Are your jeans getting harder to zip since you survived the lay-offs at work?

A new study by the University of Rochester Medical Center found chronic job stress and not getting enough physical activity are strongly associated with being overweight or obese.

And, an unexpected finding in this study, the URMC says: Eating lots of fruits and vegetables did little to offset the effect of chronic job stress on weight gain among workers who are mostly sedentary. Exercise appears to be the key to managing stress and maintaining a healthy weight.

The study, dating back to 2005, involved 2,782 employees at a large manufacturing facility in upstate New York that had gone through major restructuring and lay-offs.

Most of the study volunteers were middle-aged, white, married, highly educated, relatively well-paid and with an average of almost 22 years at their companies. About three-quarters were overweight or obese, with employees working in the most high job strain conditions weighing in at one BMI unit more than people working in more passive areas, according to the URMC.

Some more of what researchers learned:
— Workers consistently told researchers that after spending the day in front of the computer or in high-stress meetings, they looked forward to going home and vegging out in front of the TV. Some 65 percent said they watch TV more than two hours a day.
— When pink slips were circulating, the highest-fat and highest-calorie snacks were purchased from vending machines.
— Some workers said they didn’t take time to eat well at lunch or exercise because they were afraid of repercussions if they were away from their desks for too long.

Dr. Diana Fernandez, an epidemiologist at the URMC Department of Community and Preventive Medicine and lead author of the study, said her study is one of many linking job stress with cardiovascular disease, metabolic syndrome, depression, exhaustion, anxiety and weight gain.

Fernandez said it’s time to strengthen work place wellness programs to provide good nutrition, ways to deal with job demands and opportunities for physical activity built into the work day without penalties.

“In a poor economy, companies should take care of the people who survive layoffs and end up staying in stressful jobs,” she said.

Her  research was published in the January 2010 issue of The Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine

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