Data from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development shows that Americans tend to work longer hours each year compared to people in other developed nations. In many ways, working hard is deeply ingrained in American culture.
While work can be rewarding, it also comes with challenges. Many jobs are either stressful or require a lot of physical effort, which can negatively affect your well-being.
It’s vital to understand how work impacts our health, though it’s often a complex issue. Some connections are clear – coal miners have higher rates of lung disease, and firefighters face increased cancer risks due to exposure to dangerous materials like asbestos. However, most jobs aren’t so obviously hazardous, yet they can still affect our well-being.
A new study in the Journal of Public Economics examined how challenging jobs impact health. Researchers looked at pregnancy outcomes for mothers working in demanding professions – specifically, doctors and lawyers who have significant schooling and training.
As a movie buff, I always appreciate a good comparison – it’s all about spotting patterns, right? So, researchers decided to compare the experiences of new moms who were doctors with those who were lawyers. It made sense because both professions usually require a lot of schooling, earn similar incomes, and have pretty equal access to healthcare. The big question was whether that would mean similar results when it came to their babies’ health at birth. You’d think so, wouldn’t you?
Although both doctors and lawyers often work long hours – with doctors in our study working slightly more – doctors, particularly those in hospitals, spend much more time on their feet and face higher levels of stress. This is especially true during the early stages of training, where 80-hour work weeks and overnight shifts are typical. Therefore, even though higher education and income usually lead to better health, the demanding and stressful nature of being a doctor could actually have a negative impact on their well-being.
We analyzed birth certificates from Texas, one of the few states that records parents’ occupations. This allowed us to find mothers who worked as doctors or lawyers. For those who were doctors, we also identified which ones were surgeons.
Our research showed that mothers who are doctors experienced slightly worse birth outcomes compared to mothers who are lawyers. Specifically, babies born to physician mothers were 16% more likely to have a low birth weight, and their mothers were 10% more likely to deliver early (pre-term).
We focused specifically on surgeons because their jobs are particularly physically demanding and stressful. Our research showed that mothers who were surgeons had worse pregnancy and delivery results than both lawyer mothers and mothers who were other types of doctors. Importantly, we considered the fact that doctor-mothers generally have children later in life – a factor known to increase risks during childbirth – when analyzing the data.
Although our initial results were intriguing, they didn’t prove whether being a doctor directly led to poorer birth outcomes. To investigate this further, we took advantage of a real-world situation – a program designed to improve working conditions for some doctors. This approach, called a “natural experiment,” allows researchers to study cause and effect by observing groups who happen to experience different circumstances (in our case, how better work environments might affect health). It’s a useful method when it’s difficult to conduct traditional controlled studies.
I remember back in 2011, things changed for new doctors just starting their training. The group that oversees medical education put in a rule limiting how long we could work in a row – it capped us at 16 hours. The idea was to make things safer and more manageable for those of us beginning our careers.
Because the work change only impacted doctors, we studied birth outcomes for mothers who were doctors and compared them to those of lawyer mothers both before and after the changes. This allowed us to see if better working conditions improved birth outcomes for doctor moms (lawyer moms served as a control group since they weren’t affected). We specifically looked at doctors aged 26 to 30, as the work change focused on doctors in their first year of residency.
Our research showed that a change in work conditions led to healthier babies for physician mothers. Compared to babies born before the change, those born afterward had higher birth weights and were less likely to be born smaller than expected for how far along in the pregnancy their mothers were. This positive effect was most noticeable among younger mothers who were surgeons. As anticipated, the change didn’t affect lawyer mothers or older physician mothers, as their work schedules remained the same.
Our research isn’t just relevant to doctors. Although being a doctor is a good example of a tough job, many professions require long workdays, physical effort, unpredictable hours, and ongoing stress.
The study results indicate that a person’s job environment can affect the health of both the employee and their children. This means the impact of work isn’t limited to the individual; it can extend to their family and even future generations.
Our findings show that better birth outcomes occurred after changes were made to doctors’ work hours, proving that poor health isn’t unavoidable. Adjusting working conditions – like reducing extremely long shifts for trainee doctors – can lead to real improvements in health.
This means there’s potential for those who shape work – like government officials, companies, and professional groups – to create healthier workplaces. They could do this by shortening long shifts, making it easier to be active and eat well at work, or lowering stress levels.
We usually talk about how work affects our immediate productivity, causes burnout, or leads to happiness. However, our research shows it impacts something even bigger: the health of future generations. How we structure work now could have long-term effects that go well beyond just our jobs.
2026-07-29 13:06