Long working hours can cause a variety of adverse health effects, but new evidence of long-term work on mortality shows that overwork is one of the deadliest risk factors associated with work.
recent World Health Organization Research Studies have found that compared with working 30 to 40 hours a week, working long hours (for example, 55 hours a week) increases the risk of stroke by 35%, while the risk of death from ischemic heart disease increases by 17%.
In 2016 alone, the number of deaths from stroke and ischemic heart disease was 745,000, a 29% increase from the death rate in 2000.
This study was conducted before the COVID-19 pandemic, but the organization stated that the pandemic may put more pressure on workers who have already exceeded 40 hours a week.
“Remote work has become the norm in many industries, often blurring the line between home and work.” WHO Director-General Said Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. “No job is worth the risk of stroke or heart disease. The government, employers and workers need to work together to reach a consensus on the limits to protect the health of workers.”
The WHO conducted a global analysis of deaths caused by working long hours with the ILO and found clear health trends.
In 2016, after working 55 hours a week, nearly 400,000 people died of stroke and another 347,000 died of heart disease. Between 2000 and 2016, the number of heart disease-related deaths caused by long hours of work increased by 42%. Stroke increased by 19%.
Maria Neira, Director of the WHO Department of Environment, Climate Change and Health, added: “Working 55 hours or more a week can seriously endanger health. “Now is the time for all of us, the government, employers and employees. All realize that working long hours can lead to premature death. “
Two main factors drive these numbers. First of all, the psychological stress caused by long hours of work can cause physiological reactions, especially in the inner lining of the heart tissue.
Secondly, people who go to work late are more likely to have unhealthy behaviors, which increase the risk of heart disease, such as insufficient sleep, smoking, drinking, unhealthy and unhealthy eating.
These trends are more common among men. Men accounted for 72% of the deaths analyzed in the study. According to the report, men work an average of 48 minutes more per day than women. The US Time Use Survey of the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
People living in the Western Pacific and Southeast Asia, as well as middle-aged or older workers, are also more likely to suffer adverse health effects. Workers between the ages of 60 and 79 have worked more than 55 hours a week since they were in their 40s, which is the vast majority of recorded deaths.
This study shows that working long hours poses a serious threat to long-term health and is the risk factor with the greatest impact on work.
This is because more and more people are working longer hours. Currently, 9% of the global population work more than 55 hours, According to research.
The World Health Organization says that the government and workers can take actions such as prohibiting forced overtime and establish collective bargaining agreements between employers and workers’ associations to make working hours more flexible.
