ABSTRACT
Research in the field of occupational health has consistently demonstrated the
adverse impact of stress in the workplace on individuals’ health and well-being (e.g.
Belkic, Landbergis, Schnall, & Baker, 2004; Ferrie, Westerlund, Virtanen, Vahtera, &
Kivimaki, 2008). This harmful effect is, in part, brought about by physiological stress
responses that continue or recur during nonwork time when job stressors are no
longer present (e.g. Brosschot, Van Dijk, & Thayer, 2007; Hjortskov et al., 2004).
These prolonged physiological stress responses can be amplified by ruminating
thoughts about past and potential future stressors (Geurts & Sonnentag, 2006) and
may disturb the person’s homeostatic balance (‘‘allostasis,’’ McEwen, 1998), that is,
