Your crappy job is hazardous to your health

I graduated from college in the midst of the financial crisis. It was pretty humbling to go from being a promising young student to hopelessly unemployed in a matter of a month. (The paradox of needing more experience for an entry-level position is one that I will never understand and hate with a passion.)

I have since experienced a slew of purely awful jobs including call centers, data entry, and keeping drunk people locked up in a detox center until sober. I think in total, I have worked 10 jobs since graduating in 2010, and have been unemployed for various lengths of time in between.

As it turns out, working jobs you hate is not just a matter of self-indulgent complaining — it’s physically unhealthy. Researchers from the Australian National University found that people who are miserable at work are just as likely to suffer from mental disorders as people who are unemployed. Another study, published Occupational and Environmental Medicine found that people with hated jobs have worse mental health than those unemployed. This is remarkable given that people who enjoy their work are drastically less likely to have any mental health issues.

On top of that, Australian National University researchers also found that elevated blood pressure is another risk involved with working in a less-than-satisfactory environment — affecting you even when not at work.

Have a boss that never seems to appreciate the extra efforts you put in? This puts you at a high risk for heat disease, the same university found.

Alexandra Panaccio, an assistant professor at Concordia University in Montreal, mentions that job-haters were more likely than other employees to experience physical health problems, including symptoms of exhaustion, stress and burnout.

In my case, I’m still jaded from the long journey of assorted terrible career paths, but I finally saved enough money and freed myself up to do some job exploring. I feel healthier. I’m running more. I no longer experience homicidal ideation every time my work phone rings. It’s made a big difference to me, but can an entire recession-shocked generation find that same feeling of progress?