It turns out working long hours could be shortening your life.
The World Health Organization and the International Labour Organization put out a report earlier this year concluding that long working hours led to 745,000 deaths from stroke and ischemic heart disease in 2016, a 29% increase since 2000.
Specifically, working at least 55 hours per week led to 398,000 people dying from stroke and 347,000 people dying from heart disease, according to WHO and ILO estimates.
The extensive global study found that working 55 or more hours per week is associated with a 35% higher risk of stroke and 17% higher risk of dying from ischemic heart disease, compared to working 35–40 hours a week.
The negative health impacts from this study were most significant for men — 72% of the deaths occurred among males.
But women are certainly not immune to the toll of long working hours.
In fact, a recent study from Canada found an increased risk of diabetes among women (but not men) who worked 45 hours or more per week.
Working long hours has now been established as the risk factor with the largest occupational disease burden, due to the associated social and psychological stress.
