Improving fitness reduces work stress, study finds

A recent study in US journal Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise demonstrates that a high level of fitness can protect against health risks caused by stress at work.

The researchers recorded the fitness levels of almost 200 Swedish employees, with 51% men with a mean age of 39 years, using a so-called bicycle ergometer test. They also measured various known cardiovascular risk factors such as blood pressure, body mass index, cholesterol, triglycerides and glycated haemoglobin. The participants were then asked to provide information on their current perception of stress.

The study illustrated that stressed individuals exhibit higher values of most cardiovascular risk factors. Furthermore, it was confirmed that cardiovascular fitness is linked to virtually all risk factors, with the risk factors being less high in people who are physically fit.

“Above all, these findings are significant because it is precisely when people are stressed that they tend to engage in physical activity less often,” said Professor Markus Gerber of the University of Basel.

To promote a physically active lifestyle, a high priority should be attached to the systematic measurement of cardiorespiratory fitness and the provision of theoretically sound and evidence-based physical activity counselling.

Psychosocial stress is one of the key factors leading to illness-related absences from work. This type of stress is accompanied by impaired mental wellbeing and an increase in depressive symptoms. It also raises the likelihood of cardiovascular risk factors such as high blood pressure and an unfavourable blood lipid profile. Conversely, a high fitness level is associated with fewer depressive symptoms and fewer cardiovascular risk factors.

The researchers demonstrated for the first time that the relationship between the subjective perception of stress and cardiovascular risk factors is moderated by fitness. In other words, among the stressed employees, there were particularly large differences between individuals with a high, medium and low fitness level.

The study was conducted by the Department of Sport, Exercise and Health at the University of Basel, the Institute of Stress Medicine and Sahlgrenska University Hospital in Gothenburg.

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