{"id":87,"date":"2026-03-31T10:55:36","date_gmt":"2026-03-31T10:55:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/optimistic-white-bear.167-86-108-143.cpanel.site\/wordpress\/index.php\/2026\/03\/31\/is-your-job-making-you-sick-the-impact-of-fear-on-health\/"},"modified":"2026-04-17T17:04:20","modified_gmt":"2026-04-17T17:04:20","slug":"is-your-job-making-you-sick-the-impact-of-fear-on-health","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.greenkeypersonaldevelopment.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/2026\/03\/31\/is-your-job-making-you-sick-the-impact-of-fear-on-health\/","title":{"rendered":"Is your job making you sick? The impact of fear on health"},"content":{"rendered":"

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In a recent blog I wrote about the impact of a toxic job<\/a>. The blog covered typical symptoms that the body expresses when subjected to a constant level of “uncontrollable” stress. What I didn’t talk about is why these symptoms appear and the damage that might be occurring in the body as a result of constantly elevated stress levels, and the impact of fear on health. So is your job making you sick?
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Too many people are trapped in toxic jobs. Jeffrey Pfeffer, an organizational behaviour professor at Stanford wrote in his book  “<\/span>Dying for a Paycheck<\/span><\/i><\/a><\/span>,”  <\/span>(March 2018). Research has <\/span>found<\/span><\/a><\/span> that poor management in U.S. companies accounted for up to 8 percent of annual health costs and was associated with 120,000 excess deaths every year. Are employers really asking employees to put up with poor management and a toxic work environment at the cost of their health?<\/span><\/p>\n

Comparing humans to a herd of wild zebra, when a lion or pack of lions appear they go on to high alert in response to the sensed and perceived danger. This means that the sympathetic nervous system prepares the body to run. Most zebras would not take on a fight with a lion! As the lion takes chase the zebra spring into action and literally run for their lives. One of two things will happen, either the lion gets tired and gives up or she grabs a zebra and the chase is over. The rest of the pack now return to grazing peacefully because the danger has gone. This is how the human sympathetic nervous system is designed – to switch on when there is perceived danger and off when the danger goes away. <\/span><\/p>\n

What happens when the perceived danger doesn’t go away?<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

The stress response causes the body to release the main hormones adrenaline and cortisol which are the “fight or flight” hormones. Constantly being in the fight or flight mode creates excess cortisol circulating the body which can lead to a build-up of visceral fat especially in the mid-section around the vital organs. Visceral fat is different from sub-cutaneous fat that lies just below the skin. Visceral fat has been linked to several serious medical conditions such as high cholesterol, heart disease and type 2 diabetes. Researchers suspect that visceral fat causes inflammation in body tissues and organs potentially narrowing blood vessels, which in turn increases blood pressure. Visceral fat is much more difficult to reduce once in situ and may lead to insulin resistance which means that sugar cannot enter muscle or fat cells causing serious complications, type 2 diabetes being one.<\/span><\/p>\n

Stress triggers a process that involves three key glands – the hypothalamus, the pituitary gland and the adrenal glands. This system is known as the HPA axis. When the brain perceives stress it signals to the hypothalamus to release corticotrophin releasing factor (CRF) which in turn signals to the pituitary gland to release adenocorticotrophic hormone (ACTH), which in turn stimulates cortisol release from the adrenal glands to prepare the fight or flight reaction by sending blood to the muscles and heightening the senses to deal with the perceived danger. <\/span><\/p>\n

The fight and flight response is supposed to be a short term response and once the danger has passed the body goes back to “normal” mode, as with the herd of zebras. Let’s face it we all have times at work when we feel stressed, which in itself is not a problem as it stretches us to rise to a challenge. When you are stressed for too long or too often the body loses sensitivity to cortisol. In panic the hypothalamus and the pituitary keep telling the adrenals to release cortisol and adrenaline which they do until they are literally exhausted leaving you with a constant supply of cortisol floating around your blood stream that is dumped into visceral fat.  <\/span>Your highly intelligent body tries to make the best of a bad situation by achieving a “sort of balance” to get by each day by altering brain chemistry and even behaviour. This process is called allostasis and can often lead to a pre-disease state.<\/span><\/p>\n

“So what?” A good question<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

When in a heightened state all the time you are burning blood sugar which results in your body demanding energy to keep going. Enter some of the symptoms of stress-overload or chronic stress – poor focus, inability to think on your feet, lack of energy and moodiness. Typical things that you might crave are food and drinks that will give you a quick energy boost – caffeine-based drinks and coffee, all stimulants that increase heart rate and dump sugar straight into the blood stream. Chocolate and foods made with simple carbohydrates – wheat-based foods – doughnuts, cakes, pastries, pasta dishes etc. The sugar in these foods is very accessible and quickly absorbed by the system to provide that desperately needed energy boost. Which it does, but at what cost?<\/span><\/p>\n

Every time you go around this loop of seeking and eating sugary foods that provide the energy, the energy “high” gets lower and the energy “low” gets lower, ultimately needing more and more to receive less and less response. The slippery slope to burn out and chronic stress. This may in turn result in insulin resistance in the cells of your body, which means that sugar cannot enter muscle or fat cells causing serious complications.<\/span><\/p>\n

This is a double whammy that impacts the brain (depression, anxiety, brain fog, moodiness…..) as well as reducing the effectiveness of your immune health. Depending on where you dump stress in your body it might also cause respiration, gastrointestinal disorders (IBS, ulcers…) adverse skin conditions (eczema, random skin rashes) as well as general aches and pains.<\/span><\/p>\n

Breaking the Cycle<\/span><\/b><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

As a Leader:<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n