8 Bad Things That Happen to Your Body When You Hate Your Job

Not loving your job (or simply hating it) can cause more than just unhappiness in the workplace. It can begin to bring on additional physical and mental symptoms that affect your life in other ways. It can affect your wellbeing, as well as your relationships in and out of the office. And for women, it can affect our menstrual cycles, and even our sex drive. 

We laid out 8 things that can happen when you hate your job so much that it starts to take a physical toll.

1. Headaches

Workplace unhappiness can lead to headaches and even more severe migraines. These are called tension headaches, which are caused when your body tightens up and blood flow to the brain is affected. They can be triggered by stress brought on with unhappiness in the workplace. 

2. Weight gain

If you are unhappy at your job, it is common to notice weight gain. This can be caused by multiple factors. Stress eating is a common coping mechanism used when unhappy in your career, and one can feel less motivated to exercise after a draining day at work. 

3. Fatigued or sore muscles

When you’re unhappy and feeling a bit high strung, your muscles may be unknowingly tightening. Tight muscles can lead to other body pains, like back pain, shoulder pain and other muscle and joint aches. This comes about when one finds herself in a stressful environment where it is truly difficult to relax. 

4. Insomnia

Extreme stress and unhappiness can lead to a loss of sleep. You may find it hard to relax your body and mind, and to get the proper amount of sleep to feel well-rested. Lack of sleep can contribute to and intensify the other stress-related symptoms, like headaches and mental fatigue. 

5. Mental fatigue

Lack of sleep, along with additional stress, can make your mind feel overworked. In the same way that you can experience physical fatigue, you can also experience mental fatigue. Mental fatigue can be completely draining, and cause you to feel symptoms similar to burnout. Mental fatigue can make it difficult to focus and perform your best, as you never feel fully energized or rested. 

6. Weakened immune system

A weakened immune system can lead to contracting viruses and illnesses. One may feel like she is getting sick more often than normal (or more often than she should be). Not only are you more prone to contracting viruses like colds, strep throat, the flu and more, stress and unhappiness can lead to one’s body taking longer than normal to recover from these viruses as well. 

7. Change in sex drive

A change in sex drive is also common when experiencing stress and unhappiness. You may experience a lower libido than normal, causing you to not feel aroused as easily or as frequently as you are used to. 

8. Irregular periods and menopause symptoms

Under stress, women can experience irregularity in their periods. Periods can also be heavier and cramps can become more painful. And women going through menopause can experience heightened symptoms.