Making a living can kill you, a study says
A study published in the Lancet suggests that staying for long hours in the office increase your risk of stroke and other health problems.
Researchers examined 25 different studies that followed the lives of more than 600,000 people in Europe, Australia and the US for an average of 8.5 years.
Results show that people who work between 41 to 48 hours a week were 10% more at risk for stroke that those who worked just 40 hours. Those working between 49 to 54 hours were 27% more at risk and those who worked 55 hours or more increase their chances of stroke by 33%.
The study shows that the stroke and long office hours are ‘linked’, but did not necessarily say that one caused the other.
Dr. Mike Knapton, Associate Medical Director, British Heart Foundation, said “This research shows an association between long working hours and an increased risk of having a stroke and heart disease.
“It is plausible that there could be a causal relationship behind the link as sudden death following long working hours is often caused by stroke, due to long and repeated periods of stress, although that was not demonstrated in this study.”
“This study highlights to doctors that they need to pay particular attention to cardiovascular risk factors when they advise people who work long hours.” he concluded.
If working hours can’t be reduced, it’s important to still be physically active even at the workplace.
Dr Tim Chico, Reader in Cardiovascular Medicine and consultant cardiologist, University of Sheffield, added: “For many people, reducing their working hours would be difficult or impossible, and this study does not show that it would reduce the risk of stroke.
“Most of us could reduce the amount of time we spend sitting down, increase our physical activity and improve our diet while working and this might be more important the more time we spend at work.
“We should all consider how the working environment could be altered to promote healthy behaviour that will reduce strokes, irrespective of how long we work.”
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