--- title: Got Work Stress? Your Boss Is Raising Your Blood Pressure description: Work stress hangs around longer than we think. A new study finds negative interactions with a boss predict elevated blood pressure all day canonical: https://time.com/4148617/blood-pressure-boss-stress/ author: Mandy Oaklander article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-12-15T15:19:26.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T05:00:45.494Z article:section: Health og:title: Your Boss Is Raising Your Blood Pressure og:description: Work stress hangs around longer than we think. A new study finds negative interactions with a boss predict elevated blood pressure all day og:url: https://time.com/4148617/blood-pressure-boss-stress/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2988e04a3a96509c/6987788855a8591eaea851d3/computer-hack-typing-keyboard.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2560 og:image:height: 1440 og:image:alt: TIME.com stock photos Computer Keyboard Typing Hack og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Your Boss Is Raising Your Blood Pressure twitter:description: Work stress hangs around longer than we think. A new study finds negative interactions with a boss predict elevated blood pressure all day twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2988e04a3a96509c/6987788855a8591eaea851d3/computer-hack-typing-keyboard.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # How Your Boss Can Raise Your Blood Pressure > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: September 2026. ## TIME Health Matters: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition Health Matters is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. The latest health news and expert advice on living well. Health Matters makes the fast-moving world of health more useful, surprising and human, from the latest science and medical breakthroughs to practical ideas for living better. 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It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free weekday newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-health-2026q3/newsletters?i=e8702fd4-f318-4274-8d20-7e0af384358a&cr=time-nl-health-2026q3-v1)  by [Mandy Oaklander](https://time.com/author/mandy-oaklander/)  ## Mandy Oaklander Oaklander is a senior editor at TIME. Dec 15, 2015 3:19 PM UTC  Elizabeth Renstrom for TIME  by [Mandy Oaklander](https://time.com/author/mandy-oaklander/)  ## Mandy Oaklander Oaklander is a senior editor at TIME. Dec 15, 2015 3:19 PM UTC Every time your boss bums you out, your heart takes a hit, finds new [research](http://psycnet.apa.org/psycinfo/2015-55061-001/) published in the _Journal of Occupational Health Psychology_. And the bad health effects linger long after you leave the office. In the clever new study—the master’s thesis of Jennifer Wong of Saint Mary’s University in Halifax, Nova Scotia—researchers recruited 55 care workers with an average age of 43 from several nursing homes. They had been at their jobs for about 11 years. The people in the study wore a specialized blood pressure monitor for a whole workday until they went to sleep. The cuff inflated every hour to take an automatic reading. **MORE**: [Answering E-mails After Work Is Bad For Your Health](http://time.com/3560203/stress-work-email/) Every time they had a blood pressure reading, the workers answered brief survey questions asking what they had been doing at the time, how stressed they were, the last time they talked to their boss, and—on a 10-point scale—how positive or negative the chat with their supervisor had been. Even after controlling for a range of factors that could influence blood pressure, the researchers found that when people had negative interactions with their boss, blood pressure went up. Surprisingly, these bad boss vibes also predicted elevated blood pressure at home. **MORE**: [3 Steps To Minimizing Stress At Work](http://time.com/3672006/minimizing-work-stress/) “This is important, because this now speaks to more than just an instantaneous stress response,” says study co-author E. Kevin Kelloway, Canada Research Chair in Occupational Health Psychology at Saint Mary’s University. When a boss berates you, the effect “carries over, and it doesn’t go away at night.” The researchers think that one mechanism at play is rumination: the tendency to play a negative episode over and over again in your head. “People in a sense re-traumatize themselves,” Kelloway says, and this may contribute to the link between stressful work conditions and heart problems like hypertension and cardiovascular disease. Past research has shown that the boss-employee bond can either be a source of social support or a big stressor. “Your boss controls so much of your workplace: the task you’re assigned to, whether you get a bonus or a raise.” It’s a powerful relationship, says Kelloway—and having a good one seems to be better for the heart. ### You Asked: Your Top 10 Health Questions Answered  You Asked: Are Cleanses Healthy? 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