity to achieve greater social equality. Thus, this research may offer a new route to reach social cohesion and social change, such that social harmony would not come at the expense of social justice."

Tropp, Hässler and their colleagues say their results raise two important questions and directions for future research. First, they ask, "How can positive and intimate contact between groups occur without reducing disadvantaged group members' support for social change?" Second, "How can support for social change be increased among disadvantaged group members without requiring negative contact experiences?"

They suggest, "Possible answers to both questions may be that advantaged group members who engage in contact should openly acknowledge structural inequalities and express support for efforts by disadvantaged group members to reduce these inequalities," they conclude.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/01/200127145452.htm

Nearly all middle school teachers are highly stressed

Education experts suggest findings indicate a need to reduce burden of teaching

January 27, 2020

Science Daily/University of Missouri-Columbia

Researchers have found that 94% of middle school teachers experience high levels of stress, which could contribute to negative outcomes for students. Researchers say that reducing the burden of teaching experienced by so many teachers is critical to improve student success -- both academically and behaviorally.

Hormonal changes, different schools, more teachers and changing expectations are just some of the challenges families face when a child enters middle school. Now, researchers from the University of Missouri have found that 94% of middle school teachers experience high levels of stress, which could contribute to negative outcomes for students. Researchers say that reducing the burden of teaching experienced by so many teachers is critical to improve student success -- both academically and behaviorally.

The new study, which expands on work looking at stress among elementary school teachers, provides additional evidence that teacher stress might lead to negative outcomes for students.

"Many studies of teacher stress have used samples from elementary schools," said Keith Herman, professor in the MU College of Education. "However, middle school is a particularly important time in students' lives as they transition from elementary school and have many different teachers. It's critical that we understand how stress impacts middle school teachers so we can find ways to support them."

Herman, along with fellow MU researchers Wendy Reinke, Sara Prewett, Colleen Eddy and Alyson Savale, studied data collected from nine middle schools in two neighboring urban school districts in the Midwest. Factors that went into the analysis included self-reported levels of teacher stress and coping, student disruptive and prosocial behavior, and parent involvement.

The researchers found that nearly all teachers reported high stress. They also found that teachers varied in how they coped with stress.

The largest group, 66%, reported high stress and high coping.

Nearly one-third of the participants, 28%, reported high stress and low coping.

Only 6% of middle school teachers reported low levels of stress and high coping ability.

"Unfortunately our findings suggest many teachers are not getting the support they need to adequately cope with the stressors of their job," Herman said. "The evidence is clear that teacher stress is related to student success, so it is critical that we find ways to reduce stressful school environments while also helping teachers cope with the demands of their jobs."

Herman suggests that school districts provide access to initiatives and programs that promote mental health to improve conditions for middle school teachers. This can include wellness programs, organizational support for teachers and mental health interventions.

"There are research-based tools that can help screen and identify teachers who might be at risk for problems with stress, coping and the risk of burnout," Herman said. "Knowing what we know about how teacher stress can impact students, it is imperative that district and school leaders examine policies and practices that make the job less burdensome while also supporting teacher well-being.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/01/200127134722.htm

Burnout linked with irregular heartbeat

January 14, 2020

Science Daily/European Society of Cardiology

Feeling excessively tired, devoid of energy, demoralised, and irritable? You may have burnout, a syndrome associated with a potentially deadly heart rhythm disturbance. That's the conclusion of a large study published today in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology, a journal of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC).

"Vital exhaustion, commonly referred to as burnout syndrome, is typically caused by prolonged and profound stress at work or home," said study author Dr. Parveen K. Garg of the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. "It differs from depression, which is characterised by low mood, guilt, and poor self-esteem. The results of our study further establish the harm that can be caused in people who suffer from exhaustion that goes unchecked."

Atrial fibrillation is the most common form of heart arrhythmia. It is estimated that 17 million people in Europe and 10 million people in the US will have this condition by next year, increasing their risk for heart attack, stroke, and death. Yet, what causes atrial fibrillation is not fully understood.

Psychological distress has been suggested as a risk factor for atrial fibrillation, but previous studies showed mixed results. In addition, until now, the specific association between vital exhaustion and atrial fibrillation had not been evaluated.

The researchers in this study surveyed more than 11,000 individuals for the presence of vital exhaustion, anger, antidepressant use, and poor social support. They then followed them over a period of nearly 25 years for the development of atrial fibrillation.

Participants with the highest levels of vital exhaustion were at a 20% higher risk of developing atrial fibrillation over the course of follow-up compared to those with little to no evidence of vital exhaustion.

While further study is needed to better understand the observed relationship, Dr. Garg noted that two mechanisms are likely at play. "Vital exhaustion is associated with increased inflammation and heightened activation of the body's physiologic stress response," he said. "When these two things are chronically triggered that can have serious and damaging effects on the heart tissue, which could then eventually lead to the development of this arrhythmia."

No connections were found between anger, antidepressant use, or poor social support and development of atrial fibrillation. "The findings for anger and social support are consistent with prior research but two previous studies did find a significant association between antidepressant use and an increased risk of atrial fibrillation. Clearly, more work still needs to be done," said Dr. Garg.

Further research is also needed to identify concrete actions for doctors to help patients with exhaustion, said Dr. Garg.

He concluded: "It is already known that exhaustion increases one's risk for cardiovascular disease, including heart attack and stroke. We now report that it may also increase one's risk for developing atrial fibrillation, a potentially serious cardiac arrhythmia. The importance of avoiding exhaustion through careful attention to -- and management of -- personal stress levels as a way to help preserve overall cardiovascular health cannot be overstated."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/01/200114173108.htm

Highlighting women's achievements makes them want to be the boss

January 8, 2020

Science Daily/University of Exeter

Highlighting female achievements in the workplace makes capable women significantly more likely to want to be the boss, a study shows.

Public feedback about a woman's performance can significantly increase her willingness to lead, even in male-dominated environments, according to the research. The teams led by these women are subsequently more likely to perform well.

The research, by Dr Jingnan Chen from the University of Exeter Business School, found increasing the number of men in mixed-gender teams negatively impacts women's willingness to lead, especially on tasks seen as stereotypically male. Publicly acknowledging women's abilities and achievements, however, helps to alleviate this effect.

In male-stereotyped industries, women in both mixed and single gender groups are twice as likely to shy away from leadership roles. Men also shy away from leadership positions in female-stereotyped industries, but only when they are in mixed-gender groups.

Dr Chen said: "There are so many capable women, but many do not feel encouraged in their workplace, and this leaves them feeling they shouldn't put themselves forward for leadership positions. There is not enough attention paid to the efforts of high-achieving women, partly because they are less likely than men to self-promote their abilities, but it is very important that their work is equally recognized.

"If we have more acknowledgement of women's achievements, so their colleagues know what they are doing well, women will be more likely to step up and utilise their leadership skills. Recognising women's abilities should be done by pointing out their quantitative achievements -- specific, objective and measurable work such as sales figures or number of projects successfully completed.

"Of course this research does not suggest anyone should downplay male achievements, but it shows companies should make a commitment to making sure female achievements are not overlooked or ignored. This is especially important in male-dominated industries."

The research shows making people's achievements public increases the chance that men in all-male groups will prefer to take the lead. This has the opposite effect for women in all-female groups -- capable women are deterred from leading, due to women wishing to signal fairness and a sense of cooperation. In mixed gender groups, however, public feedback significantly encourages the best female performers to lead.

Academics conducted an experiment, using 248 University of Exeter students in groups of four, where they were asked to complete tasks such as answering quiz-style questions, and how likely they were to lead their group on a particular task. They were also asked if women or men would be more likely to know more about that subject area, and how likely it was that their answer was right.

Dr Chen said: "We have shown highlighting achievements is both highly beneficial and often straightforward for companies. The most capable female and male leaders emerge, and consequently the best group outcomes are obtained, when public performance feedback is given."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/01/200108131719.htm

Plants can improve your work life

The mere sight of an indoor plant can reduce stress

January 2, 2020

Science Daily/American Society for Horticultural Science

In modern society, stress reduction in the workplace is a pressing issue. While it has been commonly assumed that plant life is soothing to those required to regularly face stressful or mundane situations, this study scientifically verifies the degree of psychological and physiological impact induced by indoor plants.

A study out of the University of Hyogo in Awaji, Japan, details the stress-reducing benefits to office workers that even a small plant situated within easy viewing can impart.

Masahiro Toyoda, Yuko Yokota, Marni Barnes, and Midori Kaneko explored the practical use of indoor plants to boost mental health among employees typically removed from exposure to healthy green environments.

Their findings are illustrated in their article "Potential of a Small Indoor Plant on the Desk for Reducing Office Workers' Stress" published in the open access journal HortTechnology, by the American Society for Horticultural Science.

In modern society, stress reduction in the workplace is a pressing issue. While it has been commonly assumed that plant life is soothing to those required to regularly face stressful or mundane situations, this study scientifically verifies the degree of psychological and physiological impact induced by indoor plants. Rather than conducting experiments in a laboratory setting, the researchers calculated stress reduction on employees in real office settings.

Toyoda adds, "At present, not so many people fully understand and utilize the benefit of stress recovery brought by plants in the workplace. To ameliorate such situations, we decided it essential to verify and provide scientific evidence for the stress restorative effect by nearby plants in a real office setting."

Toyoda and his team investigated changes in psychological and physiological stress before and after placing a plant on the workers' desks. Sixty-three office workers in Japan were the participants of this study. The participants were directed to take a 3-minute rest while sitting at their desks when they felt fatigue.

There were two phases of the study: a control period without plants and an intervention period when the participants were able to see and care for a small plant. The researchers measured psychological stress in the participants using the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. The ratio of the participants whose pulse rate lowered significantly after a 3-minute rest with interaction with their desk plant proved definitive.

The objective of this study was to verify the stress-reducing effect of gazing intentionally at a plant in a real office setting when a worker felt fatigue during office hours. Each plant used in the study was chosen and cared for by the worker. Both passive and active involvement with plants in the workplace were considered for their contribution to mitigation of stress and fatigue.

Participants were provided routine visual access to plants by having their choice of plant situated conveniently on their desks (a passive involvement with plants). They also had the opportunity to care for their plant (an active involvement with plants). Furthermore, the researchers considered that intentionally gazing at the plant was, though not involving physical movement, an active interaction with plants that office workers could do quickly and easily at their desks.

Participants were offered a choice of six different types of plants to keep on their desks: air plants, bonsai plants, san pedro cactus, foliage plants, kokedama, or echeveria. Each participant chose one of the six types of small indoor plants and placed it near the PC monitor on their desk.

The calming effects calculated during the study showed that anxiety decreased significantly from pre- to post-intervention. The results did not skew when looking at the data within the various age groups of the workers or with different plant selections. The researchers suggest that placing small plants within close sight contributed to psychological stress reduction across the board.

Toyoda and his team suggest for business owners that small indoor plants could be economical and helpful in efforts improve office conditions for employees. In addition, for growers of indoor plants and business owners of retail plant companies, the field of mental health for office workers could open up a new avenue of a promising market.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/01/200102184829.htm

Long work hours at the office linked to both regular and hidden high blood pressure

December 19, 2019

Science Daily/American Heart Association

Office workers who logged 49-plus hours on the job weekly were 70% more likely to have a hidden form of high blood pressure called masked hypertension, compared to people who work less than 35 hours per week. Masked hypertension is high blood pressure that doesn't appear during a regular blood pressure test at a medical visit and thus, often goes undetected.

Office workers who spend long hours on the job are more likely to have high blood pressure, including a type that can go undetected during a routine medical appointment, according to a new study published today in the American Heart Association's journal Hypertension.

High blood pressure affects nearly half of Americans ages 18 and older and is a primary factor in more than 82,000 deaths per year. Approximately 15-30% of U.S. adults have a type of the condition called masked hypertension, meaning their high blood pressure readings are normal during health care visits but elevated when measured elsewhere.

The new study, conducted by a Canadian research team, enlisted more than 3,500 white-collar employees at three public institutions in Quebec. These institutions generally provide insurance services to the general population. Compared with colleagues who worked fewer than 35 hours a week:

·       Working 49 or more hours each week was linked to a 70% greater likelihood of having masked hypertension and 66% greater likelihood of having sustained hypertension- elevated blood pressure readings in and out of a clinical setting.

·       Working between 41 and 48 hours each week was linked to a 54% greater likelihood of having masked hypertension and 42% greater likelihood of having sustained hypertension.

·       The findings accounted for variables such as job strain, age, sex, education level, occupation, smoking status, body mass index and other health factors.

"Both masked and sustained high blood pressure are linked to higher cardiovascular disease risk," said lead study lead author Xavier Trudel, Ph.D., assistant professor in the social and preventive medicine department at Laval University in Quebec, Canada.

"The observed associations accounted for job strain, a work stressor defined as a combination of high work demands and low decision-making authority. However, other related stressors might have an impact," Trudel said. "Future research could examine whether family responsibilities -- such as a worker's number of children, household duties and childcare role -- might interact with work circumstances to explain high blood pressure."

The five-year study involved three waves of testing -- in years one, three and five. To simulate in-clinic blood pressure readings, a trained assistant provided participants with a wearable monitor to check each participant's resting blood pressure three times in one morning. For the rest of the workday, the participant wore the blood pressure monitoring device, which took readings every 15 minutes -- collecting a minimum of 20 additional measures for one day. Average resting readings at or above 140/90 mmHg, and average working readings at or above 135/85, were considered high.

In all, almost 19% of the workers had sustained hypertension, which included employees who were already taking high blood pressure medications. More than 13% of the workers had masked hypertension and not receiving treatment for high blood pressure. "The link between long working hours and high blood pressure in the study was about the same for men as for women," Trudel said.

The study "did not include blue-collar workers (employees who are paid by the hour and perform manual labor work in positions such agriculture, manufacturing, construction, mining, maintenance or hospitality service), therefore, these findings may not reflect the impact on blood pressure of shift-work or positions with higher physical demands," the authors said. Other limitations include the study's measurement of blood pressure only during daytime hours, and the omission of hours worked outside participants' primary job.

The authors noted several strengths of the study, including its many volunteers, accounting for multiple factors that can impact blood pressure, repeated testing over several years, the use of wearable monitors instead of relying on workers' reports of their blood pressure readings; and the use of the same monitors for all blood pressure measurements.

"People should be aware that long work hours might affect their heart health, and if they're working long hours, they should ask their doctors about checking their blood pressure over time with a wearable monitor," Trudel said. "Masked hypertension can affect someone for a long period of time and is associated, in the long term, with an increased risk of developing cardiovascular disease. We have previously shown that over five years, about 1 out of 5 people with masked hypertension never showed high blood pressure in a clinical setting, potentially delaying diagnosis and treatment."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/12/191219074644.htm

Flirting among coworkers can reduce stress

December 16, 2019

Science Daily/Washington State University

Casual flirting with colleagues at work is relatively harmless and can even be beneficial, according to a new study. The research focuses on the little studied area of positively experienced social sexual behavior, drawing a clear distinction between these interactions and the persistent, unwelcome acts of sexual harassment.

 The study, published in Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, focuses on what the researchers describe as positively experienced social sexual behavior in the workplace, such as light-hearted flirtation and banter among peers. They draw clear distinctions between this type of interaction and the persistent, unwelcome acts of sexual harassment which are often perpetrated by those in positions of authority. Being the target of harassment creates stress, whereas WSU Assistant Professor Leah Sheppard and her colleagues found that being the recipient of flirtation can relieve it.

The study also questions whether recent zero-tolerance policies toward workplace sexual behavior are missing the mark -- policies such as the five-second stare limit reportedly in place at Netflix or NBC's ban on sharing cab rides and guidelines for coworker hugging.

"Some flirting is happening, and it seems pretty benign," said Sheppard, the first author on the paper. "Even when our study participants disliked the behavior, it still didn't reach the threshold of sexual harassment. It didn't produce higher levels of stress, so it is a very different conceptual space."

In the study, Sheppard and researchers from the U.S., Canada and the Netherlands examined the little-studied area of non-harassing social sexual behavior which includes what the researchers call sexual storytelling, such as jokes and innuendoes, as well as flirtatious behavior, comprised of coy glances and compliments on physical appearance.

The researchers analyzed a series of surveys with different sets of workers in the U.S., Canada and the Philippines. The surveys involved hundreds of participants, and responses were collected from different groups of participants both before and after the advent of the #MeToo movement, which exposed sexual harassment by prominent figures in many fields and industries.

Through these surveys, the researchers found that most employees were somewhat neutral about sexual storytelling but felt more positively about flirtation.

"What we found is that when flirtation is enjoyed, it can offer some benefits: it makes people feel good about themselves, which can then protect them from stressors in their lives," said Sheppard.

In one survey, the researchers asked workers about their experience with not only flirtation but also workplace injustice, such as when they felt their supervisors were treating them unfairly. The researchers then surveyed the workers' spouses and coworkers to get outside observations on their stress levels. They found that workplace flirtation actually helped alleviate the stress and insomnia of people dealing with workplace injustice.

The study authors argue that excessively strict policies meant to deter sexual harassment can inadvertently send the message that all forms of social sexual behavior, even potentially beneficial ones, must be monitored, controlled and punished.

The surveys revealed that while employees enjoyed flirtation when it came from coworkers, it was less appreciated from supervisors. Sheppard said these results indicate that managers should look to find a balance, avoiding overly restrictive policies on social sexual behavior without promoting or engaging in it themselves.

"Zero-tolerance rules can add awkwardness into what are pretty naturally occurring behaviors within established friendships," said Sheppard. "At the same time, we're not encouraging managers to facilitate this behavior. This is just something that probably organically happens. Managers also should be careful in engaging in flirtation themselves, especially with anyone at a lower level. As soon as there's a power imbalance, you risk entering the domain of what might be perceived as sexual harassment."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/12/191216094519.htm