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Working over 55 hours a week associated with higher risk of stroke, heart attack

bbc.co.uk

21–30 of 179 posts

Re: Working over 55 hours a week associated with higher risk of stroke, heart attack

#22
post #12

I would differentiate between “working” and “sitting in the office”. My grandfather was a passionate carpenter. His workweek was always at least 60 hours. Sourcing wood, visiting clients, organizing everything, etc. He was in good shape and died at 92 years age. Being forced to sit in the office 45 hours a week I don’t think that I reach age above 60 years. This sitting whole day in the noisy environment was destroyi…

The study doesn’t FWIW. Anecdotally I’m in my late-thirties, fit, don’t work crazy hours or live unhealthily and I had a heart attack a week ago today. Being sedentary obviously doesn’t help matters and I’d suspect in terms of risk factors working long hours without moving much is worse than working long hours whilst active but we can’t defend that with anecdotes.

Wow, I hope you're alright now. Can you share a bit more about what may be the reason for the heart attack? Your diet or fitness habits?

I'm in my mid thirties, I think I'm fit, but constantly hear of "fit" people suffering heart attacks at this age.

Re: Working over 55 hours a week associated with higher risk of stroke, heart attack

#23
I've realized that it's difficult to differentiate between work and life after a point. And there's nothing wrong in that. Instead of trying to balance work and life, we should be trying to balance stress and relaxation.

It can be physical or intellectual stress vs physical or intellectual relaxation.

Too much of either is bad.

Re: Working over 55 hours a week associated with higher risk of stroke, heart attack

#24
post #12

I would differentiate between “working” and “sitting in the office”. My grandfather was a passionate carpenter. His workweek was always at least 60 hours. Sourcing wood, visiting clients, organizing everything, etc. He was in good shape and died at 92 years age. Being forced to sit in the office 45 hours a week I don’t think that I reach age above 60 years. This sitting whole day in the noisy environment was destroyi…

The study doesn’t FWIW. Anecdotally I’m in my late-thirties, fit, don’t work crazy hours or live unhealthily and I had a heart attack a week ago today. Being sedentary obviously doesn’t help matters and I’d suspect in terms of risk factors working long hours without moving much is worse than working long hours whilst active but we can’t defend that with anecdotes.

[deleted]

Re: Working over 55 hours a week associated with higher risk of stroke, heart attack

#25
post #12

I would differentiate between “working” and “sitting in the office”. My grandfather was a passionate carpenter. His workweek was always at least 60 hours. Sourcing wood, visiting clients, organizing everything, etc. He was in good shape and died at 92 years age. Being forced to sit in the office 45 hours a week I don’t think that I reach age above 60 years. This sitting whole day in the noisy environment was destroyi…

With today's technologies it's absolutely possible to work outside:

A lengthy meeting where your role is a listener? - jogging

Programming? - park, garden, beach

Make breaks, walk, swim, run, enjoy fresh air, no need to stay indoors.

Re: Working over 55 hours a week associated with higher risk of stroke, heart attack

#26
post #25
post #12

I would differentiate between “working” and “sitting in the office”. My grandfather was a passionate carpenter. His workweek was always at least 60 hours. Sourcing wood, visiting clients, organizing everything, etc. He was in good shape and died at 92 years age. Being forced to sit in the office 45 hours a week I don’t think that I reach age above 60 years. This sitting whole day in the noisy environment was destroyi…

With today's technologies it's absolutely possible to work outside: A lengthy meeting where your role is a listener? - jogging Programming? - park, garden, beach Make breaks, walk, swim, run, enjoy fresh air, no need to stay indoors.

Any advise for how to work outside if

1. It's boiling hot

2. Air is dangerously polluted

3. No swimming pools in the vicinity

4. Mosquitoes in the parks and gardens will give you dengue

Re: Working over 55 hours a week associated with higher risk of stroke, heart attack

#27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The study doesn’t FWIW. Anecdotally I’m in my late-thirties, fit, don’t work crazy hours or live unhealthily and I had a heart attack a week ago today. Being sedentary obviously doesn’t help matters and I’d suspect in terms of risk factors working long hours without moving much is worse than working long hours whilst active but we can’t defend that with anecdotes.

Wow, I hope you're alright now. Can you share a bit more about what may be the reason for the heart attack? Your diet or fitness habits? I'm in my mid thirties, I think I'm fit, but constantly hear of "fit" people suffering heart attacks at this age.

Sure, the heart attack itself was caused by a thrombosis that fully blocked the left coronary artery. It actually came on whilst I was doing my morning swim. Results wise I got lucky and got fixed with a stent early enough that there doesn’t seem to be any (noticeable) damage to the heart. Right now the doctors don’t know precisely why I got this clot. Other than having it I’m in good health with no signs of chronic disease associated with heart attacks. They also tested for genetic clotting conditions and I’m waiting on hearing back about immune system issues. The other suspected issue could be a undiagnosed hole between the two sides of my heart.

Fitness wise I was swimming five days a week at a pretty good intensity. I’m pretty competitive so tend to push myself and as a sense of exertion my breast stroke pace is faster than most people’s freestyle. But this is just a local pool not some crazy swimming club. On top of that I make sure I do all the usual things like getting up from my desk regularly, take a walk at lunchtime and I have two young kids so usually we are going on hikes and bike rides at the weekend.

I don’t smoke, I eat reasonably healthily, I don’t drink loads of coffee, I work from home, my job isn’t too stressful and so on.

The only related history is that my father had a TIA aka “mini-stroke” at a similar age.

I’m back at home now but was in hospital for five days. So far recovery seems to be going well, lots of resting with a couple of walks each day that get progressively longer. It’ll still be a few weeks before I’ll be doing anything more. Emotionally I still feel very raw, much more so than any of the other times I’ve knowingly come close to dying.

I basically bottom out the risk factors for heart attack yet here we are.

Re: Working over 55 hours a week associated with higher risk of stroke, heart attack

#28
post #12

I would differentiate between “working” and “sitting in the office”. My grandfather was a passionate carpenter. His workweek was always at least 60 hours. Sourcing wood, visiting clients, organizing everything, etc. He was in good shape and died at 92 years age. Being forced to sit in the office 45 hours a week I don’t think that I reach age above 60 years. This sitting whole day in the noisy environment was destroyi…

My grandfather was a carpenter. Died at a good old age... with missing fingers, arthritis, back problems.

I fucked my knees working in construction, actually every single person I know in that line of work has health problems.

Wear and tear is just part of existence, at least an office job gives you the choice to keep physically healthy without overusing your body.

Tbf, it's possible to do it in a trade, too, but it's much more rare because people are usually pushed to the limit (and many take some weird sadomasochistic pride in that).

Re: Working over 55 hours a week associated with higher risk of stroke, heart attack

#29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wow, I hope you're alright now. Can you share a bit more about what may be the reason for the heart attack? Your diet or fitness habits? I'm in my mid thirties, I think I'm fit, but constantly hear of "fit" people suffering heart attacks at this age.

Sure, the heart attack itself was caused by a thrombosis that fully blocked the left coronary artery. It actually came on whilst I was doing my morning swim. Results wise I got lucky and got fixed with a stent early enough that there doesn’t seem to be any (noticeable) damage to the heart. Right now the doctors don’t know precisely why I got this clot. Other than having it I’m in good health with no signs of chronic…

Is there any chance you were exposed to COVID at any point? I know there’s an association between COVID-19 and clotting events (even for otherwise asymptomatic individuals)!

Re: Working over 55 hours a week associated with higher risk of stroke, heart attack

#30
post #12

I would differentiate between “working” and “sitting in the office”. My grandfather was a passionate carpenter. His workweek was always at least 60 hours. Sourcing wood, visiting clients, organizing everything, etc. He was in good shape and died at 92 years age. Being forced to sit in the office 45 hours a week I don’t think that I reach age above 60 years. This sitting whole day in the noisy environment was destroyi…

A close person suffered a stroke before 60 because of just that. It's the fastest way to die: Work in an office your whole life. Of course, now he's depressed and feels like he lost out on life by working too much, which is true. He started training really hard and got very fit. But the source of the depression will never go away.

Did the training start after the stroke or before ?
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