en years of scientific research has confirmed what all police officers already know from experience: Policing is one of the most stressful jobs you can do. An in-depth study recently published in the American Journal of Industrial Medicine demonstrates that on-the-job stress leads to a much higher incidence of high blood pressure, insomnia, increased levels of destructive hormones, heart problems, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and suicide among the law-enforcement ranks than occurs in the general population.

The University of Buffalo study, funded by over $2 million in grants from National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health and the National Institute of Justice, is the first large-scale investigation of how the stress of police work affects an officer’s physical and mental health. The study evaluated 400 police officers over the course of a decade and found, among other important results, that thoughts of suicide occur 10 to 15% more often in police officers than in the population at large. It also demonstrated that veteran officers over 40 years of age had a higher 10-year risk of a “coronary event” compared to national averages.

John M. Violanti, Ph.D., a research associate professor in UB’s Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, was the principal researcher of the project called the Buffalo Cardio-Metabolic Occupational Police Stress study. Violanti, also a 23-year veteran of the New York State Police, described policing as “a psychologically stressful work environment filled with danger, high demands, ambiguity in work encounters, human misery and exposure to death.” He hopes that the study’s conclusions will lead to the “intervention necessary to help officers deal with this difficult and stressful occupation.”

The clinical study involved questionnaires on lifestyle and psychological factors such as depression and PTSD as well as physical evaluations, like measures of bone density and body composition. Ultrasound exams probed brachial and carotid arteries and samples of blood and salivary cortisol (known as the “stress hormone”) were taken to measure changes in the officers’ physiology over the period of the test.

Participants also wore a small electronic device to measure the quantity and quality of sleep throughout a typical police shift cycle for the shift impact portion of the study. The data was compiled by age, gender and shift.

“When cortisol becomes dysregulated due to chronic stress, it opens a person to disease,” said Violanti. “The body becomes physiologically unbalanced, organs are attacked, and the immune system is compromised as well. It’s unfortunate, but that’s what stress does to us.” He added that high levels of cortisol can lead to diabetes and cardiovascular disease — which would certainly explain the higher incidence of coronary problems in veteran officers and seems to be a strong re-justification for the New York State heart bill.

Violanti says he understands that these findings will not result in an overnight change in how police departments deal with police officers’ stress but hopes they will help to show that “the negative effects of stress must be acknowledged, de-stigmatized and treated.” His goal is to educate law enforcement officers on to how to survive a long career, how to relax and think differently about their experiences on the job.

“People can grow in a positive way and be better cops and persons after they survive the trauma of police work,” he said. “That is an important message.”