New York, April 12 - A stressful job may raise blood pressure even after work and during sleep, says a Belgian study.

Researchers studied the blood pressure of 89 middle-aged men and women with stressful jobs.

The study published in the April issue of the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine found that the high-job-stress men and women had higher blood pressure, reported the health magazine WebMD.

The stressed-out workers also had higher blood pressure while at home, including while they were sleeping, found Els Clays, of Ghent University in Belgium, and colleagues.

Although it’s not a huge increase, but it’s enough to confer a substantial risk of heart disease, said the researchers, adding that the main factor behind work-related stress is something they call “high job strain”.

This happens when a person is exposed to “high psychological demands” in combination with low job control. Study data suggest that it is the “low job control” aspect of job strain that most affects blood pressure.(IANS)