Yes, police officers have shorter lifespans usually because of stress, unusual working hours, alcoholism/addiction as a result of the job, etc.
The study that was referenced indicated fumes and chemicals more than stress. As in all things pigg.. bring/present evidence. As I mentioned before, both the job of a fireman and police officer involved long periods of boredom punctuated by brief periods of panic/stress. Military people have a much more stressful life in times of war than either fire or police. In the case of the military, the other guy is trying to really kill you and often has military specific training to do it.
And yes, school teacher is more stressful than police because the school teacher is forbidden from protecting themselves (no gun, if you strike back when stricken – you get sued/fired – check out assaults against teachers), depending on locale, not every kid is interested in learning. Inner city schools are the worst because you are almost in the middle of an armed camp.
It is one of the most stressful, depressing, and difficult jobs out there.
Not exactly.. but I also do know that some of the stress is the stress they create themselves. Many police officers have a them vs us mentality.. not healthy.
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Forget the glamorous television shows; policing is dangerous work with health dangers extending beyond what is found on the streets.
The pressures of the badge put officers at risk for high blood pressure, insomnia, increased levels of destructive stress hormones, heart problems, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and suicide, University at Buffalo researchers have found through a decade of studies of police officers.
People in all walks of life experience, and must find ways to cope with, some degree of stress. However, in the past 25 years, researchers and criminal justice officials have identified stress factors unique to, or more pronounced among, law enforcement officers. Today, law enforcement is widely considered to be among the most stressful occupations, associated with high rates of divorce, alcoholism, suicide, and other emotional and health problems.1
Absolutely no disagreement WRT military personnel having the most stressful jobs in the world during war time. It’s also why they are supposed to be rotated in and out of war zones. They also tend not to perform in a war zone for 20 or 30 years straight.
BTW, I think military personnel are some of the most underpaid, overworked people in this country, and the way we treat them is totally unacceptable. Also, it’s well known that soldiers who’ve been in battle often suffer from PTSD. It’s real, it’s not well-managed, and we need to do much more to help them.
Police and firefighters often see the same sort of horrific situations — and suffer from PTSD just the same as military personnel do, but do not have the burden of having to kill someone else, possibly killing innnocent people and children in the process.
The people who perform these services for us undoubtedly (in my mind) deserve far more respect than what they often get. That we allow so much money to be funneled into the finance/real estate industries (often via fraud and/or extreme leverage) while claiming there’s “not enough” for the people who put their lives on the line for us, is positively disgusting, IMHO.
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Oh, and I’m a former teacher, so you don’t have to convince me of the stress levels in that job! 🙂
