Work Stress: Sleep and Diet Protect You More Than the Gym

For years, the standard prescription for a stressful job has been almost reflexive: hit the gym.

The study, published in 2026 in the journal Occupational Health Science, tracked nearly 2,900 working adults over ten years.

The team behind the paper, including occupational-health researchers from Canadian universities, drew on the long-running Canadian National Population Health Survey, following 2,87

The answer was not the one most wellness apps would predict.

The researchers frame sleep as something like a foundational resource, the base layer on which other good habits are built.