Low job satisfaction may hurt your health

People with low job satisfaction in their late 20s and 30s may be at the risk of depression and sleeping problems in their 40s, a new study has warned.

While job satisfaction had some impact on physical health, its effect was particularly strong for mental health.

The study also found that the direction of your job satisfaction — whether it is getting better or worse in your early career — has an influence on your later health.

“We found that there is a cumulative effect of job satisfaction on health that appears as early as your 40s,” said Jonathan Dirlam from Ohio State University in the US.

“You do not have to be near the end of your career to see the health impact of job satisfaction, particularly on your mental health,” said Hui Zheng from Ohio state.

Researchers used data from 6,432 Americans who participated in the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979, which followed adults who were between the ages of 14 and 22 when the survey began in 1979.

Researchers examined job satisfaction trajectories for people from age 25 to 39. These participants then reported a variety of health measures after they turned 40.