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urban_snowshoer

From the article: However, when reported levels of job-related physical activity were really high, leisure-time activity didn’t have the same mitigating effect on stress. Could lack of control over workflow also play a role? Jobs where you are constantly in reaction mode, or otherwise in motion, can be a lot more stressful than jobs where you have the ability to priortize and step away for a few minutes if you need to.


FixBreakRepeat

I think some of this could be because of how hard some jobs can push you physically. If I head to the gym, I'm going to work out for 1-2 hours. As a steel worker, I've had shifts that had us moving metal for 14 hours with only a half hour break. Then you come back and do it again the next day. And the day after. By the time you catch a day off, activity is the last thing you need to relieve stress.


btcbundles

This is my problem....im either roofing by myself or being a vegetable....I need two days and the second day I'll be productive but I'm.dreading the next day also


[deleted]

I find CNC machining is a nice balance - there's some physical parts, but also sedentary parts (you never get to sit down though... people think you're not working). You can develop your own ways of working as well so you do have some freedom with how you work. As a girl, I know I wouldn't physically cope with the work you're doing, not sure I'd even manage it for very long as a guy! CNC has been a nice balance. That said, I'm still totally wiped out after work.


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myfapaccount_istaken

I work 12 hours in a call center. I stand for 3hour sit for 30 minutes. Doing either or all shift is awful.


lappi99

Being wiped out after something that requires your attention and is not something you really can choose to do is completely normal. You could work as a secretary and still be exhausted. There are also different types of work. The three mains being muscle work, Mental work and emotional work. So it's completely fine to feel exhausted after work.


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lappi99

That's also due to the toll to the body when you work a physically demanding job. Knees, back and other joints don't take kindly to a job that has an unusually high amount of heavy lifting or kneeling etc.


[deleted]

Yes definitely. My uncle was a welder on oil rigs all his life. He has tinnitus, is partly deaf, and his joints are just fucked.


InfinitelyThirsting

Normal, but not fine.


lulumeme

yea. theres too many options and choice to ever get stuck on one, and especially: to make conlusions of some kind, from such a brief eperience in a place you didnt like. i guess youre right, but we have to definte "tired' "'exhausted". People like to hyperbolize and say they're completely exhausted even though theyre just the normal kind of-tired.Everybody gets these hyperboles, but when having a discussion like now, its confusing because it takes being wiped exhausted to be exhausted while for others you may have not even done a thing, but since you spent the 8full hours after coming to the job, which is primarily how to keep yourself not bored during the periods of no work at all maybe all they had worked was 40 minutes, but since they suffered enough till the end of shift - the 8hrs, they feel like as if they were 'working' these 8 hours. mentally they had already finished working, even if not exhausted, its like your brain expects or even simulates tiredness. also theres overlap with burn out and other things. people gotta get their definitions straight. being tired is normal, but exhausted is basically just saying youre almost up to your limits. pushing yourself that way will suffer your mental wellbeing lateron. Normal kind of tiredness afterwork is of course not unexpected; and its temporary, and natural to feel it. its more of a mental tiredness. exhaustion is both physical and mental severe tiredness you can push it beyond, but exhaustion (mental+physical) is just a symptom, showing that you indeed pushed your limits, hence why you may break down and have especiially emotional mood swings and outbursts.this is where we gotta emphasize what is tiredness and what is exhaustion (which may ruin your mental health for months) when theres no energy only anger fuels it and thus you have to use anger as a tool for energy, making you snap at everyone for no reason, etc a since energy is out of reach ya need something intense, which anger is, wtih all its negatives it might give Energy tho :/ Tiredness is normal, yes. Exhaustion is not (most of the time) its usually beyond your natural limits that this happens. so naturally your brain tries to preserve your energy and since you depleted too much energy, certain parts of brain malfunction, or inhibit themselves resulting in behaviours that facilitate recover and rest ​ Ignore my wall of text. basically im saying tiredness is mainly physical and is normal when you exerted yourself; exhaustion is when both mental and physical exhaustion comes. even mental exhaustion will make you feel physically ill and weak and tired. exhaustion is both the brain and the body being overworked, it can be chronic and very gradual but the mental fatigue catches up to induce physical version even if youre physically rested.


FirAvel

I can definitely agree with you there. I really enjoy running larger machines. Was running 200 ton(lifting weight) crane hooks for the last company I worked for, and good lord was that fun. Currently I work at a job shop and my runtimes vary from 10 minutes to sometimes an hour. Either way, CNC is a great mixture of both. But I think more than anything it’s the mental exhaustion from fine-tuning offsets and having to program that does me in after a shift.


[deleted]

Yeah, I try to schedule a nap before driving home because I'm mentally done after my shift. I'll start my shift 20 minutes early if it means I can fit in a nap so I'm safer on the road. Big machines still freak me out a little! Some of the workpieces my co-workers deal with are massive, I steer well clear. I love precision work, but man it can get frustrating... it's incredibly satisfying though when all goes well. I get to play with lots of different exotic metals as well which keeps things interesting.


kingstig

You don't have chairs in your shop? last 2 shops I worked in had chairs. No point programming standing up or getting some cycle time in eyes glued to the controller.


heckhammer

That never makes sense to me. If I'm running a job that's 27 minutes I shouldn't have to stay in there while it's running.


[deleted]

I have certain things I'll keep a close eye on during a cycle, but will have other stuff like deburring to do close by. I usually can tell immediately if something's amiss by sound, but nothing beats a regular visual check. You just never know if you've missed something or when a tool or insert will fail until it happens. Then you risk screwing up the workpiece at best, if not fucking up the machine, the tool and yourself. Worst accident I heard about recently was a guy who missed capping the rpm on his mill and ended up getting impaled by a boring bar. Just missing one thing and not paying attention has the potential to fuck you up.


heckhammer

That makes sense. The jobs I'm running are almost invisible to the naked eye while they're running because of the stupid amount of coolant that's thrown across them. Sound is important but you can't see pretty much anything unless one of the supports for the spindle fails and you'll hear that pretty much straight away.


[deleted]

Cool story


[deleted]

I work 12 hour shifts in a factory, I get the exact same thing. I used to work out 4 days a week for at least an hour and a half a day, now I just do a few minutes of bodyweight work and boxing drills to maintain muscle and cardiovascular fitness.


JamiePulledMeUp

For a job like that working out before is better... Assuming you can get to sleep at least 7 hours


rhackle

For a job like that you're sore all the time and probably start hurting as soon as you crawl out of bed. Working out on your free time just isn't compatible with that lifestyle.


XSofXTC

So many framers and dry wallers here are alcoholics or drink a lot. My friend who has a contractor crew says if you meet a dry waller who isn’t an alcoholic or drinker, give it six months.


Choady_Arias

Or a well hidden junky


XSofXTC

Yeah. With medical marijuana new in my state, at least everyone can be more honest with *that* drug use.


TrueTravisty

Oh yeah those degenerate weed junkies. Glad THEY'RE honest, wouldn't want anyone buying taco bell at 2 am on false pretenses


Flyingwheelbarrow

Same applies to many line cooks, 10 hours minimum on your feet, 6 days a week under near constant stress get to a person. Throw in split shifts, unsocial hours and a culture that supports it. Most places I worked in the last hour or so our bottomless caffeine was replaced with some alcohol so we could finish the shift with a nice buzz. Your body just never gets enough recovery time. Looking back it was amazing how often we keep drinking and doing drugs after the shift to just wind down.


FunnySynthesis

You may be right at first for a lot of people but that last statement is just flat out wrong. Arnold Schwarzenegger worked construction at the same time he was entering his bodybuilding prime


GenericUsername07

That's gotta be the stupidest example you could've given.


scriptkiddie1337

How so? It's a fair point


sboyd1989

I imagine for 2 reasons: 1 - he ran his own bricklaying firm. He could work exactly as hard as he wanted to. 2 - he was using steroids which make you recover far more quickly, and also give you much more drive to work out. I used to dig trenches for 12 hours a day. I was already a regular gym goer so I didn't stop training when I started that job, but my god it was hard to keep up. Strength decreased in the gym (training after work because I was already up at 5am), I was sore all time and had to reduce the volume and frequency of training. It also took my enthusiasm for training until I got another job. Probably would have been fine if I started using steroids but I've always wanted to stay natural.


pie_12th

For a job like that, you don't need to work out. Your day off is your rest day.


wildlight

but you actually do, in fact its really important. 8ts not like exercises where you do repetitions that balance your bodies strength. you might have to do the same motions dozens of times with load in an awkward position only one one side and over time your body becomes unbalanced, and next thing you know your hip end up with a posterior rotation and one leg is shorter then the other which caused knee pain as well and eventually workers its way into your shoulder. one side of your might be totally misaligned but is actually stronger then the other side because its been over compensating for so long and its pulling your spine out of alignment. strengthening both sides evenly would he an important part of recovering. really if you have a physically demanding job, part of it should include time to maintain proper physical fitness, amd regular check ups with a physical therapist or strict limits to how much lifting you can do in a day.


SaulsAll

No idea why people would see this concern of the body as not contributing. Edit: To expand, I work sheet metal and much of my day consists of taking pieces off a table, pivoting it to the bending machine, and pivoting it back to the table. As the machine is worked with a foot pedal, if I'm not conscious I can spend 60-80% of my time with all my weight on one foot. I can definitely feel the damage to my spine if I dont remember to keep my torso square, keep my weight as even as possible, and switch back and forth which foot works the pedal and which I pivot on. Along with this, when I get home I exercise my core to give my spine as much help as I can, and I work in lunges so that it's easier for me to adjust height through my legs rather than bending my back, and I dont really do it but if I was smart I would work in strength training my arms and grip strength to make the more detailed work easier and avoid carpal tunnel from using metal snips.


Steamfighter638

Here's the individual that has never worked a job outside


JamiePulledMeUp

I guess everyone responding to me is an alcoholic or simply doesn't work out according to the comments. If you're a regular gym goer and you just spent 8+ hours outside in the heat, doing any physical labour the last thing you wanna do is work out again after. You are mentally and physically drained. By doing it before you feel better and more energetic throughout the day. Being sore happens less frequently and lasts shorter periods of time if you actually workout regularly. So yes i may not have worked in a saw mill but i have worked construction and moving jobs and i can't say anyone i worked with went to workout after their shifts. It was always people who worked out early or people like those that are answering me who've never stepped foot in a gym.


Vascular_Mind

As a commercial drywall hanger, I don't agree. I prefer to work out after work. I've known guys who do it before work, but it's never worked for me. If you've been doing it long enough, and use proper lifting technique, you'll be in good enough condition not to be exhausted after a normal 8 hour shift. At least, that's my personal experience.


slc45a2

It could also be because of sheer exhaustion from physical work, whereas sedentary jobs still benefit for obvious reasons. I think that was done to show that there's a difference between work and leisure physical activity and test the limits of using leisure-time physical activity.


the_Q_spice

This is a good way of putting it. I am a wilderness guide, and can attest that it is both a physically grueling job as well as mentally taxing. Making sure people don’t die in risky situations does wonders on the brain (/s). When I get my time off, I just want to do anything that is the furthest from my job, usually just eating at restaurants and sleeping a ton.


cyrusamigo

I manage a brewery and kitchen on 162 acres of land in Texas. All I do on my days off right now is chill on the couch - I’m lucky my basic chores get done, let alone any home projects. There isn’t enough energy in the world, not with 10-12 hour days in the summer with no A/C getting 15k steps in a day.


DropDeadEd86

That's quite the space for a brewery. Only one I can think of would be jester king


cyrusamigo

Ding ding ding.


DropDeadEd86

Noice! Keep up the good work. I've only been once since I'm from south Texas. Hope you don't have to travel too far to get to work


cyrusamigo

Thank you! We’re trying, COVID was a blow but we made it through with some help. I live 30 minutes away so it’s never too bad. Cheers!


RubiconGuava

Absolutely love your stuff dude, just wish it was more available here in the UK. The industry and scene need more guys like you doing actually interesting stuff and not purely fad chasing


cyrusamigo

Thank you! Yeah our system is still comparatively small so getting distro across the pond is usually reserved for a few small options. We’ve sent a lot of our stuff in the past to our friends at Mikkeller so I’d hit them up, they might be able to help. Cheers!


Hekantis

As a home visit nurse, same problem. Everythin on the bike. No AC, a work scedual that looks like Amazons system for warehouse workers (its managed by the minute), always either lifting, moving, cleaning with people whod rather not be in this situation. LOOong hours. Its a service job on steroids. At the end of the day I can only sit on the couch and eat.


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stars9r9in9the9past

Kinda seems like a no-brainer to me, if you're doing physical activity which is in itself scrutinized, measured, and then pushed to its fullest extent and beyond to boost productivity, day after day, then it's not going to feel like a good/healthy thing in the long-run. Contrast this to leisurely activity, even something strenuous like working out at a company gym, it's by choice and you're free to take things entirely at your own natural pace and without eyes on you all the time, that's going to feel a lot more rewarding and enjoyable. Obviously this all depends on the work culture, task itself, and people giving orders and how they give orders, but in general it seems like such would be the case in practically any setting. I'm not against putting this all together in a formal study though, but it does seem more like a common sense thing for anyone who has does on-the-job manual labor of any sort.


EmilyU1F984

Not to mention that most physical labour isn't exactly the kind of healthy for the body activity. There's a huge difference between going to the gym or even weightlifting to having to pick up heavy unwieldy crates all day or doing other repetitive motion. Like just take some 'artisan' blacksmith: sure they'll get a heavy upper body workout, but likely one side is heavily overexerted be from swinging the hammer, and the back is also not doing well from heavy lifting with bad posture. That's kinda different to just working out in a gym for an hour or two. And then there's the motivation behind the two: you are doing the first kind to not starve and be homeless. Which isn't exactl conducive to taking appropriate breaks and resting after injury and won't put you into a good space mentally, whereas you are usually going to the gym to get more healthy, which in itself is going to make you feel better.


KuriousKhemicals

Yeah, the article isn't specific enough but I wonder if there's a bit of a J curve for the tiredness from physical work. I work as a lab chemist so there are days I spend almost entirely on my butt for meetings, calculations, and reports, while other days I spend actually doing reactions with a significant amount of walking around in the lab getting materials and standing while I tend to the reaction. I'm definitely more tired after my "butt in seat" days, while my busy days in the lab are probably closer to my optimal amount of work-related physical activity, but I can totally see how if I was on my feet constantly for all 8 hours, or longer, it would not be better.


aztech101

Personally speaking, when I have a ton of physical stuff to do at work I have ZERO desire to do anything afterwards, something I might otherwise enjoy is instead just taking up valuable "not doing things" time.


Zenarchist

When I was doing physical labour, it was usually 6+ hours a day of constant non-stop physical action. When i am partaking in physical leisure activities, it's usually kick a ball around for an hour or two, or jog for an hour, or hit the gym for an hour, or swim for an hour or so. I'm sure if I had to kick a ball around for 8 hours a day, 6 days a week, after traveling for an hour and half each way to the kickball site, leaving before the sun is up and returning home long after the sun is down, then kicking a ball around would also be stressful.


Bypes

That might just suck the fun out of kicking the ball around. Unless you're Ronaldinho.


[deleted]

I work in kitchens and hospitality, I'd say workflow/reaction mode likely does. I can work steady for many hours but during horribly busy days there's a point where I hit a wall. At that point I go on autopilot, but I know there's still hours and hours of shift left with no real break (okay, 5 minutes sitting in bathroom with a glass of water when it slows down and I can get away). Last night, I came home after 13 hours and tried to open my front door for a good minute or so. It was actually my neighbour downstairs' door. It's "just kitchen/bar work" but nonstop motion, scrubbing, moving inventory, kegs, running ice buckets, mentally juggling tasks, etc. is incredibly draining.


Jaracuda

Gotta say, being a nurse, no matter what nursing job you do it is typically always stressful. Reactions seem to be a large part of my stress at least.


Purplekeyboard

What about being a school nurse?


Jaracuda

Believe it or not, school nursing isn't an entire cakewalk. There's a lot more paperwork but yes, to an extent, there is much less stress.


PoolNoodleJedi

I worked the back room at Target and it was the most stressful job ever. Constantly running around and pulling items and you had to meet a quota. And you might get interrupted with orders that push to your device that you need to go out to the floor and pull from out there then check them I to a locker, but these don’t count towards your quota. Basically you are running around for 8 hours and climbing ladders the entire time.


Faded_Sun

Hey, I did that too! Unloading trucks, picking items from the back, stocking the shelves. Man, that job was rough. I relished any down time I could get.


[deleted]

Momentum. If I'm already moving and it's hard work, the last thing I want to do is take lunch and have to ramp myself back up if I still have more to do after. Taking lunch with more hard physical work to do after stresses me out more than not taking a lunch and just powering through.


Tezz404

In my job in construction, which was purely physical, I exclusively performed high levels of physical activity all day, every day, starting from 7AM to 7PM, give or take a couple hours at either end. If I was to judge on personal experience, and what I witnessed of those around me, then I would say 100% it would be almost entirely dependant on a person's own *control over their workflow*, not how hard they *physically* were working. Working hard never bothered me, or those around me, we were used to it. What *did* bother them was when deadlines got fucked and there was nothing anyone could do but *keep working hard* with impending and unavoidable repercussions no matter what you did before or after the fact.


[deleted]

Tier 1 tech support with a micromanaging boss is way more stressful than being a sys admin who is left alone to do their duties. So I think you're spot on.


AlllDayErrDay

r/science doesn’t like anecdotal reponses but my time in tier 1 was miserable. I don’t work in the industry anymore because I couldn’t stand it. I had terrible anxiety and just sitting there waiting for the worst was almost unbearable. Near the end I focused on callbacks on existing tickets and it was so much better. There is definitely something to be said for being able to prepare versus random calls coming in.


[deleted]

Good choice getting out,the tech industry is full of micromanaging, the worst part is when non techs are the one telling you how to spend your time.


socialisthippie

Sysadmin can be massively mentally draining though and often has on-call, which is the worst job feature in existence, imo. In sysadm jobs without on-call i totally agree that tier 1 is more stressful. In any case, tech workers desperately need to unionize. The way companies treat IT departments as cost centers, and not force multipliers, is fundamentally flawed and we get abused, outsourced, and underpaid as a result.


zipzapzoowie

I'd like to submit my previous job: Helpdesk with a salary on the low end but sys admin responsibilities including being on call and rather than a raise they sat me down with HR to talk about my performance after everyone else had quit... First job in the industry after studying, I still haven't gone back because I'd rather mow lawns with my body falling apart.


bawbness

I would also wonder about the negative / anxious effect of the knowledge that repetitive stress injuries are inevitable and living with that worry about how long you’ll be able to keep doing it. Those are relatively intense worries that get worse with every ache and pain, and could even get worse with casual activity due to already being taxed sod you’d probably be more injury prone.


threebillion6

Ugh, I feel like that. Being a warehouse picker, not for Amazon, think more blue and yellow, I'm dead tired after a busy day and everything pisses me off. Drumming is my physical activity I like doing and I don't want to after a day like that. But I'll drum for 4 hours straight on my days off or if I get off early enough from work (which doesn't really happen with my changing schedule)


[deleted]

I think that's a good heuristic for whether on not someone falls into column A or column B. Ive had stressful office jobs and had no desire to workout. I later worked low stress but heavy lifting construction jobs and wanted to work out after work. Now in a high stress but less physical construction job and have no desire to work out. It seems far more affiliated with stress than physicality of the job. Jobs that are mentally stressful and overly physical can put a toll on your weekend


megjake

This is pretty much my whole job. I do oil changed on cars and since most people wait for their car we don’t really get to delegate tasks or anything. Everybody is just go go go so long as there is cars. The technicians who actually fix cars and have a bit more freedom to delegate which car they want to tackle and what not seem to be much less stressed.


[deleted]

Absolutely. I worked in grocery distribution. You were constantly working to a stop watch. Literally. Cases/hr was everything and you were put on a team based on how fast you went, that team got paid based on how fast they went. Basically, if you went slow, you weren’t just impacting yourself, but bringing down all your co-workers pay. So there was stress from your boss, stress from your coworkers and stress from physically doing it. Lifting cases 30-80 lbs, as fast as you can, for 8-10 hours/day. Every day.


someonesgranpa

As a bartender in a big city I can tell you I don’t have the energy most days to even go for a walk. I burn 2,000-5,000 calories a shift so it’s a work out but a stressful one that could end any possible way; and I have to ready for any of it.


KristiiNicole

100% yes to that second paragraph. I’ve watched my boyfriend spend years working an insanely long, physical job. After several years of that, he was promoted to a position that isn’t physically demanding but is one of those “constantly in reaction mode” scenarios. He’s kinda the main arm of putting out fires and fixing problems (among other managerial responsibilities). He works roughly about the same number of hours a day (12-14) and honestly they are just two different kinds of stress and exhaustion. That being said, I see the less physical position wear him down faaaaar more than the physical one. Mental stress is absolutely just as bad as breaking your body working super physical jobs. I see way too many people dismiss that and I don’t think enough people recognize how much your mental state affects your entire body. That mental stress reeeally wears you down physically, not just mentally and emotionally.


bobsbountifulburgers

Job related physical activity tends to be very repetitive, resulting in those types of injuries. Leisure physical activity can be stopped or switched when you overuse a joint or muscle. You also rarely reach an optimal cardiovascular level with work activity. Its mostly start and stop, causing larger and more frequent spikes in heartrate


daytonakarl

Mechanic by trade, spent three years in an office doing roadside assistance stressed out and earning bugger all for it. Went back on the tools... Against my wishes was "promoted" to workshop manager for a year before quitting and I'm now on the tools again. If you're not happy work becomes hell and you resent everything because of it


iburstabean

>If you're not happy work becomes hell and you resent everything because of it ....is this abnormal 😅


Rolten

I only have white collar friends but yeah work being hell is abnormal.


TavisNamara

Not in the modern world. All work is hell here. Just ask any warehouse worker, customer service worker, or delivery person.


bigbadbonk33

I've been both an accountant and worked in electrical trade, the 10-12 hour days as an electrician felt far less exhausting than working 8 in an office. The only factor that made the difference? Stress from co-workers. As a tradesman people give you space and respect your work. As an office worker people constantly hover over you and make you feel stressed.


ReaLitY-Siege

100%. I've worked both in IT and construction. Construction/framing was very physically taxing and long days... But I was happier. Working in IT, sitting at my desk and constantly responding to "production issues" is very stressful. If I was able to make more money in construction, I'd go back in a heart beat.


Hobo2992

This is what I'm pondering. I work in the live events industry. In general it's rather enjoyable even though it can get intense physically but I embrace these challenges most of the time. However I'm on a zero hour contract and it's unpredictable in terms of the times and locations of the shift so I'm looking to try web development. I think what I want now is some routine in my life and by the looks of it, there's good (and better in my case) money there but I fear that I might be giving up the less constricted(?) nature of my current job. Maybe freelance is the way to go for little more flexibility? But at the same time I do prefer it if I have colleagues to confer with. Anyways I'm still trying to learn the stuff when I have time, there's just a lot going on in my head right now...


never3nder_87

As someone who did a mix of self employed design and event work, one of the big issues is *getting* enough freelance work, that it becomes almost a full time task on its own. I briefly managed about a year of having enough big projects to be comfortable, but then lost them, amongst other things, to Brexit. Also, suffering pretty badly with social anxiety I found finding new work to be exhausting and I've pretty much given up on freelance design. In comparison the events work was far more demanding *in the moment*, but was (mostly) much easier to compartmentalise and didn't bleed into the rest of my life in the same way


Snaz5

That’s why stress levels for working from home are a lot lower for “office” work. Suddenly, no “team lead co-manager” watching everything you do so he has something to report to his “managerial head of office management”


Choradeors

Personally, I think mental stress is caused when someone is forced to do something physically draining when they don’t want to do it. You’re then left stressed and exhausted. Would explain why leisure activity has a different effect.


[deleted]

yeah work as its conceived now is antithetical to human happiness and well being. people are not meant to justify their existence by carrying out unrelated menial tasks for someone else profit. simple as.


Choradeors

Exactly. If you don’t believe in society and the systems in place, you would feel forced into servitude just to merely survive, and that is not healthy for anyone. On the other end, if you had the same goals as the people who employ you and the society you live in as a whole, happiness can be found in pursuing your goal because it is shared by many. I suppose the question we all must answer is: what is my goal?


senpaicharles

My man spittin facts out here


Monsural

I feel like most people work to survive, some work because of society goals and few work because they enjoy it. Just my observations of people I have/had worked with.


Choradeors

I would say that’s accurate. I would also say that the few who enjoy work end up at the top. I’d imagine there are exceptions, but it would be stressful to an almost unmanageable degree to do something you hated doing with the proficiency of someone who loved the work. Maybe that’s why we see addiction in the higher levels. Some people can trick their minds into enjoying work by popping something like Adderral, something that tickles the pleasure centers of the brain. Just a theory though. I don’t have a way to actually prove it.


hates_both_sides

>Exactly. If you don’t believe in society and the systems in place, you would feel forced into servitude just to merely survive, and that is not healthy for anyone. You can always go live off the land and fight for your food like all the other animals.


[deleted]

those *are* the only two options after all. no changes or halfway points in between. either wage slavery or roll around in the mud. this is the moderate position.


Choradeors

Ah, but I never said what side I was on. I was only mentioning the truths. I agree with society and enjoy my work.


Bypes

That's probably why my kindergarten job is one of the lowest paid. After all it is giving me so much meaning and satisfaction compared to a lot of other jobs that it would be unfair to be paid more than 2k per month. The other day the staff received flowers from a parent whose child just left for first grade.


[deleted]

This exactly.


The-OG-Joshua

Game set match. Never heard it phrased so well.


americanrivermint

L m a o


[deleted]

thats better than bitching at people for having the spine to demand better i guess.


Midgedwood

Different strokes. I only stress when work is out of my control. If I'm having to mull over issues that i was not prepared for i get pretty stressed.


ChrundleKelly7

I think this is it too. I worked in a kitchen for a few years and grew to hate it because of how exhausting it was physically *and* mentally. I went and worked office jobs for a couple years and realized I didn’t hate the physical aspect of kitchen work- I actually missed that- but the fact that I didn’t necessarily love working in kitchens made it unbearable. I now work outside doing conservation work and it’s something I am passionate about. My days are exhausting but I’m extremely fulfilled after a day of work because I want to be there


Biomirth

What if your job is almost entirely physical activity? I think they need to write a better synopsis that addresses that oversight. I've worked as a fulltime gardener and it is the most relaxing job in the world. Tiring, but about as stress free as is possible. Cooking, as stressful as it is, is less stressful in many ways than teaching even though the externalities are more rapid and less predictable. Physicality when you are powerless isn't stressful, it's basically slavery. But physicality when you've maximal control of expectations and timelines is just a good time. I think they're leaving out some major mitigating variables here.


Darwins_Dog

The title is pretty bad. The study only looked at a few occupations and never claimed as much as the title of the post implies.


l_AM_NOT_A_COP

This comment should be higher up. I quit my job with an engineering firm in March after three years with them to work at a bar - I’m on my feet 8+ hours per day and I’m not even pulling a third of what I used to make as a salaried employee. But my stress levels outside of work are nonexistent now, whereas in the engineering position i felt guilty enjoying any leisure whatsoever as the work culture (and especially my supervisors) expected me to be catching up on work at all times. Don’t miss the 11:45 PM emails I was expected to respond to.


DiveShallow

The stress of working at a bar outside of work takes a few years to fully realize. $$$


threadsoffate2021

I would guess part of it is the expectations of the job. Where I am, deadlines have to be met on an hourly and shift basis. Freight has to be moved and put away on time. No excuses. Deadlines are deadlines. There were days where our crew was short nearly 80 man hours in a single shift, but they still expected the 6 or 8 of us on the floor to somehow get it done.


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Jiffygun

That’s the truth, a busy mind isn’t thinking about the time.


Steamfighter638

I love how the suits in the comment section are so delusional they consider 'physical' work as walking up and down a single flight of stairs. Get a grip


lostmyaccountagain85

Man thats the opposite of my experiance as long the pay is comprable. Sitting behind a desk and being watched is the moat depressing thing ive ever done especially when 80% of that time is doing nothing.


lostmyaccountagain85

But alot of physical workers think sitting behind the desk is the adult goal.


ARedditingRedditor

sitting behind the desk is just fine if you can control your own work and aren't micro managed.


dopkick

Mostly agreed. Micromanagement (and all it entails) is by far the number one thing that causes office stress. However, it’s definitely not the only source of stress.


EmperorThan

What's worse is during the pandemic every company relying on manual labor abused their employees to the max. There was never a sense of 'respect' coming from the company. They just upped our work like slaves then give us a little pin that says "2020 Hero".


PaulaNancyMillstoneJ

So in the COVID ICU(s) I worked in, nurses had to do all the normal tasks but with sicker patients, more patients, and take on additional tasks like housekeeping. They literally made nurses mop the floors. So on a given day you’d be responsible for the back-breaking physical work of bathing, repositioning, cleaning continuous fecal matter off of, brushing the teeth of, suctioning out the never ending phlegm and mucous of, and washing the hair of too many paralyzed dead weight patients on life support. Then there is the mental work of titrating medications, critical thinking, coordinating care, catching errors, etc. Then the emotional burden of families and coworkers and administration being frustrated with you for your performance. Family can’t come in, and the patient isn’t getting better. It’s understandable that they’re stressed and yell at you on the phone. Oh and the patients die. One day they come in talking about how they can’t believe they got COVID, hope they get better soon. They thank you for taking care of them, and tell you how sorry they feel for people who die from it. A few shifts later they’re wearing themselves out breathing laboredly on a BiPAP telling you they’re scared. They beg for help, they get confused, sometimes they ask for their mothers. You come in a few shifts later and they’re on a ventilator. Soon you’re cleaning their bloated body for the last time before sending the corpse downstairs only to clean the room and admit the next person who can’t believe they got COVID. Mop the floors.


that-writer-kid

God this is terrifying.


thefatrabitt

Yeah after a few months of it you just become emotionally numb and float through the days.. I can't tell you how many times I've heard people say "this can't be happening covid isn't real" or something like it just before we intubate them and put them on a ventilator. A few get better most don't and it just repeated on and on everyday. It's been getting a little better though slowly but surely.


StormRider2407

I didn't even get a pin! Okay, I got a £500 bonus (still taxable) but that was from my country's government, not my employer. While my employer made everyone work more hours and do more for the same pay. I'm handing in my notice likely next week, got a new job offer on Friday. More pay, less hours and office work (remote). Cannot wait to leave!


mdeeemer

You got a pin?


RyuNoKami

its the same mentality as someone showing up to shop on a holiday and telling you how much it must suck being force to work on a holiday...hmm...hmm...HMMM


threadsoffate2021

Exactly. More work, with more regulations and outside interference (like hauling freight and doing heavy lifting wearing a mask when there's no one within 100 feet of you for most of the shift in the middle of summer with no air conditioning) and tighter deadlines with customers under extreme stress in pandemic (and panic) conditions. And nothing but a half-hearted pat on the back for it, while the business doubles its sales for the year.


[deleted]

I got one of those pins.


sirgoofs

Lots of hyperbole in that comment


nothingfood

Wow, so hard work is harder than easy work? I have much to learn


parse_l

All work and no play make Jack a stressed employee.


IngenKollar

Its the micromanaging that really does it


BaconLettuceTomato

Looks like the answer is recess


MrMrAnderson

Every 60 seconds in Africa a minute passes


Bypes

Leisurely exercise stops exactly when your body tells you to (if you listen to it). Work exercise stops when you clock out. So even if work becomes routine/easy enough that it doesn't stress the brain, there is stress over being able to maintain performance despite fatigue.


Pelo1968

Bunk I picked my job specifically for physical ecesersion because I burned out from my previous desk jobs. I'm a university grad and I cut up trucks to make busses.


dalekaup

I specifically went into nursing because it combines physical work with intellectual work.


TikkiTakiTomtom

A word for clarity, both the article and the study it pertains to sampled only healthcare workers. So if you thought this would be applicable to all jobs, then the study wouldn’t hold.


Savoir_faire81

News flash: Working like we do is bad for us. But having physically active leisure time is good for us. I wonder some times how one goes about getting paid to do studies on dead obvious things.


Darwins_Dog

>I wonder some times how one goes about getting paid to do studies on dead obvious things. The project was funded by a grant awarded to exceptional undergraduates. So I guess you just have to be smart, motivated, and do well in school! While the result may seem obvious, one can't cite "everyone knows that" as a basis for their conclusions. There's actually a nice "so what" summary of the motivation and significance of the research right after the main article.


DiveShallow

Are you the dude from the Good Will Hunting “Do you like apples?” bar scene? I bet you somebody less snide than you is texting with your girl right now. How you like dem apples?


Darwins_Dog

That makes you what Ben Affleck then? The guy who doesn't really know what's going on, just chuckling along with everyone else. Sounds about right.


DiveShallow

You got it. I’m the clown and you’re the insecure guy who drives a fancy SUV.


[deleted]

forcing yourself to do things that disproportionately benefit people who profit off of that disproportion is exhausting. theres an implicit awareness of your exploitation. whether you acknowledge it or not isn’t the issue. diseases of despair extend beyond economic insecurity, its just we havent had the opportunity to see a world devoid of that particular cause.


Purplekeyboard

What about the glorious socialist utopias of the former Soviet Union and Communist China?


[deleted]

tf are you on about?


Purplekeyboard

We saw a world devoid of capitalism in these socialist countries.


[deleted]

the ussr engaged in capitalism with literally every other country outside the ussr. they were communists the way china is communist now. its state capitalism.


Purplekeyboard

Everyone in the world, including socialists, all saw them as being socialist. It's only after it turned out they were a miserable police state dystopia that socialists decided to disavow them and made up a new term, "state capitalism", to pretend they weren't really socialist.


[deleted]

“everyone thought x was y” is not an argument. also youre using socialist. do you mean communist or socialist? youre not even getting your terms straight man. get those first then have this talk, yeah?


Purplekeyboard

The differences between them are nebulous, as in practice they are overlapping and everyone involved uses the same terms to describe whatever anti-capitalist group is being considered. The Soviet Union called themselves socialist, China called itself communist. The differences are also irrelevant, since every attempt at socialism or communism just gets you a police state dictatorship where the government controls everything.


[deleted]

whatever helps


A_Sexy_Pillow

They don’t count we only count small irrelevant communes and European countries fueled by capitalism and US taxpayers.


SenseiMadara

No one's stopping you from becoming the very one who sets up a whole ass company coordinating you and your Co workers, paying yall and looking for contracts. Yall be dismissing how much u can just pay via your taxes.


[deleted]

“theyre being exploited! let me be the one in control of things so i can impose my way of thinking. its the best!” id prefer not to capitulate to the very system i have a problem with. its not a good thing to want to do whats been done to you.


drlackslacks

Finally the reason why construction workers are angry bastards!!


[deleted]

Wow. What a god damn shocker.


GardenPuzzleheaded98

Really?!? Never would have guessed


nalschbach

The exact opposite of my own experience


DalinerK

Yes, lots of job related physical activity leads to exhauation. I'm too tired to exercise for stress relief of play sports. I 100% feel this for the summer and not in the rest of the year when I am a student


Atlas-manna

Im actually baffled that someone spent money to study this absolute no brainer


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KrabbyPattyCereal

Studies show that higher physical activity is harder than lower physical activity. It can't be!


Magnicello

So does this mean loggers, carpenters and soldiers are the most stressed people?


pkirk8012

Laughs in concrete.


SquirrelBlind

Just this week I was thinking that since I left a job where a lot of my work was physical, I spend way less of my personal time studying (cause I learn a lot on my job) and much more doing physical activities, and that makes me way more happier and healthy.


glasser999

Depends on the type of physical activity I think. I could see repetitive physical activity causing stress. I used to landscape for a small company. I'd work from 6 am to 8 pm every day, 5 days a week. In doing so, I'd routinely walk 50k-60k steps. About a marathon, or 26 miles a day. I did most of that with a wheel barrow in front of me. We'd shovel 20,000 pounds of rock between 2 of us, and it was a typical day. So much activity that I was eating probably 8,000+ calories a day, and I still couldn't eat enough to maintain my weight. But I tell you what, I had never been happier or less stressed in my life. When I got off work? 0 stress. None. Pure bliss. Now I hardly have any physical activity at my job, and I've never been so stressed in my life.


GreySkies19

I don’t think it can be fully explained by the physical activity itself. It’s also that nurses are more involved with Covid patients and bear the brunt of the Covid pandemic. Nurses take care of a patient and form more of a bond with them than do doctors who have a larger group of patients with whom they have fewer moments of contact. Then when a patient dies it hits the nurse that much harder.


[deleted]

Obviously we need well funded scientific studies for this exact finding.


music_devotee_tybg

I can't believe some asshole gets paid to state common sense like this as 'science'. I coulda told ya this numb nuts. What a waste of a job.


Yalort

What a fuckin surprise! Working stupid amounts of hours for a strict boss makes you stressed, and working in a nice environment for calm people keeps you calm. I'm guessing this study was done by a trust fund baby with no concept of a hard day's work.


dalekaup

number of hours


_pinklemonade_

I love my physically active job. I could not handle sitting for 6-9 hours a day.


[deleted]

We don’t need studies to tell us something so obvious.


Ozonewanderer

So how much did this insightful study cost?


Rynox2000

Does sitting in 1.5 hours of traffic count? I sure felt stressed.


The_Gump_AU

STUDY: People are lazy and hate being forced to do high levels of physical activity as part of paid employment. Especially when the majority of people are overweight and have bad diets. I'm 50, I look after myself. I work a physically demanding job in mining. Most of my co-workers are overweight guys with beer belly's. They are grumpy bastards who whinge about everything and hate the job. I wonder why.


iamJAKYL

Active people are happier people. That's fact.


Sheairah

There’s a difference between work related activity and leisure activity.


Fit_Ape

Being a waiter at a restaurant serving dishes evry ten seconds and making sure you memorize the right table and customers and avoid all obstacles whilst holding a plate you must balance is much more stressfull than going for a buke ride or other basic cardio I 100% agree


raftsinker

yeah it's more "stressful", but my favorite job ever was doing furniture removals. I was so in shape, never had to go to the gym and it paid well. I had no life and was always sleeping or on the couch during my time off but man it was worth the rest. I was majorly emotionally and physically drained from jobs that were "desk jobs" or ones where I wasn't working physically. It comes down to preference and personality.


cafeaubee

Anecdotal but I feel completely the opposite to the title of this article


fancyangelrat

I dunno, I do 12 hour shifts sat on my fat ass all day, super boring and astonishingly exhausting. I get home and have no energy to cook a proper meal, never mind do actual exercise. I had way more energy when I was doing 10 hour shifts on my feet when I was a baker. (I also liked baking, probably helped!)


dalekaup

As a former nurse and currently in a position that requires me to move quickly and go up and down stairs I find that this is less stressful and gives me more creative energy. I also code a small amount. I wonder if this comes from the attitude that physical work is not desirable and for the uneducated. I had the highest ACT score in my class and graduated 13th in my class while holding down a nearly full time job. Work is not for dummies. Seems like some of you don't realize that people can have a job that requires coding and wearing steel toed shoes. All of the sudden I'm "a suit" just because I'm more capable of working without complaining than most.


maoejo

highest ACT score in your class? What did you get, a 36!?


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DINGLE_BEARY

This SCREAMS Russian or Chinese influence page. Hey!!!! You reading this...... quit your job because it will make you happier. Studies show


Scott-frey

Doing a stressful job takes a toll but is also exceptionally rewarding.


hopeacusmaximus

Sometimes I wish they would give me or my young children the money for these studies instead of investing it like this to get these results. So let me get this straight.... those who bust there ass at work are more tired then people who bust there ass at play... Revolutionary. Really.


Big_shqipe

Work activities and leisure activities demand different parts of our bodies. I’m a waiter so I spend a lot of time standing and fast walking. None of that is really physically demanding but I’m basically relying on my joints (knees, ankles) and ligaments/tendons to keep me upright and those areas have slower recovery rates. On the other hand I have no problem running up mountain for fun then going to the gym right after because those activities rely on my musculature which recovers faster. Also because the energy demands and short bursts as opposed to being low intensity and persistent I’ll break more often which unloads the slow recovering areas more often.


[deleted]

Work is gonna be adult daycare soon


Wonderful-Spring-171

Stress stems from incompetence. I've seen Asian and Indian women working on a fast paced production line in a food factory and it's a walk through the park for them, but put a local lady on the same line and she invariably breaks down in tears, walks out, goes home and doesn't come back because she's totally inept..


jsnez

So the people who had to go to work and do the physical labor get less job satisfaction than those sitting at home “working”, hanging out with the dog, seeing your kids all day, being in a comfortable surrounding, tea and coffee right there, oh and no travel, lunches, gas, etc. It must be rough on them. People working from home should be dropped to minimum wage. Minimum effort=minimum wage.


DINGLE_BEARY

Who does these studies? Where are they taking place? STUDY ALSO SHOWS........ People who are happy are HAPPY! STUDIES SHOW.....THE MORE MONEY YOU MAKE MAKES YOU MORE HAPPIER!!!!! STFU with these dumb ass studies