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Some of the effects of poverty are due to long working hours and stress from long commutes. In the US, many people can never take time off work, so there should

Some of the effects of poverty are due to long working hours and stress from long commutes. In the US, many people can never take time off work, so there should be some health benefits from a brief economic break for an extremely overworked population.

zaroth 7y ago
I have a hard time believing that this particular time off of work is going to lead to reduced stress, don’t you? The stress isn’t typically so much caused by working, it’s caused by being in financial distress. I’ve had a few years with virtually no income. I’ve had to work 80 hours a week to provide for my family. I’m not saying my personal experience is particularly valid or applicable to the general population, but instinctively the times of my greatest stress and anxiety haven’t been the times I’ve worked hardest if that also meant I had enough income to buy groceries and pay rent. It’s the times when no matter how hard you work you still fear for your financial security and worry where the next month’s rent payment is coming from... I’m generally “immune” to even extraordinary levels of at-work stress, but financial stress by far has been the worst anxiety (bordering on panic) I’ve ever felt.
- thatcat 7y ago
  You're right in that the psychological stress from uncertainty can be much more overwhelming than physiological stress from burnout. I doubt you're "immune" to burnout though.
  - zaroth 7y ago
    Sorry, the quotes around immune were meant to relay that I didn’t mean it literally and indeed recognizing that it’s a common (and unhealthy) misconception people can have about themselves. Those two bytes of ASCII didn’t fully communicate all of that? </s>
wool_gather 7y ago
> health benefits from a brief economic break for an extremely overworked population There might be if they could believe they were going back to work as usual -- meaning usual level of earnings -- any time soon. That's not at all clear. It's wishful thinking that this is a relaxing vacation for hourly service industry workers.

zaroth 7y ago

I have a hard time believing that this particular time off of work is going to lead to reduced stress, don’t you? The stress isn’t typically so much caused by working, it’s caused by being in financial distress. I’ve had a few years with virtually no income. I’ve had to work 80 hours a week to provide for my family. I’m not saying my personal experience is particularly valid or applicable to the general population, but instinctively the times of my greatest stress and anxiety haven’t been the times I’ve worked hardest if that also meant I had enough income to buy groceries and pay rent. It’s the times when no matter how hard you work you still fear for your financial security and worry where the next month’s rent payment is coming from... I’m generally “immune” to even extraordinary levels of at-work stress, but financial stress by far has been the worst anxiety (bordering on panic) I’ve ever felt.

thatcat 7y ago
You're right in that the psychological stress from uncertainty can be much more overwhelming than physiological stress from burnout. I doubt you're "immune" to burnout though.
- zaroth 7y ago
  Sorry, the quotes around immune were meant to relay that I didn’t mean it literally and indeed recognizing that it’s a common (and unhealthy) misconception people can have about themselves. Those two bytes of ASCII didn’t fully communicate all of that? </s>

wool_gather 7y ago

> health benefits from a brief economic break for an extremely overworked population There might be if they could believe they were going back to work as usual -- meaning usual level of earnings -- any time soon. That's not at all clear. It's wishful thinking that this is a relaxing vacation for hourly service industry workers.