Healthy work-life balance can benefit the heart, research shows

BOSTON - New research shows a healthy work-life balance can benefit the heart.

Researchers at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Penn State University implemented workplace interventions designed to improve work-life balance at an IT company and a long-term care company. 

For example, supervisors were given direction on how to show support for employees' personal and family lives and workers were allowed greater control over their schedules and duties.

They found that employees who were over 45 and had risk factors for heart disease who were exposed to these workplace interventions had a significant drop in their cardiovascular risk, without any negative impact on their productivity. They said the impact is likely greater for low- and middle-wage workers who traditionally have less control over their schedule and more demanding jobs.

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Mallika Marshall, MD

Mallika Marshall, MD is an Emmy-award-winning journalist and physician who has served as the HealthWatch Reporter for CBS Boston/WBZ-TV for over 20 years. A practicing physician Board Certified in both Internal Medicine and Pediatrics, Dr. Marshall serves on staff at Harvard Medical School and practices at Massachusetts General Hospital at the MGH Chelsea Urgent Care and the MGH Revere Health Center, where she is currently working on the frontlines caring for patients with COVID-19. She is also a host and contributing editor for Harvard Health Publications (HHP), the publishing division of Harvard Medical School.

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