You don’t need a medical degree to know your job is stressing you out. The tight chest before your morning meeting, the migraines that hit around 4 p.m., the mysterious lower back pain you didn’t have in college — your body’s already broadcasting the memo. But here’s the part we rarely admit: our jobs aren’t just stressful. They’re possibly wrecking us. Slowly. Subtly. Systematically.
No, this isn’t a melodramatic manifesto urging you to quit and start a goat farm. (Though, honestly, if that’s your dream? Respect.) This is about something more unsettling — the reality that our modern work culture, especially for young adults trying to build a meaningful life, is physically shaping us in ways we don’t often connect to the office Slack channel or our always-open inboxes.
The body keeps the paycheck
We often talk about stress as a feeling. But physiologically, it’s a full-body event. According to the American Psychological Association, job-related stress is one of the leading sources of stress in the U.S., and it contributes to heart disease, high blood pressure, obesity and diabetes. The World Health Organization has even classified burnout as an “occupational phenomenon,” characterized by chronic workplace stress that hasn’t been successfully managed.
That sounds familiar, doesn’t it?
Fatigue becomes your default setting. Your sleep is trash. You power through headaches with ibuprofen and iced coffee. You skip workouts because “you’re too busy.” You catch yourself shallow breathing during Zoom calls like your body’s trying to ghost out of its own job. But you keep going — because isn’t this what success is supposed to feel like in your 20s?
Here’s the thing: your body doesn’t care about your performance review. It only knows when it’s in danger — and it treats overwork, uncertainty and the slow erosion of rest as legitimate threats.
Working ourselves sick
This isn’t just anecdotal. A growing field of research is exploring how the way we work — not just how much we work — is affecting us on a cellular level.
A recent study from the University of Cambridge found that “high job demands coupled with low control” (hi, entry-level ministry jobs, nonprofit burnout and toxic startup culture) leads to higher levels of cortisol, the stress hormone that wreaks havoc on your body when left unchecked. Cortisol is useful in short bursts — it’s your get-out-of-bed hormone. But in the long term, it starts to fry your nervous system like a phone left charging too long.
Then there’s the posture problem. Most of us sit — and sit — and sit some more. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that prolonged sedentary behavior is associated with a 147 percent increase in cardiovascular events. Sitting for hours a day under fluorescent lights, staring at blue screens, numbing our nervous systems with dopamine hits from Slack notifications isn’t neutral. It’s a full-body experience — and not in the fun, SoulCycle kind of way.
God didn’t design you to be a machine
If you grew up in church, chances are you heard that your body is a temple. Usually in the context of dating or spring break. But Scripture actually has more to say about our bodies than just purity culture buzzwords. In 1 Corinthians 6:19, Paul says, “Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you?” That verse isn’t just about avoiding sin — it’s about honoring the sacredness of embodiment.
Jesus himself — fully God, fully human — slept. He took naps on boats. He walked away from crowds. He disappeared to quiet places. He modeled rhythms of rest that many of us feel guilty even considering.
Maybe honoring God with our bodies doesn’t just mean avoiding “bad” things. Maybe it means paying attention when our back spasms, our anxiety spikes or our immune system crashes right after every major deadline. Maybe it means seeing burnout not as a badge of honor but as a spiritual warning light.
So, what do we do?
Let’s be real: not all of us can just quit our jobs and go frolic in a field. Rent exists. Health insurance is tied to employment. Your boss doesn’t care that your soul feels like it’s evaporating. And sometimes, you really are in a season of hard work that’s temporary and purposeful.
But here’s what you can do:
- Start noticing. Pay attention to how your body feels during and after work. Are you clenching your jaw all day? Are your shoulders always tense? These are signs, not quirks.
- Build in micro-recovery. If you can’t take long breaks, take small ones. Walk outside for five minutes. Close your eyes for one. Breathe deep. Let your nervous system know it’s safe.
- De-glorify hustle. Challenge the idol of productivity. You’re not what you produce. Your rest matters as much as your output.
- Talk to someone. A therapist. A mentor. A doctor. Your pastor. Don’t spiritualize pain that needs professional care.
- Ask better questions. Not just “Am I succeeding?” but “Am I well?” “Am I becoming who I’m meant to be?” “Is this job helping or hurting my calling?”
You were not created to grind yourself into a husk in the name of ambition or duty. You were created to live. Fully. Freely. And yes — faithfully.
So the next time your body tries to tap out, maybe don’t silence it with another latte. Maybe start listening.
