BLOG 230: JOBS THAT CAUSE WEIGHT GAIN
A career life and the adulthood that goes along with making a living, can correlate with lots of time spent sitting. the hours of being sedentary increase with age and eventually, less time is spent being active and making healthy choices. Between office lunches, entertaining clients and customers, the spread in the breakroom, vending machines taunting in the hallways, and whatever co-workers decide to share, the combination of more time seated with more sugary and fat ridden foods, become a recipe for gaining weight and increase the risk for poor health.
Some of the most common jobs that are prone to weight gain include the following:
1. Software engineer: IT professionals are prone to getting wrapped up in projects that lead to skipping meals and then eating junk food when there’s time to scarf something down. All this while sitting at a computer.
2. Nurse Practitioner: Ironically this profession in the health field that advocates for nutritious eating, is rampant with stress eating.
3. Teacher: Between students, other staff members, parents, and standardized testing, this profession can be stressful. Managing a classroom setting all day then taking homework to grade can lead to stress eating and reaching for whatever is closest and most convenient to eat.
4. Police offer: There are many hours spent patrolling, sitting, and observing. When there’s action this can be very stressful. Dealing with life threating situations does lead to stress and often times comforting foods.
5. Bus driver/ Taxi/Uber/Lyft Driver: Night or day, this job is all sitting and eating on the go.
6. Administrative assistant: This profession requires juggling the lives and schedules of everyone else, leaving little self-time. Often times, this person is the first one in the office and the last one to leave, sitting and working away to help others.
7. Call center or sales jobs: The phone is always in hand and each hour is filled with constant conversation while sitting. Customer service can be stressful, while meeting commissions and quotas.
Stress alarms the body as cortisol levels strike. Feelings of fight or flight lead a person to want to suppress such levels of high emotion with food or drinks. The mind doesn’t always turn off at the end of the day, and poor sleep leads to poor choices. Waking up tired attracts the easy route when it comes to what to wear, what to eat, and this can lead to complete disregard for extracurricular activities like exercise. Even though a person might be sitting all day, coming home and sitting more sounds more appealing then hitting the gym. Suddenly, years have past and pounds have added up. Your I.D. badge depicts an entirely different body shape. Don’t let stress and your career cut years off your life. Don’t work just to use your health insurance later to cover the costs of the damage that has resulted to your body. Find time for health and set the example to your co-workers that quality of life is critical and necessary.
