For young adults, starting a job signifies a significant change: change in their environment, routines, lifestyle-economic resources, time, and money which he or she uses. This affects health and future utility. Some work-from-home or hybrid modes modify the working conditions.
The workplace significantly impacts health, especially for young people experiencing it for the first time. A new University of Cambridge study looks at how diet, exercise, and sleep patterns change for 16–30-year-olds when they start working and how this varies by job type.
It has been observed that when young adults begin working, their physical activity boosts in the first few years, which later decreases again. In the same period, there have been some slight decreases in their sleep duration.
It’s a fascinating insight into how work impacts health habits over time.
The study suggests that when young adults begin working, those in semi-routine and routine jobs—like bus driving, hairdressing, cleaning, waiting, or technical positions—experience a notable increase in physical activity. However, there’s minimal change in activity levels for those entering managerial or professional roles.
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Additionally, young adults who work from home tend to see a decrease in physical activity, but their sleep patterns remain relatively unchanged after starting work. This highlights how job type and working conditions significantly influence health behaviors.
For the study, the team assessed repeated data from more than 3,000 participants in the UK Household Longitudinal Study. All the participants were aged 16–30 and started work for the first time between 2015 and 2023.
The analysis showed that:
- Starting work increased daily physical activity by about 28 minutes on average but then decreased by seven each year.
- Males saw the most significant activity increase (45 minutes) compared to females (16 minutes).
- Those without a university degree increased their activity more (42 minutes) than those with a degree (15 minutes).
- Remote work led to an initial decrease in activity by about 32 minutes per day.
- After starting work, sleep decreased by almost 10 minutes per night and remained stable. Still, those without a degree lost about 3 minutes of sleep each year, while those with a degree eventually returned to their pre-work sleep levels.
- There was little change in fruit and vegetable consumption after starting work.
Dr Eleanor Winpenny, who was based at the University of Cambridge when she carried out the work but is now at Imperial College London, said: “We know about physical activity and sleep patterns among young people while they’re at school, but very little about what happens when they start work. Given the impact that work can have on our lives – and the lasting impacts this can have on our health – it’s important to try and understand what happens at this transition.”
Alena Oxenham, from the MRC Epidemiology Unit, said: “Beginning work can have a profound impact on our lifestyles and behaviors that might make a difference to our health, if not immediately later in life.”
“Although we found that people tend to do more physical activity when they begin work, which is good news, these are averages, and some people – particularly those who work from home and, to a lesser degree, those with office-based jobs – may do less.”
“If we want to stay healthy throughout our lives, we need to remember that keeping active is an essential way of helping us achieve this goal. Those working at home should consider incorporating physical activity into their day, for example, by going for a walk before or after work or during a lunch break.”
Journal Reference:
- Oxenham, AF, et al. New job, new habits? A multilevel interrupted time series analysis of changes in diet, physical activity, and sleep among young adults starting work for the first time. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity; 28 Jan 2025; DOI: 10.1186/s12966-024-01682-8
Source: Tech Explorist
