For women chasing both independence and income, self-employment may come with an unexpected bonus. A new study reveals that women who work for themselves have significantly better cardiovascular health than those who work for others in traditional jobs. The findings suggest that autonomy at work might be more than a professional perk — it could be a prescription for long-term heart health.

Researchers at the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles looked at data from 19,400 working adults in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). They analyzed the association between self-employment and cardiovascular risk factors that included cholesterol levels, hypertension, glucose intolerance, obesity, poor diet, physical inactivity, smoking, binge drinking, sub-optimal sleep duration and poor mental health.

Women who are their own bosses are less likely to have to deal with the stress of problems with coworkers and bosses that can happen in the workplace.

What made this study particularly significant is that the research team used biological and physical measures that are more reliable than self-reported responses. They also asked questions across sex, race and ethnicity.

The results showed that women who were their own bosses enjoyed a clear boost in heart health, despite the fact that they were nearly twice as likely not to have health insurance coverage, more likely to experience high healthcare costs, and more likely to have limited access to a healthcare provider.

For instance, white women who were self-employed were nearly 10 percent less likely to be obese; they were over 8 percent less likely to have hypertension, and 8 percent more likely to participate in physical activity at least twice a week.

These health gains may have been due to the fact that women who were self-employed had better diets and fewer sleep problems than women who were on someone else's payroll. Women of color who participated in the study showed similar improvements in diet, activity levels and sleep duration.

The health benefits of being self-employed were less notable among white men; among minority men, there was little benefit.

“There is a relationship between self-employment and heart disease risk factors and this relationship seems to be stronger in women relative to men,” lead author Kimberly Narain, assistant professor-in-residence of medicine in the division of general internal medicine and health service research at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, confirmed in a press release.

Narain who is also director of health services and health optimization research at the Iris-Cantor-UCLA Women's Health Center added, “It is imperative to increase our understanding of how the work environment gets under our skin so we can come up with ways to ensure that everyone has access to a healthy work environment.”

Women who were self-employed had better diets and fewer sleep problems, were less likely to have hypertension and more likely to participate in physical activity.

One of the reasons women's heart health benefits from self-employment is that they experience less stress, Narain explained. The reason? She suggests it might be that they can dictate their own work schedule and have more autonomy.

There may be additional benefits to self-employment. According to Indeed.com, a global job search website and job matching platform, benefits include:

  • You feel you have control
  • You may be more passionate about what you do
  • You can choose your own co-workers
  • You have creative control
  • You determine your work environment
  • You can grow your skill set and knowledge base
  • You can choose what you outsource to others
  • You get the potential financial rewards
  • You can vary your routine
  • You can build meaningful networks

For women who are their own bosses, there's one more benefit: Narain points out that self-employed women don't have to deal with microaggressions — problems with coworkers and bosses — that can happen in the workplace. This can certainly lower stress.

The study is published in BMC Women's Health.