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 wont 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 its 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 its 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 its 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 Mothers Day to weddings.
Why its 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 its 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 its healthy: Too many of us dont 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 its healthy: The nature of trainers work requires them to
work out with clients, thereby benefiting from the extra exercise.
Whats more, unless trainers are fit, theyll 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 its 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 its 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 its 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
books 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.