toledano/health/22″/mike1st/mark2nd

By JESSICA DREBEN

Staff Reporter

A 27-year-old accountant with chest pains, a political spin doctor with a bleeding ulcer, a commuter who has a heart attack in early morning traffic, an investment banker with dangerously high blood pressure all are examples of the toll that long hours and stressful conditions can take on body and mind.

Experts say that executives who continually work 80 to 90 hours a week with little sleep, a poor diet, lack of exercise and chronic stress may be at risk of suffering a multitude of health problems.

“Our society endorses the position that people should just keep going and going until they drive themselves into the ground,” said Dr. Karen Wolfe, manager of work-site wellness at Health Net in Woodland Hills. “Working long hours, traveling and commuting in excess can all contribute to a weakening of the immune system. And our immune system determines whether we get sick or not.”

People who push themselves too hard and are under extreme amounts of job-induced stress can do untold damage to their immune systems and possibly even risk long-term illness. Also, there is a tendency to dismiss stress as an inevitable lifestyle load, even though there is mounting evidence that chronic stress leads to health problems, according to Wolfe.

A number of severe health problems can be exacerbated by stress, including sudden cardiac arrest, stroke, high blood pressure and adult diabetes, Wolfe said.

“The toll it takes is well known,” said Art Pammenter, a psychologist at Scripps Memorial Hospital in San Diego, who specializes in the relationship between work and stress. “Stress can lead to a wellness breakdown. The stress gets worse and worse and finally people just burn out. It can end up being very painful for the person, especially if the person has derived most of their self-esteem from their job.”

Galen Gillotte, a licensed clinical social worker for the City of Hope in Duarte, said most workaholics don’t even realize the effect their regiment is taking on their mind and body. “Chronic stress takes its toll on people because there is no break,” said Gillotte.

Among the most stressful activities is business travel, which often involves changing time zones and getting little sleep along with bad diet and little exercise.

Just the stop-and-go grind of commuting to work each day can make people feel as if they have lost control, which, in turn, can lead to shallow breathing and irritability. The result: People are stressed out before they even get to work.

Experts say executives sometimes relieve their stress in the worst possible ways, by abusing alcohol and drugs rather than exercising and eating a healthy diet.

“(People) never think the substance they are using to reduce their work stress will only cause them more stress,” said Jeanne Obert, director of outpatient services at Matrix-UCLA Alcoholism and Addiction Medicine Service. “It is a lot easier to have a drink. People respond to stress in a not very reasonable way. (They) look for immediate relief.”

But Karol Bailey, a corporate consultant, says hard-charging executives tend to take care of themselves.

“The people who get to the top, for the most part, deserve to be there and have developed coping skills to deal with the stress of the long hours and traveling,” said Bailey. “They usually do not agonize over the route of their life. As an alternative they may start their own business or go into consulting instead of being a corporate leader.”

Peter Guilioni, a partner in the Los Angeles consulting practice of Deloitte & Touche LLP who advises executives on how to manage their stress more efficiently, said there are some ways to chill out.

“Exercise is very important,” said Guilioni. “It is also essential to make sure the home infrastructure is in place, like child care, cleaning, and other daily tasks.”

Guilioni said executives must learn how to delegate some of their office and home responsibilities. “If you don’t develop coping mechanisms, you will wear yourself out,” said Guilioni. “It took me years to give some chores up, but I realized that doing those things was only causing me more stress.”