A stressful job can take 3 years off your life

Benjamin SnyderBy Benjamin SnyderManaging Editor
Benjamin SnyderManaging Editor

Benjamin Snyder is Fortune's managing editor, leading operations for the newsroom.

Prior to rejoining Fortune, he was a managing editor at Business Insider and has worked as an editor for Bloomberg, LinkedIn and CNBC, covering leadership stories, sports business, careers and business news. He started his career as a breaking news reporter at Fortune in 2014.

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Chinese businessman rubbing his temples at desk
Photograph by Getty Images/Blend Images

People like to complain that their stressful jobs are killing them. A recently released study from Harvard and Stanford found that may be the case, The Washington Post reported.

The study shows that some workers lost six months to as much as three years of life, due to their demanding jobs. Numerous factors, including race, gender, educational levels, wealth and where in the U.S. people reside, affect life expectancies, the study found.

Notably, people with less education are more likely to have tough working conditions that take a toll on on their longevity. As the Post reports:

People with the highest educational attainment had only 5-10 percent of their mortality associated with these harmful workplace practices, compared with 12-19 percent for those with the least education, the study says.

Unsurprisingly, a lack of a health insurance also contributed heavily to workers with higher mortality rates. The study also found that, in general, blacks and Hispanics lost more years than whites due to working conditions.

The full study can be found here.