When Work Becomes A Haven From Stress At Home

[Image: Lucinda Schreiber for NPR] 

...But in new research, [Sarah] Damaske argues that another factor might have been at play. It's a factor that sociologists such as Arlie Hochschild and psychiatrists such as Sigmund Freud have examined in the past. Hochschild, for one, found that many people find work to be less stressful than their home lives. Work was, in fact, a haven. Freud once said work and love were two wellsprings of emotional satisfaction in life.

In a study of 122 working men and women, Damaske had volunteers collect samples of saliva throughout the day. The samples were later tested to measure the levels of cortisol, a stress hormone.

Cortisol levels didn't spike when the volunteers were at work. They soared when the volunteers were home.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2014/07/15/330191097/when-work-becomes-a-haven-from-stress-at-home