A study suggests that stresses and strains of life don't end when we leave work for the day. Instead, the pressure continues to mount up when we return home.

Scientists from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine in the US recruited 113 men and women in full-time work, the journal Psychosomatic Medicine reports.

Each one provided details on their number of working hours, level of responsibility they took for running home and the chores they did, according to the Daily Mail.

They underwent regular BP checks at a local clinic over a three-week period, before finally wearing a BP monitor for a day to track changes while at work and at home.

The results showed that regardless of the amount of housework actually done, those who felt they were shouldering the responsibility were at the greatest risk of high BP.

The findings suggest it’s not the workload itself but the stress about how to cope with it that causes the damage.

The researchers said: "The perceived responsibility for household tasks, rather than the time spent doing those tasks, is what’s most distressing."