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TTTday window: Intra-week work stress in financial employees’ cardiovascular biomarker trajectories

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: Objectives: This study aims to investigate the time-dependent pattern of employees' work stress responses. It seeks to determine whether there is a day-of-the-week effect in employees' physiological reactions to workplace stressors on an intra-week scale. Methods: Utilizing seven-year (2017-2023) biometric data from financial sector employees in Eastern China, we analyzed the association between daily stock returns and cardiovascular biomarkers. A counterfactual analysis during holiday periods was conducted to isolate work-cycle-specific effects from general biological rhythms. Results: Declines in company stock prices significantly elevated employees' systolic blood pressure and blood lipids from Tuesdays to Thursdays (TTTday), with the effect peaking on Tuesdays, remaining significant on Wednesdays, and failing to reach statistical significance on Thursdays. No significant effects were observed on Mondays or Fridays. Holiday-period analyses confirmed this TTTday vulnerability window as a work-cycle-specific phenomenon. Conclusions: Employees exhibit rhythmic variations in effort and recovery on the sub-weekly scale, and this leads to varying degrees of physiological responses to workplace stress during the workweek.

Source: SSM - Population Health

DOI: 10.1016/j.ssmph.2025.101897

Authors: Yang Zhao, Chao Li, Jiuchang Wei

Institutions: University of Science and Technology of China, China Meteorological Administration, Anhui Provincial Hospital

Language: English

Topic: Workplace Health and Well-being

Subfield: General Health Professions

Field: Health Professions

Domain: Health Sciences

SDGs: Good health and well-being, Decent work and economic growth

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $2,930