WORK STRESS AND HEALTH: CARDIOVASCULAR AND ENDOCRINE INDICATORS.

Abstract

Nowadays, work stress affects to a great part of the working population. In consequence there was an increasing number of publica-tions using different methodologies and background. However, the psy-chobiological mechanism that is under work stress and disease relationship is not clear yet. The main objective of this work is to review the main aspects of the work stress investigation from an interdisciplinary point of view pointing out some of the biological variables that are implied. First, a brief introduction will be made, summing up the different methodologies employed. After this, we will describe the relationship between work stress and cardiovascular disease, and concretely the role of blood pressure. Furthermore, we will show the evidence between work stress and cortisol levels, concretely the cortisol awakening response as a marker of chronic stress. Finally, an explanation of the possible mechanisms involved in the work stress and disease relationship will be exposed.