The “Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine” recently published a study that shows that workers who have high levels of job strain and demanding jobs tend to take sick leave for mental disorders more than workers who do not feel such strain.

Researchers in Sweden used a national twin study from the country to look at rates of mental health days taken in relation to psychosocial work factors. They followed just under 12,000 workers and found that eight percent took some kind of sick day for mental health reasons. They found that workers who had high job demands, or high job demands with low control (job strain), or high job demands, low control and low levels of peer support (iso-strain) were at an increased risk of taking sick days for mental disorders. Almost three quarters of those who took these kinds of sick days were women.

Researchers also found that workers who had a relatively active lifestyle seemed to be better “protected” from an increased risk of mental health disorder sick days, while smokers increased their risk. Familial factors like family history did not seem to contribute to the risk of mental disorders as it applied to workers with high job demand and job strain, but they did contribute to the risk when workers also identified as having iso-strain or identified as having other unhealthy behaviors like smoking or low exercise rates.

The authors of the study stated that the most common mental health reasons for taking a sick day were stress-related, anxiety or mood disorders.

When we talk about workers’ compensation or injuries at work we might not think about our mental health right away. The truth is that mental disorders can have a great impact on our job performance and our overall health and it is important that we take care of our minds as well as our body. The author of the study, Lisa Mather, suggested that we take a look at making changes the work environment since high demands at work seem to contribute to mental health disorders in workers.