Long holidays like the just-ended Christmas and New Year season is a welcome development for most workers because it allowed them rest from job-related stress.

Stress in the workplace has been blamed for sick days taken by employees. which averaged 6.8 days per staff in 2012, according to a study by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development.

For some people, the start of the year is a good period to find a new job or even shift careers, particularly if their current work is detrimental to their finances, healthy or family life due to stress it causes. However, not everyone has the skills set, financial standing or guts to change jobs or careers.

For those contemplating on using the start of 2013 as an opportunity to move to a less stressful work, here is CareerCast's list of top 10 less stressful jobs for this year.

The bases of the list are 11 different job demands that provoke stress such as travel, growth potential, competitiveness, physical demands, hazards, environmental conditions and risk to one's life or others.

1. University Professor (Median pay: $62,000)

University professors enjoy long summer breaks (unless they handle summer classes), plus Christmas and New Year vacations and more spring breaks. They don't spend as much time in the classroom as regular office workers, the job has minimal travel demands and work conditions are generally cozy and civilised.

Here's a peek at a day in the life of a university professor.

2. Seamstress/Tailor ($26,000)

3. Medical Records Technician ($32,000)

4. Jeweler ($35,000)

5. Medical Laboratory Technician ($47,000)

6. Audiologist ($67,000)

7. Dietician ($53,000)

8. Hair Stylist ($23,000)

9. Librarian ($55,000)

10. Drill Press Operator ($32,000).

While these 10 jobs are found in diverse sectors from the academe to services, one common factor among them is people in these jobs are experts in how things get done are highly qualified, which makes them kings of their own fiefdoms.

"These jobs tend not to have someone standing over their shoulder putting pressure on them to get things done," Forbes.com quoted CareerCast's publisher Tony Lee.

He added that these jobs are not the 24/7 types but more of 9-to-5 work which allows workers to leave their work at the end of the day.

On the extreme end, CareerCast said the 10 most stressful are:

1. Enlisted military personnel ($41,998)

2. Military general ($196,300)

3. Firefighter ($45,250)

4. Commercial airline pilot ($92,060)

5. Public relations executive ($57,550)

6. Senior corporate executive ($101,250)

7. Photojournalist ($29,130)

8. Newspaper reporter ($36,00)

9. Taxi driver ($22,440)

10. Police officer. ($55,010).

Enlisted military personnel topped the most stressful list because of job safety risks, difficulty in transitioning into the civilian job force, relatively uncertain job outlook and a not-so-attractive median pay.

One reader, however, questioned the 10th spot of police officers. "I can't believe police came out number 10. When people run from danger police are running towards the danger. Police officers are always second guessed after making split second decision . . . When was the last time one of the other 3-10 professions responded to a man with a gun call with positive victims of a call of a someone killing their child?" an anonymous blogger wrote on CareerCast's forum.

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