Due to two monstrous snowstorms in the D.C. area, it has now been a full week since I’ve left my home. Did you hear that, pros? A WEEK. I’m able to work – in between my decreasingly successful efforts to keep my two children entertained – but I won’t lie to you: I’m bored. And no amount of calling my shut-in status telecommuting and/or a “staycation” will change it.

So, as I was searching for topics to write to you about today, I was intrigued to come across an Associated Press story that details research to be published in an epidemiology journal this spring. The research – get this – shows that you can actually be bored to death.

Two London researchers analyzed questionnaires from city employees completed over a three-year period in the 1980s, AP reports. The questionnaires asked the employees, ages 35 to 55, if they had felt bored at work during the previous month. The researchers then followed up to see how many of the workers had died by April 2009.

“Those who reported they had been very bored were two and a half times more likely to die of a heart problem than those who hadn't reported being bored,” AP reports and cites comments from cardiologist Christopher Cannon that chronically bored people may not be motivated to take care of their health or may suffer from depression, which is linked to heart disease. Cannon also told AP it was possible that when people are bored, dangerous hormones are released in the body that stress the heart.

So, keep it up with the wellness programs, pros, but maybe some of these might help, too. Meanwhile, I’m going to keep trying to dig out of here, in the hopes that I can escape my boredom and get back to having fun with my coworkers soon enough.