October 7, 1998

Nearly everyone I talk to lately feels their lives are way too hectic — combining work, parenting, outside interests, and more. Blame it on the fall, or just having kids back in school, or the increasing demands on the profession, but there is a pervasive feeling that we’re living our lives in fast-forward. Sometimes you have to wonder if being this busy is ultimately bad for your health.

If it’s any consolation, new research says juggling multiple roles may actually be good for us. According to a 10-year longitudinal study by Ingrid Waldron, PhD, professor of biology at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, women who balance the roles of wife and employee generally suffer no ill effects on their health compared to other women.

The investigators analyzed information on marital status, employment, parenthood, and health for 3,331 women in 1978, 1983, and 1988. The women entered the study in 1968 as 14- to 24-year-olds and were interviewed repeatedly in the intervening years.

The next time you leave work in a rush to get to the dry cleaner, pick up some milk at the grocery, throw some chicken on the grill, and start helping your kids with homework, consider this: Women who are neither married nor employed have the worst health, while those who are employed, married, or both have relatively favorable health.

Like much research, it ultimately boils down to common sense. The researchers say those who are neither married nor employed may experience a greater risk of poverty and less social support, which may contribute to psychological distress and health problems.

If you think you’re working too hard, the study won’t back you up. The researchers found that the beneficial health effects of employment increased with the number of hours employed, at least up to 40 hours a week. They also found that increasing your number of children does not have harmful health effects, on the average.

Of course, the study has many nuances and limitations and raises all kinds of questions of its own. And it didn’t measure women’s lives on a happiness scale. But there’s a certain reassurance in hearing that the crazy life may not, in the end, be harmful.

What do you think?

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