Monday, February 2, 2026

Work-related stress heightens when people become self-employed

 New research from Bayes Business School (City St George’s, University of London) has revealed that work-related stress heightens when people become self-employed compared to working for an organisation, even when business owners possess high barriers to strain through genes and upbringing.

The research, led by Vangelis Souitaris, Professor of Entrepreneurship at Bayes, with academics from Warwick Business School and the University of Notre Dame (United States), collected data from more than 2,000 sets of identical twins. Across two studies, academics compared both perceived and chemical changes in stress between employed and self-employed individuals.

Key findings suggest workers who transition to self-employment report, on average, 24 per cent higher stress levels over a six-year period compared to twins who did not. Meanwhile self-employed participants maintained higher levels of cortisol, a stress-related hormone, throughout the day suggesting greater exposure to daily stresses.

While entrepreneurs enjoy more variation in their work with greater control on tasks, longer working hours can increase stress. Prior studies have shown self-employment to be a more stressful occupation overall but fail to factor in previous exposure or pre-conditioning to stress that individuals already accept when choosing to set up their own business. To account for this, identical twin sets with shared genes and early environmental rearing were selected as a point of comparison.

A first study examined self-reported stress among Finnish twin sets who had been raised together, including pairs that had chosen different employment types from each other. Surveys were taken in two waves, six years apart, to measure developments in stress levels in response to a quartet of four-point scale questions in the Reeder Stress Inventory1.

Using working hours and work variety as variables in the relationship between self-employment and stress, the research found significantly increased stress levels in those transitioning from regular employment to self-employment, with little change when making the opposite move. Furthermore, longer working hours were associated with a notable rise in perceived stress, with supposed gains from increased work variety failing to substantially mitigate it.

A second study measured daily levels of cortisol in 59 pairs of American twins. As cortisol typically peaks shortly after waking up and decreases throughout the day, researchers took four participant readings for four consecutive days and compared results between self-employed and non-self-employed twins. In accordance with findings from the first study, the decrease in cortisol flattened out earlier in the day among self-employed people with levels 53 per cent higher on average than that of their identical twin immediately before going to bed.

Professor Souitaris said the study should serve as an eye-opener for entrepreneurs and those seeking to start their own business in the New Year:

“Depending on our personalities, self-employment can be highly motivating and rewarding but also challenging and emotionally draining.

“Our research suggests that even those who are preconditioned to thrive in this environment experience higher stress over time than counterparts working in an organisation. Even though variety is a major attraction to self-employment, it does not appear to make life any less stressful. Overtime, however, does add to stress.

“Business owners must ensure that they set boundaries to avoid burnout and manage their time effectively. Seeking automation, outsourcing and personnel at an early stage can also help alleviate health problems and achieve success.

“Our findings should also alert policymakers, many of whom are striving to promote entrepreneurship initiatives. Provisions for health should be factored into support packages for small business owners alongside financial incentives.”

‘Does self-employment increase stress? A co-twin control analysis of Finnish and US twins’ by Professor Vangelis Souitaris, Professor Nicos Nicolaou, James Waters, Professor Dean Shepherd and Nisha Hashem, is published in the Journal of Business Venturing.

Journal

Journal of Business Venturing

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Being a night owl may increase your heart risk

Research Highlights:

  • Middle-aged and older adults — particularly women — who are naturally more active in the evenings may have worse cardiovascular health, as measured by the American Heart Association’s Life’s Essential 8 metric, in comparison to peers without a strong morning or evening preference.
  • Unhealthy behaviors among the night owls, such as poor diet quality, insufficient sleep and smoking, may account for their lower cardiovascular health profile, according to the analysis of data from the UK Biobank.
  • Helping night owls improve their lifestyle habits may lower their risk for heart attack and stroke, researchers said.

Embargoed until 4 a.m. CT/5 a.m. ET Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2026

DALLAS, Jan. 28, 2026 — Middle-aged and older adults who were more active in the evenings had poorer cardiovascular health compared to their peers who were more active during the day. This may be especially true among women, according to new research published today in the Journal of the American Heart Association, an open-access, peer-reviewed journal of the American Heart Association.

Researchers reviewed health data for more than 300,000 adults (average age of about 57 years) participating in the UK Biobank to assess how chronotypes—an individual’s natural preference for sleep-wake timing—impacted their cardiovascular health.

About 8% of participants said they were “definitely evening people,” which was characterized by having a late-night bedtime (for example 2 a.m.) and peak activity later in the day. Self-reported “definitely morning people,” who were more active earlier in the day and had earlier bedtimes (for example 9 p.m.), made up about 24% of participants. About 67% of participants were classified as “intermediate” chronotype if they said they were unsure, or if said they were neither a morning person nor an evening person.

Cardiovascular health was measured according to the American Heart Association’s Life’s Essential 8™ metrics, which note health behaviors and health factors associated with optimal cardiovascular health. The metrics include a healthy diet, regular physical activity, not smoking, good sleep quality, as well as healthy levels for weight, cholesterol, blood sugar and blood pressure. 

The analysis found:

  • Compared to intermediate chronotypes, “evening people” or night owls had a 79% higher prevalence of having an overall poor cardiovascular health score.
  • Night owls had a 16% higher risk of having a heart attack or stroke over a median of about 14 years follow-up, compared to people within the intermediate category.
  • Evening chronotype was more strongly related to low cardiovascular health scores in women than in men.
  • Much of the increased risk of heart disease among evening people was due to poor heart health habits and factors, especially nicotine use and inadequate sleep.
  • In contrast, “morning people,” or early birds, had a 5% lower prevalence of low heart health scores compared with those without a strong morning or evening chronotype.

“‘Evening people’ often experience circadian misalignment, meaning their internal body clock may not match the natural day-to-night light cycle or their typical daily schedules,” said lead study author Sina Kianersi, Ph.D., D.V.M.; a research fellow in the division of sleep and circadian disorders at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, both in Boston. “Evening people may be more likely to have behaviors that can affect cardiovascular health, such as poorer diet quality, smoking and inadequate or irregular sleep.”

The study finding are not all bad news for night owls, according to Kristen Knutson, Ph.D., FAHA, volunteer chair of the 2025 American Heart Association statement, Role of Circadian Health in Cardiometabolic Health and Disease Risk. Knutson was not involved in this research.

“These findings show that the higher heart disease risks among evening types are partly due to modifiable behaviors such as smoking and sleep. Therefore, evening types have options to improve their cardiovascular health,” she said. “Evening types aren’t inherently less healthy, but they face challenges that make it particularly important for them to maintain a healthy lifestyle.”

The American Heart Association scientific statement Knutson led suggests that individual chronotype should be considered in guiding the timing of interventions or treatment.

“Some medications or therapies work best when they align with a specific time of relevant circadian rhythms, and this time will vary depending on whether you are a morning, intermediate, or evening chronotype,” she said. “Targeted programs for people who naturally stay up late could help them improve their lifestyle behaviors and reduce their risk of cardiovascular disease.”

Main limitations of the study include that most UK Biobank participants were white people and generally healthier than the broader population, which may limit how well the findings apply to other groups. In addition, evening vs. morning preference was measured only once and was self-reported.


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Men develop cardiovascular disease earlier than women


  • Men reached 5% cardiovascular disease risk about seven years earlier than women
  • Coronary heart disease drove most of the gap
  • Risk started diverging around age 35
  • Earlier risk in men suggests factors beyond smoking, hypertension and diabetes alone

CHICAGO --- Men begin developing coronary heart disease — which can lead to heart attacks — years earlier than women, with differences emerging as early as the mid-30s, according to a large, long-term study led by Northwestern Medicine.

The findings, based on more than three decades of patient follow-up, suggest that heart disease prevention and screening should start earlier in adulthood, particularly for men.

“That timing may seem early, but heart disease develops over decades, with early markers detectable in young adulthood,” said study senior author Alexa Freedman, assistant professor of preventive medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.

“Screening at an earlier age can help identify risk factors sooner, enabling preventive strategies that reduce long-term risk.”

Older studies have consistently shown that men tend to experience heart disease earlier than women. But over the past several decades, risk factors like smoking, high blood pressure and diabetes have become more similar between the sexes. So, it was surprising to find that the gap hasn’t narrowed, Freedman said.

To better understand why sex differences in heart disease persist, Freedman and her colleagues say it’s important to look beyond standard measures such as cholesterol and blood pressure and consider a broader range of biological and social factors.

The study will publish Jan. 28 in the Journal of The American Heart Association.

Tracking heart disease from young adulthood

The study analyzed data from the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) study, which enrolled more than 5,100 Black and white adults ages 18 to 30 in the mid-1980s and followed them through 2020.

Because participants were healthy young adults at enrollment, the scientists were able to pinpoint when cardiovascular disease risk first began to diverge between men and women. Men reached 5% incidence of cardiovascular disease (defined broadly to include heart attack, stroke and heart failure) about seven years earlier than women (50.5 versus 57.5 years).

The difference was driven largely by coronary heart disease. Men reached a 2% incidence of coronary heart disease more than a decade earlier than women, while rates of stroke were similar and differences in heart failure emerged later in life. “This was still a relatively young sample — everyone was under 65 at last follow-up — and stroke and heart failure tend to develop later in life,” Freedman explained.

Beyond traditional risk factors

The scientists examined whether differences in blood pressure, cholesterol, blood sugar, smoking, diet, physical activity and body weight could explain the earlier onset of heart disease in men. While some factors, particularly hypertension, explained part of the gap, overall cardiovascular health did not fully account for the difference, suggesting other biological or social factors may be involved.

A critical age: 35

One of the most striking findings was when the risk gap opened. The scientists found that men and women had similar cardiovascular risk through their early 30s. Around age 35, however, men’s risk began to rise faster and stayed higher through midlife. Heart disease screening and prevention efforts often focus on adults over 40. The new findings suggest that approach may miss an important window.

The authors highlight the relatively new American Heart Association’s PREVENT risk equations, which can predict heart disease starting at age 30, as a promising tool for earlier intervention.

Still, one major challenge to close the sex gap is that preventive care rates among U.S. adults ages 18 to 44 are highly uneven. Women are more than four times as likely as men to attend routine checkups, largely due to gynecologic and obstetric visits.

“Our findings suggest that encouraging preventive care visits among young men could be an important opportunity to improve heart health and lower cardiovascular disease risk,” Freedman said.

She also emphasized that cardiovascular disease remains the leading cause of death for both men and women, and prevention is critical for everyone.


Historical data indicate that men develop coronary heart disease (CHD) 10 years before women. A recent study in the Journal of the American Heart Association indicates that this sex gap still remains.

Investigators analyzed data from the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) study, in which US adults aged 18–30 years enrolled in 1985–1986 and were followed through August 2020.

Among 5,112 participants (54.5% female, 51.6% Black) with an average age of 24.8 years at enrollment and a median follow-up of 34.1 years, men had a significantly higher cumulative incidence of cardiovascular disease. They had higher cumulative incidence rates of the cardiovascular disease subtypes of CHD and heart failure compared with women, but no difference in stroke.

Men reached a 5% incidence of cardiovascular disease 7.0 years earlier than women (50.5 versus 57.5 years). CHD was the most frequent cardiovascular disease subtype, and men reached a 2% incidence 10.1 years earlier than women. There were no significant differences in the age at which men and women reached a 2% incidence for stroke (57.5 versus 56.9 years) or a 1% incidence for heart failure (48.7 versus 51.7 years)

Differences emerged in the fourth decade of life and were not explained after accounting for differences in cardiovascular health.

“Sex differences in cardiovascular disease risk are apparent by age 35, highlighting the importance of initiating risk assessment and prevention strategies in young adulthood,” said corresponding author Alexa Freedman, PhD, of the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.

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How your lifestyle can affect your risk of dementia

Almost half of all dementia cases can be attributed to risk factors that we potentially can influence ourselves, such as smoking and high blood pressure. A new study from Lund University shows which risk factors are associated with two of our most common causes of dementia – Alzheimer's disease and vascular dementia.

During our lifetime, the risk of developing dementia is influenced by aspects that we cannot change, such as age, gender and genes. But there are also factors that we can change ourselves, such as smoking, cardiovascular disease, high blood lipids, physical activity, alcohol consumption, hearing loss and high blood pressure. Since dementia is not a single disease but a symptom of several underlying disorders, the risk profile also differs between different types of dementia. In the study from Lund University, researchers show how different risk factors affect changes in the brain linked to our two most common types of dementia – Alzheimer's disease and vascular dementia.

Different risk factors for different dementia mechanisms

“Much of the research available on the risk factors that we ourselves can influence does not take into account the different causes of dementia. This means that we have had limited knowledge of how individual risk factors affect the underlying disease mechanisms in the brain," explains Sebastian Palmqvist, senior lecturer in neurology at Lund University and senior physician at the Memory Clinic at Skåne University Hospital.

Long-term study of brain changes

The study included almost 500 people with an average age of 65, with preserved cognitive ability. Over a period of four years, changes in the brain's white matter – the nerve fibres that are often affected in vascular dementia – and levels of amyloid β and tau – the proteins linked to Alzheimer's disease – were measured. The aim of the study was to find out how risk factors, both those we can and cannot influence, are linked to changes in the brain over time.

Modifiable risk factors linked to vascular and Alzheimer’s-related changes

"We saw that most modifiable risk factors – smoking, cardiovascular disease, high blood lipids and high blood pressure, among others – were linked to damage to the brain's blood vessels and a faster accumulation of so-called white matter changes. This damage impairs the function of the blood vessels and leads to vascular brain damage – and can ultimately lead to vascular dementia," says Isabelle Glans, doctoral student at Lund University and resident in neurology at Skåne University Hospital.

But the researchers also discovered risk factors linked to the Alzheimer's protein.

“Diabetes was associated with increased accumulation of amyloid β, while people with lower BMI had faster accumulation of tau. However, these findings need to be investigated further and validated in future studies”, continues Isabelle Glans.

Living healthily and changing the risk factors that can be changed may help to delay the onset of symptoms in Alzheimer's disease. This is particularly important because many people with dementia actually have a combination of different underlying mechanisms, such as both vascular and Alzheimer's changes. Sebastian Palmqvist therefore emphasises the importance of a healthy lifestyle even in Alzheimer's disease:

“Focusing on vascular and metabolic risk factors can still help reduce the combined effects of several brain changes that occur simultaneously,” he concludes.

Journal

The Journal of Prevention of Alzheimer s Disease

DOI

10.1016/j.tjpad.2025.100448  

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ating beef each day does not affect risk factors for type 2 diabetes

 

More than 135 million American adults are either living with or at risk for type 2 diabetes (T2D), elevating the need for more evidence-based dietary guidance to help this growing population achieve optimal health and reduce risks for T2D and its complications. Recently published findings from a randomized controlled trial (RCT) demonstrate that eating 6-7 ounces of beef per day does not impact risk factors for T2D, as well as other cardiometabolic health markers, in adults with prediabetes. The study, “Effects of Diets Containing Beef Compared with Poultry on Pancreatic β -Cell Function and Other Cardiometabolic Health Indicators in Males and Females with Prediabetes: A Randomized, Crossover Trial,” was published in Current Developments in Nutrition.

“Results from this gold standard RCT build on existing scientific evidence that shows eating beef as part of a healthy dietary pattern supports heart health and does not adversely impact measures of blood sugar regulation or inflammation,” said Kevin C Maki, PhD, Adjunct Professor in the Indiana University School of Public Health-Bloomington, and senior author of the article. “When beef is consumed as part of a healthy dietary pattern, it helps fill essential nutritional gaps and does not adversely impact the cardiometabolic risk profile compared to poultry.”

This RCT with a crossover design included 24 adults (17 males and 7 females; ages 18-74 years) with overweight or obesity and prediabetes, who were otherwise generally healthy. The participants each completed two 28-day dietary intervention periods, separated by a 28-day washout period. Participants consumed two entrées per day, each containing 3.0-3.5 ounces of cooked beef or poultry, in the form of fajitas, stew, burgers, burritos, or stir fry, as part of their habitual dietary pattern.

The development of T2D typically results from insulin resistance that occurs over an extended period, accompanied by progressive deterioration in the function of the pancreatic β-cells that secrete insulin. To assess glucose regulation, pancreatic β-cell function and glucoregulatory hormones were measured before and after each 28-day dietary intervention period. There were no statistically significant differences for any of the pancreatic β-cell function parameters or insulin sensitivity after 28 days of consuming 6-7 ounces of unprocessed beef or poultry per day.

"The study findings suggest that regular beef intake does not adversely affect metabolic or inflammatory risk factors compared with poultry in an at-risk prediabetic population,” noted Indika Edirisinghe, PhD, Professor of Food Science and Nutrition, Illinois Institute of Technology. “Although the study duration was relatively short (one month), this time frame is generally considered sufficient to detect measurable metabolic outcomes."

This research was funded by the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, a contractor to the Beef Checkoff, which was not involved in the data collection or analysis, nor publication of the findings, except for reviewing a draft of the manuscript prior to submission. 

Journal

Current Developments in Nutrition

DOI

10.1016/j.cdnut.2025.107589 

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