What are the top 5 most stressful jobs?

There are certain professions that are more taxing than others, and while though stress is a natural part of life, too much of it may cause burnout. Find out which occupations are the most and the least stressful.

Those serving in the enlisted ranks of the military and those engaged in the provision of emergency services are the ones experiencing the highest levels of stress.

There are some beneficial effects of stress as well. While the right kind of stress may act as a motivator, the wrong kind can make it difficult to concentrate.

The majority of people in the United States see their jobs as a significant cause of stress in their lives. The roles of diagnostic medical sonographer, compliance officer, and hairdresser are among the least demanding in the workforce.

It's possible that it won't come as much of a shock to learn that employment in the armed forces and in public safety are regarded to be among the most demanding vocations. According to the annual Most Stressful Jobs study published by CareerCast, the four jobs that are the most stressful are enlisted military members, fireman, airline pilot, and police officer. This ranking has been maintained for the third year in a row.

According to Kyle Kensing, the online content editor for CareerCast, the precise indicators that his firm employs to determine the stress level of a vocation were the most frequent in the fields of military service, police work, and firefighting more so than in any other sector. [For a related story, see the post titled Stressed Out! The pressure that is put on workers is caused by unrealistic expectations.

"These [factors] include physical demands, on-the-job hazards, environmental conditions, and the risk of personal injury or injury to another for whom the worker is directly responsible," Kensing said. "These [factors] also include the potential for the worker to injure themselves or another person."

The following are this year's top 10 most stressful occupations, along with their respective stress scores:

Total number of enlisted service members: 72.58

Firefighter: 72.38

Airline pilot: 61.20

Officer of the law (51.94),

51.27 as the broadcaster

Event coordinator: 51.19

Reporter for a newspaper (49.96)

Executive in charge of public relations: 49.48

Senior business executive: 48.97

Taxi driver: 48.17

The following are examples of high-stress occupations that pay highly on average:

Surgeons: $208,000

$119.250 per year for lawyers

Airline pilots: $121,408

What aspects of a work cause stress?

The fact that some occupations inherently involve a high degree of risk is not the only factor that contributes to high levels of stress and burnout in the workforce. There are a variety of reasons why a person might be chewing their nails while they are at work.

In all, the ranking algorithm used by CareerCast took into account 11 factors that contribute to work-related stress. These elements included the following:

The total number of trips taken.

possibilities for expansion

Deadlines

Having a job that is visible to the public

Competitiveness

Demands placed on the body

Environmental conditions

Dangers that may be experienced

Putting one's own life in jeopardy

Putting the life of another individual at jeopardy

Confronting the general populace

In spite of the fact that they do not put their bodies in harm's way on a daily basis as firemen or police officers do, journalists and broadcasters are expected to meet stringent and unyielding deadlines. In addition, those who work in the news profession have to contend with the worry of being sued and a shrinking employment market, both of which contribute significantly to the high levels of stress that they experience.

Kensing pointed out that many of the most demanding vocations have one thing in common: they are absolutely necessary to the maintenance of democracy and safety in the United States.

"Firefighters, military and police officers defend us, and newspaper writers and broadcasters have a huge role in giving us the truth amongst the trend of 'fake news,'" he stated. "Fake news" refers to the fabrication of news stories that are intentionally designed to mislead the public.

According to a poll conducted by the American Psychological Association, the job is a "major" cause of stress for 61 percent of those living in the United States. Micromanaging supervisors, uncommunicative bosses, constant distractions, and the lack of potential for a higher salary or position are four of the biggest contributors that stifle productivity and gut employee morale, and the effects spill over into other areas of work as well as employees' personal lives.

Micromanagement

It is a waste of time when every decision and email must first be reviewed by a supervisor before any action can be taken. This is particularly true in situations when excellent work may be produced even without frequent check-ins. When a new employee is brought on board, extra monitoring may be required during the first few months of their employment; but, when it gets ingrained in the culture of the workplace, it may be detrimental to the morale of the workforce.

According to Marni Amsellem, a licensed psychologist who founded Smart Health Psychology, a health psychology consulting firm, "Lack of flexibility surrounding choices might make you feel confined when it comes to your autonomy." Smart Health Psychology is a health psychology consulting business. "When [workers] feel as if they are being micromanaged, it... undermines their worth and what they are able to offer, and it is going to generate stress," The finest leaders will be able to place their staff in situations where they can succeed, without having to worry about micromanaging them.

Distractions

Being "in the zone" and knocking off projects one after another might provide some people a satisfying feeling. Nonetheless, little activities such as responding to a text message or having a conversation with a coworker may disrupt productivity. This, in turn, might cause you to fall behind, which raises your stress level.

You will have more time on your hands to remain focused and on top of your assignment if you minimize the number of interruptions that you experience.

a failure to communicate and an absence of feedback

If your manager doesn't provide you any feedback, whether it's positive or negative, it might make you question whether or not you're doing a good job at your work. And this ongoing anxiety may put a significant damper on one's ability to get things done.

When there is open and honest communication on both ends, it helps to clear up any misunderstanding and alleviate any anxieties. If your manager isn't the kind to give you feedback, though, checking in with them and asking questions about how you're doing and where you can improve might help put your mind at rest about the situation.

Low salary and minimal prospects for promotion are the norm.

For a variety of different reasons, having a job that doesn't pay very much might be quite stressful. Not only is there the ongoing pressure of not being able to fulfill your financial obligations, but employment that pay poor incomes and/or provide little possibility for promotion may lead people to feel dejected, underappreciated, and hopeless as well.

According to a research that was recently published in the journal of Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, the profession of bus driver has the greatest prevalence of depression (16.2%), followed by the profession of real estate agent (15.5%), and then the profession of social worker (14%). (14.8 percent ).

The difference between good stress and bad stress

The reality is that there is a range of responses to stress, and not all of them are bad. According to Amsellem, "healthy stress" may serve as a motivator to help you complete everyday duties and achieve objectives. On the other hand, unhealthy stress may result in a variety of issues.

An unhealthy level of stress

When worry takes over your thoughts on a regular basis, it's an indication that the amount of stress you're dealing with is at a level that's hazardous to your health. According to Healthline, chronic stress has been linked to the following conditions:

Unhealthy levels of blood pressure

Reduced capacity of the immune system

Heartburn

Sleeplessness and/or fatigue

Gain in weight

The absence of periods

Erectile dysfunction

Ailments in the head and the stomach

Difficulty focussing on things

Irritability

The conclusion of attempting to handle stress for an excessive amount of time results in burnout, which is mental, emotional, and physical tiredness. You put yourself at risk for burnout in every work that requires you to interact with other people. Workers in the emergency services sector are particularly at risk. According to responses given by 15,000 American physicians to a poll conducted by Medscape, 44% of them are experiencing burnout.

The best way to deal with stress

According to Kensing, if you have a high degree of stress because of your work, finding constructive methods to cope with it relies in a significant part on the nature of your employment and how you deal with stress in general.

"If you work as an airline pilot and spend long stretches of time packed onto an airplane," said Kensing, "a vigorous exercise routine is more fitting than if your stress comes from physical demands, as is the case for a firefighter." [Case in point] "If you work as an airline pilot and spend long stretches of time packed onto an airplane."

You may get your out-of-control stress under control and increase your productivity by following these other three guidelines.

Effective time management is essential.

There is nothing more aggravating than an incomplete to-do list; nevertheless, there are occasions when the problem is not with us but with the list. Instead of adding the entire project to your list of things to do for your next assigned project, you should first consider the scope of the project, then prioritize the most important aspects of the project, and finally divide those aspects into small, manageable assignments that can reasonably be completed by the end of each day. If you use this tactic, you will be able to hand in assignments that are on time, devoid of errors, and won't leave you feeling entirely stressed when they are finished.

Establish some limits.

In today's world, it's not hard for work to come home with you. If we do not establish clear boundaries, our phones have the potential to keep us enslaved to the workplace. If you get an email or a phone call while you're on your way home, you should make an effort not to answer it. You will have the energy and concentration you need when it is time to concentrate on work if you give yourself a chance to recharge by removing your work email from your phone or having a separate phone that is allocated for work that you are able to turn off at the end of the day.

Find favorable answers

Even if we can't completely get rid of stress, we can have some say in how we react to it. Stress is just a part of life. Avoid resorting to harmful coping mechanisms, such as junk food or alcohol, in order to calm your anxious feelings. You may relax by going on a run or doing something else that you like, such as working on a crossword puzzle or spending time with your loved ones and close friends. If talking to someone about your frustrations at work makes you feel better, then you should definitely do that. Amsellem advocates looking for outlets that are "social, physical, or artistic" as a way to deal with stress. The idea is to participate in constructive activities that make you feel at ease.

Kensing said that having a conversation with a healthcare practitioner may be a significant help in relieving stress, regardless of the line of work that one is in.

Least-stressful occupations

A diagnostic medical sonographer has been identified as having the least stressful work by a research conducted by CareerCast. The expected growth rate of the industry is 23 percent, and the typical pay for workers in this field is now $71,410.

The following occupations were ranked lowest in stress this year, along with their respective stress scores:

Diagnostic medical sonographer: 5.07

Officer in Charge of Compliance: 5.76

6.72 points for the stylist

Audiologist: 7.28

Professor at a university who has tenure: 8.42

8.52 points for medical records technician

Jeweler: 9

9.09 for the position of operations research analyst

9.19 points for becoming a pharmacy technician

10:39 — Reflexologist or Massage Therapist

According to Kensing, the fact that these vocations are correlated with the lowest levels of stress does not suggest that people who work in these fields do not experience stress in their daily lives.