Ten Healthiest Jobs
by Allan Hoffman
Monster Tech Jobs Expert
Is your career healthy? Daily life can be complicated enough without a job to make it more difficult. Healthiest JobLuckily, some jobs lend themselves to healthy lifestyles -- typically due to low stress, healthy surroundings and the chance to help others.
To find out which jobs promote a healthy lifestyle and environment, we consulted Jobs Rated Almanac, and Best Jobs for the 21st Century. While you wonÂ’t find pro football player on our list, you will find athletics-related careers, as well as jobs that help others achieve health and balance.
Here are 10 jobs that give new meaning to the word healthy:
1. Activity Specialist
The job: Coordinate recreational pursuits at hotels, nursing homes and other facilities.
Why itÂ’s healthy: With a focus on staying fit, both mentally and physically, activity specialists work with others to maintain an active, positive attitude toward life.
2. Chiropractor
The job: Treat patients with back problems and other spine-related ailments.
Why itÂ’s healthy: Focusing on a holistic attitude toward health, the profession is concerned with diet, exercise and other issues related to well-being.
3. Choreographer
The job: Work with dancers, directors and set designers to arrange dances.
Why itÂ’s healthy: Choreographers are often dancers themselves, so they practice their craft on a daily basis, while focusing on a group endeavor.
4. Florist
The job: Provide flowers for a variety of celebrations and events, from MotherÂ’s Day to weddings.
Why itÂ’s healthy: Florists surround themselves with beauty, and many find the art of flower arranging relaxing.
5. Massage Therapist
The job: Perform massages at health clubs and spas or in private sessions.
Why itÂ’s healthy: A massage therapist, in addition to focusing on relaxation, helps aid in muscle recovery. As this is a hands-on job, massage therapists must be fit and have the benefit of working in a tranquil and relaxing setting.
6. Nutritionist
The job: Work with patients and other clients at clinics, corporations and hospitals to craft proper diets.
Why itÂ’s healthy: Too many of us donÂ’t think about what we eat. Nutritionists do all the time.
7. Personal Trainer
The job: Work with individuals to help them lose weight and get in shape.
Why itÂ’s healthy: The nature of trainersÂ’ work requires them to work out with clients, thereby benefiting from the extra exercise. WhatÂ’s more, unless trainers are fit, theyÂ’ll never find clients to work with them.
8. Professor
The job: Tenured professors teach two or three classes each semester and work on scholarly articles and books.
Why itÂ’s healthy: With flexible schedules and opportunities for time off, including sabbaticals, professors have ample opportunity to craft a healthy lifestyle while pursuing intellectual stimulation.
9. Running Coach
The job: Mentor and motivate student athletes.
Why itÂ’s healthy: Often runners themselves, running coaches stay fit, even as they lead others in an endeavor about both team dynamics and individual goals.
10. Yoga Instructor
The job: Hold classes at health clubs, schools and other facilities.
Why itÂ’s healthy: Yoga can be physically demanding but is also a meditative practice. Instructors often adhere to eastern philosophies emphasizing balance and contentment.
Five Super-Stressful Jobs
No matter what the job is, stress can be unavoidable. "Stress, fear, anxiety -- the feeling goes by many names, but in the workplace, foreboding of some kind is as commonplace as Post-it Notes and coffee cups," according to Jobs Rated Almanac 2001. The bookÂ’s survey lists these as some of the most stressful occupations:
• Air Traffic Controller: Quick decision making is required, with thousands of lives at stake in every decision.
• CEO: Corporate executives have to please everyone, from stockholders and board members to employees and customers, with millions of dollars on the line.
• Firefighter: As Sept. 11 proved, being a firefighter is an exceptionally dangerous job. Even under typical circumstances, firefighters risk their lives.
• Police Officer: Danger, emergencies and unknown circumstances characterize this work.
• Taxi Driver: You may have the patience of a saint, but listening to passengers scream about the traffic or the planes they need to catch can frazzle even the calmest person.