Job Demands, Burnout Tied to Weight Gain

HealthDay News — Employees with heavier workloads or who are burned out are more likely to emotionally eat and exercise less, according to a study published online May 30 in the Journal of Health Psychology.

Heather M. Padilla, Ph.D., from the University of Georgia in Athens, and colleagues evaluated the association between workload and exhaustion and key health behaviors for weight loss, including nutrition and physical activity, among 953 employed adults.

The researchers found that workload and exhaustion were positively associated with emotional eating, uncontrolled eating, and percent of calories from fat. Additionally, exhaustion was negatively associated with physical activity levels.

“We have so many things coming at us every day, and we only have so much energy,” Padilla said in a statement. “When our energy gets used up, we don’t have the energy to make ideal decisions about what we eat.”

Abstract/Full Text