Work is good for your health?

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Work is good for your health?
1599
Mon, 05-15-2006 - 5:25am

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/healthnews.php?newsid=43421
Working Mothers Healthier Than Full-time Housewives

Main Category: Women's Health / OBGYN News
Article Date: 15 May 2006 - 1:00am (PDT)

According to new research carried out in Britain, working mothers enjoy better health than full-time housewives. Despite the stress working mothers face by holding down a job, dealing with childcare, housework and striving to keep the family happy.

It appears that working mothers, when compared to full-time housewives, are less likely to become overweight, have a better level of health and a healthier relationship. The study also found that single mothers experience worse health than working mothers who have a partner and children.

You can read about this study in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.

Team leader, Dr. Anne McMunn, University College London, said that women who combine work with children and marriage do seem to have better health than full-time housewives. Even though they may experience high levels of stress sometimes.

It is not a question of chicken-and-egg either. Dr. McMunn said it is the experience of work plus having a family that brings on the better health, not the fact that only healthier mothers decide to carry on working.

The researchers examined data on women born in 1946 from the Medical Research Council's National Study of Health and Development. The data registers their health from 1946 until they are 54. Women's health was examined, with the help of a questionnaire at the ages of 26 through to 54. Every decade, the questionnaire collects data on each woman's work history, whether she is/was married, has children, her height and weight.

The healthiest women were the ones who had all three of the following:

-- A Partner
-- Children
-- A job

Those reporting the worst health were stay-at-home mothers, followed by childless women and single mothers.

38% of stay-at-home mothers were obese when they reached their 50s, for working mothers the percentage was 23%.

Written by: Christian Nordqvist
Editor: Medical News Today

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iVillage Member
Registered: 03-03-2006
Wed, 06-07-2006 - 11:37am
So, he's not to blame?
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-03-2006
Wed, 06-07-2006 - 11:38am
Works both ways, Kat.
iVillage Member
Registered: 06-27-1998
Wed, 06-07-2006 - 11:39am

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Some children don't

PumpkinAngel

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Wed, 06-07-2006 - 11:39am
No, a family making 50K a year (or even less) can not get medicaid. Nor can such a family easily afford to spend 12K a year on insurance.
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-03-2006
Wed, 06-07-2006 - 11:41am

"I'm starting to suspect that you are completely unaware of the Soviet Union's role in his power and think that he alone was a threat. The threat was never him per se. It was the Soviet Union. His only source of power was his willingness to let them use Cuba as an outpost near US soil. Without them he would have been nothing. With them gone he goes back to being nothing. The continuance of sanctions is ridiculous."

So, he's essentially blameless?

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Wed, 06-07-2006 - 11:42am
To blame for what exactly? Also did we ever get straightened out how he was a threat?
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Wed, 06-07-2006 - 11:44am
That is not an answer to how he is a threat.
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-27-2003
Wed, 06-07-2006 - 11:44am
He was to blame for encouraging the Soviet Union to set up camp in Cuba. They no longer exist so it's no longer relevent that he was once allies with them. They were the sole source of his power. Without them, he has no power other than over his own people. Why are you still afraid of him? With no Soviet Union, there's literally nothing he's physically able to do.
iVillage Member
Registered: 06-27-1998
Wed, 06-07-2006 - 11:48am

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I don't know, I didn't see that prohibition in any of my reading on this subject.

PumpkinAngel

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-03-2006
Wed, 06-07-2006 - 11:48am

"i would bet that a good majority of them work harder than you have ever thought about working and still cant afford health care."

That's a bit presumptous of you to think that you know how I feel about working hard.

The problem is alot of Americans feel they shouldn't have to pay for healthcare. The house, the car, the boat, the trip to Disneyworld is more important. We don't *enjoy* healthcare, so why do we have to pay for it is the line of thinking.

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