This Falls Under The "NO $HIT" Category

From Reuters:

LONDON - Work really can kill you, according to a study on Wednesday providing the strongest evidence yet of how on-the-job stress raises the risk of heart disease by disrupting the body's internal systems.

The findings from a long-running study involving more than 10,000 British civil servants also suggest stress-induced biological changes may play a more direct role than previously thought, said Tarani Chandola, an epidemiologist at University College London.

"This is the first large-scale population study looking at the effects of stress measured from everyday working life on heart disease," said Chandola, who led the study. "One of the problems is people have been skeptical whether work stress really affects a person biologically."

Heart disease is the world's leading cause of death. It is caused by fatty deposits that harden and block arteries, high blood pressure which damages blood vessels, and other factors.

The researchers measured stress among the civil servants by asking questions about their job demands such as how much control they had at work, how often they took breaks, and how pressed for time they were during the day.

The team conducted seven surveys over a 12-year period and found chronically stressed workers — people determined to be under severe pressure in the first two of the surveys — had a 68 percent higher risk of developing heart disease.

The link was strongest among people under 50, Chandola said.

"This study adds to the evidence that the work stress-coronary heart disease association is causal in nature," the researchers wrote in the European Heart Journal.

Behavior and biological changes likely explain why stress at work causes heart disease, Chandola said. For one, stressed workers eat unhealthy food, smoke, drink and skip exercise — all behaviors linked to heart disease.

In the study, stressed workers also had lowered heart rate variability — a sign of a poorly-functioning weak heart — and higher-than-normal levels of cortisol, a "stress" hormone that provides a burst of energy for a fight-or-flight response.

Too much cortisol circulating in the blood stream can damage blood vessels and the heart, Chandola said.

"If you are constantly stressed out these biological stress systems become abnormal," Chandola said.

No Kidding... Ok, truth be told I didn't do more than briefly scan this and post. However.. any analyst should know that "work can kill you." First off, there are rumors of analysts dying, or passing out in client meetings and being taken away to the hospital. Por ejemplo (you like that use of Spanglish there dontcha), the rumor of the Lazard analyst who died. Well, while these rumors all float about, I did live with a Lazard analyst who would spend weeks away from the apartment, coming home but for a shower and clean clothes. I know a former BoA Securities analyst who had to take two months off for ulcers. And, I have met a plethora of other analysts who are physically impacted by their tenure in the cube. As for myself, while I do not work 100 hour weeks (70-80) or suffer the general insane stress of The Street, I still do find myself in contempt of my current state of athletic being. Bottom line - high finance is not good for the body unless you have the body of superman or you are rocking out at the top of the game where you are a BSD and have all the time in the world to exercise and be healthy and fit. This game is not for the weak of heart or those lacking fortitude and grace under pressure.


Now, you all may be wondering why I am posting at this hour:
1) I'm an analyst.. this is not even close to bed time
2) This damn pitch is making me sick... I just cannot believe how I have had to rewrite the entire damn thing. (gag motion)

To bed in an hour? Yes? Maybe?