People working 10 or 11 hours a day are more likely to suffer serious heart problems, including heart attacks, than those clocking off after seven hours.
People working 10 or 11 hours a day are more likely to suffer serious heart problems, including heart attacks, than those clocking off after seven hours.
Studies in the past have shown that both working overtime and job stress makes one more vulnerable to coronary heart diseases, possibly because of a poor lifestyle (bad diet and lack of a good exercise regimen). To further examine the association between overtime work and incident coronary heart disease (CHD), researchers followed 6,014 British civil servants (4262 men and 1752 women), aged between 39 and 61 years. The participants were free from CHD and worked full time at the start of the study (1991-1994). They were followed until 2002-2004. The researchers took note of the participants' working hours and incidence of any heart disease like heart attack, angina etc.
During the follow-up of almost 11 years, there were 369 cases of death due to heart disease. Non-fatal heart attacks and angina and the risk of having an adverse event was 60 percent higher for those who worked three to four hours overtime. Working an extra one to two hours beyond a normal seven-hour day was not associated with increased risk. The higher incidence of heart problems among those working overtime was independent of a range of other risk factors including smoking, being overweight or having high cholesterol.
The finding does not provide definitive proof that long hours cause heart disease but it does show a clear link between long working hours and health troubles, which could be attributed to work-related stress, which interferes with metabolic processes. The researchers also speculated that the lifestyle of people working long hours deteriorates over time, for example as a result of poor diet or increased alcohol consumption, which could be the cause of higher heart problems among these people.
Studies in the past have shown that both working overtime and job stress makes one more vulnerable to coronary heart diseases, possibly because of a poor lifestyle (bad diet and lack of a good exercise regimen). To further examine the association between overtime work and incident coronary heart disease (CHD), researchers followed 6,014 British civil servants (4262 men and 1752 women), aged between 39 and 61 years. The participants were free from CHD and worked full time at the start of the study (1991-1994). They were followed until 2002-2004. The researchers took note of the participants' working hours and incidence of any heart disease like heart attack, angina etc.
During the follow-up of almost 11 years, there were 369 cases of death due to heart disease. Non-fatal heart attacks and angina and the risk of having an adverse event was 60 percent higher for those who worked three to four hours overtime. Working an extra one to two hours beyond a normal seven-hour day was not associated with increased risk. The higher incidence of heart problems among those working overtime was independent of a range of other risk factors including smoking, being overweight or having high cholesterol.
The finding does not provide definitive proof that long hours cause heart disease but it does show a clear link between long working hours and health troubles, which could be attributed to work-related stress, which interferes with metabolic processes. The researchers also speculated that the lifestyle of people working long hours deteriorates over time, for example as a result of poor diet or increased alcohol consumption, which could be the cause of higher heart problems among these people.
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