Health risks for ministry in the United States

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clergy:  In recent years,[when?] studies[which?] have suggested that American clergy in certain Protestant, Evangelical and Jewish traditions are more at risk than the general population of obesity, hypertension and depression. Their life expectancies have fallen in recent years and in the last decade[which?] their use of antidepressants has risen. Public-health experts[which?] conducting the research caution that there is no simple explanation for the initial findings of their ongoing studies. A likely explanation is a lack of time off from the job, driven perhaps by a sense of duty to both God and humanity to answer every call for help from anybody, coupled with being inundated by such requests, made possible in part because of modern technology.[original research?] Several religious bodies in the United States (Methodist, Episcopal, Baptist and Lutheran) have implemented measures to address the issue, through wellness campaigns, for example - but also by simply ensuring that clergy take more time off. It is unclear whether similar symptoms affect American Muslim clerics, though an anecdotal comment by one American imam suggested that leaders of mosques may also share these problems.[31]





One exception to the findings of these studies is the case of American Roman Catholic priests, who are required by canon law to take a spiritual retreat each year, and four weeks of vacation. Sociological studies at the University of Chicago have confirmed this exception; the studies also took the results of several earlier studies into consideration and included Roman Catholic priests nationwide.[32] It remains unclear whether American clergy in other religious traditions experience the same symptoms, or whether clergy outside the United States are similarly affected.