Health in the Office
February 18th 2007 22:03
Which do you think is more important to your health: diet, exercise, or position in your office hierarchy? If you guessed position in the office hierarchy, well done.
This surprising result is from two studies from England, conducted over decades and involving thousands of people. These are The Whitehall Studies and they form the basis of a revolution in thinking about health.
The simple take home message from the Whitehall Studies is that what matters more than any other factor, on its own, for your health, is being in control. Those who have control over their lives live longer. And the more control you have, the longer you live.
The further up the hierarchy you go, you may get more responsibility and have more demands, but you also have more control, and that is what matters. And it matters in terms of how long you live. The Whitehall Studies were measuring when people died for any reason at all (technically called “all cause mortality”).
And they eliminated most other factors that are so difficult to filter out when you are measuring a person’s whole life. So they were studying people who were in fairly stable jobs, with reasonable incomes, doing roughly similar work (the employees in Whitehall – a British government bureaucracy).
So, by all means take control of your diet, and your exercise, these are far from unimportant – but you also get a bonus: the taking control will also benefit your health.
It also means thinking more widely about what influences your health: you might be paid less in a job where you have more control, but you will add years to your life.
The leader of the Whitehall Studies – an expat’ Aussie called Michael Marmot – has written a book about what all this means for how we think about our health, and the implications for health policy. It’s called, “The Status Syndrome: How Social Standing Affects Our Health and Longevity” and it’s available now, read it to expand your mind and as the first step to living a longer, healthier life.
This surprising result is from two studies from England, conducted over decades and involving thousands of people. These are The Whitehall Studies and they form the basis of a revolution in thinking about health.
The simple take home message from the Whitehall Studies is that what matters more than any other factor, on its own, for your health, is being in control. Those who have control over their lives live longer. And the more control you have, the longer you live.
The further up the hierarchy you go, you may get more responsibility and have more demands, but you also have more control, and that is what matters. And it matters in terms of how long you live. The Whitehall Studies were measuring when people died for any reason at all (technically called “all cause mortality”).
And they eliminated most other factors that are so difficult to filter out when you are measuring a person’s whole life. So they were studying people who were in fairly stable jobs, with reasonable incomes, doing roughly similar work (the employees in Whitehall – a British government bureaucracy).
So, by all means take control of your diet, and your exercise, these are far from unimportant – but you also get a bonus: the taking control will also benefit your health.
It also means thinking more widely about what influences your health: you might be paid less in a job where you have more control, but you will add years to your life.
The leader of the Whitehall Studies – an expat’ Aussie called Michael Marmot – has written a book about what all this means for how we think about our health, and the implications for health policy. It’s called, “The Status Syndrome: How Social Standing Affects Our Health and Longevity” and it’s available now, read it to expand your mind and as the first step to living a longer, healthier life.
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Comment by Adrian
Philosophy Blog
Which leads to this possibility: that you can have the longevity without the status.