Work and Rumination

The topic of recovery from the demands of work has received considerable attention over recent years. In fact, it is now well-recognized that people need to recover from the strains of work. The relevance of ‘recovery’ from work has increased over the last decade, which can be largely attributed to management practices that have led to an intensification of work. In many occupations the demands are primarily of a cognitive nature (i.e. responsibility, information processing, and so on). As a consequence, approximately half of the working population complains about ‘work pressure’ (Paoli & Merllié, 2001). This chapter aims to focus on the cognitive aspects of work and its relationship with recovery. It will be argued that, since the cognitive demands are dominant, ‘thinking of work’ is one of the main determinants for (absence of or delayed) recovery. In order to make this point we will start with a brief historic overview.