Not exactly the news I want to post a day before America’s Thanksgiving Day, but alas, this study speaks for itself:
Men who bottle up their anger over unfair treatment at work could be hurting their hearts, a new Swedish study indicates.
Men who consistently failed to express their resentment over conflicts with a fellow worker or supervisor were more than twice as likely to have a heart attack or die of heart disease as those who vented their anger, claims a report in the Nov. 24 online edition of the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.
In fact, ignoring an ongoing work-related conflict was associated with a tripled risk of heart attack or coronary death, the study of almost 2,800 Swedish working men found.
I’m going to be writing more about the links between psychologically unhealthy workplaces and the risk of cardiovascular disease, but for now let me say that none of this surprises me. We need to change our workplaces so that people feel free to express their concerns at work amidst a fair-minded, responsive institutional culture. Our employee policies should embrace this, and our employment laws should protect responsible, non-disruptive speech at work.
Here’s the full article, with Ed Edelson reporting for HealthDay News, via Yahoo!: http://news.yahoo.com/s/hsn/stifledangeratworkdoublesmensriskforheartattack
Minding the Workplace 