Is Your Job Interfering With Your Orgasms?

How Much Can Hating Your Job Hinder Your Sex Life?

OK, so here's the sad truth of it all. There are reports that indicate that as much as 85 percent of people in the world—and 70 percent of Americans—hate their job. 85 freakin' percent. The reasons? They actually vary. Some people don't feel engaged. Others don't feel valued and appreciated. For some, the work is cool, but their co-workers and management staff drive them completely up the wall. Still there are those who hate how long the commute is, that there isn't any real opportunity to move up in the company or—shocker of all shockers—the pay is too low. There's also what I personally believe is a core reason for a lot of folks; it's the fact that they would rather use their time, expertise and resources to build up their own empire instead of someone else's. Whatever the case may be, when you spend most of your waking hours doing something that doesn't bring true fulfillment into your life, that is bound to bring stress into your space. And stress? Stress can do a number on you in a myriad of ways. One of them being your sex life.

Just how concerned should you be about this being a part of your own reality? I'll share with you some findings from a study that I recently read, then let you decide. According to a research review, when they asked approximately 800 people how their job impacted their sex life, 83 percent with low-stress jobs said they were totally satisfied with their sex life while a mere 60 percent with high-stress jobs stated that they could say the same. Not only that, but 74 percent of individuals said that they actually turned down sex, not because of the sex itself, but because of how work-related stress impacted them. 74 percent.

When these same people were asked if they felt that work-related stress had a long-term impact on their sex life, while only 10 percent with low-stress jobs said it did, a whopping 54 percent of people with high-stress jobs agreed. Also, folks with a low-stress job had sex around 10 times each month while individuals with high-stress jobs did, eh, somewhere around seven. Oh, and get this: If you are in a relationship with someone who has a high-stress job, you're twice as likely to get yourself some—have mercy—only once a month.

Oh, there's more, boo. While people on low-stress jobs are able to climax 79 percent of the time, that drops 10 percent for those with high-stress gigs. Twenty percent of men with high-stress positions have trouble performing from time to time while only nine percent of men with low-stress ones do. Out of all of the stuff that I read in this particular study, I think what stood out to me the most is the fact that while only 28 percent of people who did low-stress work felt like their sex life was on the ho-hum routine side of things, 46 percent of individuals who did highly stressful work felt that way.

In a nutshell, high-stress work—and if you hate your job, you are most definitely stressed out on some level—causes your sex life to tank. It's all right here and black and white.

This data actually piqued my curiosity. Are there literal professions that lead to better sex than others? Seek and ye shall find, chile. Indeed, there are.

What Jobs (Reportedly) Have the Best Sex, the Least Sex, and the Most Cheaters?

Now, just to be upfront, this is based on a UK survey (I couldn't find a US one; sorry). However, according to it, farmers have a great sex life (33 percent claim to have it once a day!). Then it's architects (21 percent have it daily) and hairdressers (17 percent have it once a day). I think it's actually hilarious that, as a writer, I'm sharing this, but the poll says that journalists seem to get it in the least while lawyers are the hardest to please. (I could totally see that. They dissect everything for a living.) That's some pretty interesting stuff, right?

I'm a digger by nature so, knowing all of this got me to wondering about if certain jobs somehow influence whether or not it is harder for someone to be faithful. Now there was a US survey for that. The list is a little long, so I'll just touch on the top-tier folks. It would appear that 23 percent of female doctors and nurses tend to cheat due to, take a guess—stress. As far as the fellas go, 29 percent of men in a trade profession do because of their irregular hours. Twelve percent of female teachers and 12 percent of men in IT took the second spot. (No real explanation was given, but perhaps it's to break up their daily routine?) For both men and women, third place went to entrepreneurs, mostly because---both personally as well as professionally---they like things to go their way at all times. Fascinating.

Know More. Do Better.

And just what should you do now that you can't unsee any of what you just read? For starters, don't get paranoid and assume that if you're a teacher, you're bound to cheat at some point, or if your man just announced that he wants to start a business that it's code for wanting to have a couple of chicks on the side; the latter was mere food for thought. If anything, I think if you happen to see any parallels between stress at your job and how it is affecting your sex life, it's time to do some serious reevaluating and possible restructuring. What I mean by that is, if you're unhappy at the office and then you come home and sex seems a little "off", don't just brush it off as a coincidence. There's plenty of data to support that the two things could very well go hand in hand.

And no, I'm not telling you that an orgasm trumps paying rent. But what I am saying is don't fool yourself into believing that you can't climb the walls and pay your bills. You most certainly can do both.

Besides, life is too short to be hating your job, and sex is too good to be having a scaled-down version of it. Hmph. Like I said from the jump—if you loathe your workplace and your sex life isn't quite where you want it to be 1) you're not alone and 2) now you've got another excellent reason to update your resume and prepare to bounce. Let the stressful job go so that you can do what you love—at work and in the bedroom. You feel me? Girl, I know you do.