Worked to death, or bored to death?

According to this Reuters health news story, boring work can kill you.

People who spend more of their working lives in jobs where they have few opportunities to decide what work to do and how to go about doing it tend to die earlier than employees given more decision-making opportunities, new research suggests.

People assigned a low decision-making role in the workplace died even earlier than those in highly demanding positions, according to Dr. Benjamin C. Amick III, of the University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston, and colleagues.

Many jobs in which employees have little control tend to be highly repetitive with little variety in the skills they use, Amick told Reuters Health. This can prevent people from becoming engaged in their work.

"If people aren't working meaningful jobs, that affects their health," Amick said, for they are more likely to adopt risky health behaviors.