A new study found that working more than 55 hours a week could potentially kill you. The data comes from the World Health Organization, which found that 745,000 people died in 2016 from working long hours. Specifically, the data found that workweeks of 55+ hours put workers at an increased risk.
“The research found that working 55 hours or more a week was associated with a 35 percent higher risk of stroke and a 17 percent higher risk of dying from heart disease, compared with a working week of 35 to 40 hours,” the BBC reported.
The reasoning behind this is that long working hours tend to lead to chronic stress. They prevent people from forming healthy habits, and they often lead to unhealthy coping mechanisms like smoking and alcohol consumption.
For years, many have argued that working long hours is counterproductive and can hurt business in the long run; this new research simply adds to the growing body of evidence that intense work schedules not only affects business, but also our health.
