Deadlines, tight schedules, need to clinch a deal are few of the reasons why people end up working for longer hours. This becomes a habit over a course of few years and then becomes a routine affecting one’s personal life.
But that’s not all as researchers have suggested through a new paper published in The Lancet that that working for longer hours – 55 hours or more per week – could up one’s risk to stroke – by as much as 33 per cent. Working for longer hours also ups one’s risk of developing coronary heart disease by 13 per cent compared to those who work for standard 35 to 40 hours a week.
The findings are based on a systemic review and meta-analysis of previous studies on effects of longer working hours on cardiovascular disease.
The team comprising of Mika Kivimäki, Professor of Epidemiology at University College London, UK, and others found from previous studies involving 603,838 men and women from Europe, the USA, and Australia who were followed for an average of 8.5 years that there was a modest 13 per cent increase in risk of coronary heart disease in people working 55 hours or more per week.
Analysis of data from 17 studies involving 528,908 men and women who were followed up for an average of 7.2 years, found a 1.3 times higher risk of stroke in individuals working 55 hours or more a week compared with those working standard hours. Authors say that the association remained even after they took into account health behaviours such as smoking, alcohol consumption, and physical activity, and standard cardiovascular risk factors including high blood pressure and high cholesterol.
The most important finding of their analysis was that longer the people worked, the greater their risk of suffering from a stroke. Researchers found that people who worked between 41 and 48 hours a week had a 10 per cent higher risk of stroke, and those working 49 to 54 hours had a 27 per cent increased risk of stroke.
Researchers suggest that increasing health-risk behaviors including physical inactivity, high alcohol consumption, as well as repetitive triggering of the stress response, might increase the risk of stroke.
