Spit Before You Split
February 22, 2011
According to Dr. Sonia Lupien and Robert-Paul Juster of the Centre for Studies on Human Stress, your blood and the level of a hormone in your spit could reveal if you're on the point of burnout.
In addition to professional and personal suffering, burnout puts distressed workers at further risk of physical and psychological problems if ignored. This is significant, as burnout, clinical depression, or anxiety related to the workplace affects at least 10% of North Americans and Europeans, according to estimates prepared by the International Labor Organization.
Chronic stress and misbalanced cortisol levels can exert a kind of domino effect on connected biological systems. The term “allostatic load” represents the physiological problems or ‘wear and tear' that ensue in these different systems related to risks for diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and immune problems. By looking at various factors such as insulin, sugar, cholesterol, blood pressure, and inflammation, an allostatic load index can be constructed and then used to detect problems before they occur.
The research was published in Psychoneuroendocrinology and received funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.
Read the official press release
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Jacques A. Bouchard
Information Officer - Web Editor
Hôpital Louis-H. Lafontaine
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William Raillant-Clark
International press
Université de Montréal
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