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

bbc.co.uk

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

#161

Post by satysin »

admissionsguy wrote: post #158
satysin wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> That is a risk I'm willing to take, I'm afraid. Fair enough, it is your life after all :) I do have a question though - What are you doing with that extra 15 hours of work per week that justifies a 9% increase in the chance of stroke or heart attack?

According to the first result from Google [1], men who died of stroke lost 11.4% of their lifespan on average. Using figures form my post above, an average person working 55 hours will lose 3.87% of lifespan due to stroke compared to 2.85% for a person working "normal" hours. With life expectancy of 82 years, it's a difference of about 300 days (and, statistically, these will be the lower quality days at the end of l…

Thank you for taking the time to reply.

I have mentioned this here before but after a friend (and previous manager and mentor) died in his early 50s literally overworking I totally changed my life.

He was found by his wife and son as they were getting ready for school. He was in his home office with a P&L still on the screen after suffering a stroke working late. Two years later his son is still suffering from that moment and it breaks my heart to see the pain and difficulties they have had to endure.

My friend worked so hard to provide for them but the shock broke the family. Without his income they could no longer continue living the way they were with private education and such a huge mortgage. A huge mistake my friend made was not ensuring he had adequate life insurance.

Because of this I am aware that I have a very biased view of overworking and that this doesn't happen to everyone, or even the majority, of people who overwork. When something like this hits you so personally though it is difficult to shift.

I wish you all the best on the bootstrap but please stay aware of your health if you continue to work very long hours. Remember you can always earn more money but never earn that time.

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

#162

Post by tfehring »

bdefore wrote: post #156
philmcp wrote: post #33

In years to come we will look down on current working conditions in the same way we currently do with 15hr factory shifts during the industrial revolution. As a step in the right direction, I believe that most jobs should be offered on either 4 days (80% salary) or 5 day (100% salary) contracts. On this topic, I recently built https://4dayweek.io - Software Jobs with a better work / life balance

Such agreements are common in Switzerland, for example. I'm in the US where you can imagine it's harder for a US company to make the math work due to ponying up for health care costs per salaried employee. Anyone care to weigh in from companies where this is commonplace?

The average employer contribution to health insurance was around $5,500 in 2019. [0] I wouldn't think that reducing cash compensation by 20% + ~$1,100/year instead of just a flat 20% would be a huge deal for US tech workers.

[0] https://www.kff.org/other/state-indicator/single-coverage/

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

#163

Post by palimpsests »

fwsgonzo wrote: post #13
lnsru wrote: 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.

It sounds like you are describing the source of his depression as being his relationship to the memory and impact of what was, for him, relatively too much time working throughout his life.

While the history here cannot be changed, the way he is relating to it can be changed. This is not necessarily very easy to do, but for most humans, a distinct possibility, with the right tools and resources.

The source may be able to be de-potentiated, the emotional charge these memories carry in his system may be unwound, which can have a great effect on his quality of life.

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

#165

Post by agumonkey »

avgDev wrote: post #155
agumonkey wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a few anecdotes like that: - 39h/week at a truck dismantling warehouse (very heavy duty stuff) I was fresh like a dolphin (was doing pushups during pauses to get ready for the next shift, pretty telling), had to leave after harassment, missed that job a lot. - part time gig as morning newspaper delivery, couldn't be easier on paper.. couldn't last more than 2 months due to very peculiar stress that driving and…

I can add to this: -server at a restaurant crappy bosses, crappy work environment, many awful interactions with customers, terrible pay, 0 benefits -full time auto body painter - hard work, mixing chemicals all day can be extremely dangerous to lungs, pay was low but I enjoyed it -sales @ verizon decent pay, hostile regional manager, constant push to improve sales and sell more data plans(few years ago), quite stress…

Yeah I forgot how unsafe simple gigs are most of the time. Very sad realization.

When I was delivering newspaper, a small detail came to my mind too.. I have no toilets. And at 6 in the morning chances of finding anything open are slim. First time in my life I had fantasies of offices with an actual bathroom.

Happy that you found a great spot in dev.

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

#166

Post by presentation »

JohnPrine wrote: post #87
lmarcos wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agree. A bit off topic: living in a foreign country allows you to progressively discover those little differences in comparison to your own country: the way people say good morning, the way people wait (or not) for the light to turn green, paper bags or plastic ones for grocery shopping?... I find those popular places (e.g., Yosemite, Eiffel tower, etc.) to be the less interesting parts of foreign countries. But sure…

I find it hard to believe that anyone could visit Yosemite and not find it to be one of the best parts of the USA

Depends what you mean by best. I live in Japan, and if you look at Mt Fuji it certainly is very pretty, and some people are very impacted by that, but there’s little depth beyond that to me, whereas there’s infinite depth diving into the actual people and culture that makes up Japan, reveling in the mundane. And you’ll never find that no matter how much you look at Mt. Fuji.

There’s a vast difference between being in a place for the entertainment value of seeing nice things, vs actually immersing in that place - and personally I prefer the latter over the former.

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

#167

Post by tekknik »

onion2k wrote: post #47
lnsru wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My grandfather did 90% of work in his own workshop. No work on somebody’s house. There were injuries on fingers, but he died with all of them in place. If I remember it right, only 2 nails were gone.

Maybe that had an impact, but maybe it didn't. We don't know. Taking a single data point and extrapolating from it ("Carpentry is safer than desk work because look at my grandfather") isn't useful.

Maybe? Most likely. Easily, heat is problematic for heart health. then there’s enjoyment. perhaps his grandfather enjoyed working in a woodshop. someone laying siding is likely just making ends meet.

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

#168

Post by tekknik »

philmcp wrote: post #140
akersten wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> In years to come we will look down on current working conditions in the same way we currently do with 15hr factory shifts during the industrial revolution. Absolutely agreed. Working for someone else for 8 of the best hours of the day (if you're lucky, and not pressured into 9 or 10 hours), plus the surrounding 1 hour on either side to get ready/commute, for 5/7 of the days of the week, is no way to live. > most jo…

I'm totally with you, although if I'm being honest I think the fairer amount would be 90-95% of salary for 4 days. The only reason I'm pushing for 4 days (80% salary) or 5 days (100% salary) is to try and get companies on board. Working a 4 day week is still a taboo topic to most c-suites - I think a small reduction in salary would be a good "first step" towards normalising the 4 day week @ ~100% salary.

For imported labor or those workaholic types, how would you keep those choosing less work competitive? Why would a company not hire someone willing to work full time? I’d love to work 3-4 days a week but without mandates I see us ending right back where we are. In short, greed will ruin this idea if it’s left as optional.

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

#169

Post by tekknik »

m_eiman wrote: post #78
philmcp wrote: post #33

In years to come we will look down on current working conditions in the same way we currently do with 15hr factory shifts during the industrial revolution. As a step in the right direction, I believe that most jobs should be offered on either 4 days (80% salary) or 5 day (100% salary) contracts. On this topic, I recently built https://4dayweek.io - Software Jobs with a better work / life balance

I kinda do this, but with a slightly different schedule: 7 hour days Monday to Thursday, on Fridays I alternate between 8 hour day and no work. This sums up to 80%.

I’ve done something like this before, 9 hours M-F but every other Friday off. It gets difficult if the schedule varies (as in the entire company doesn’t shut down on off fridays) or if you have to deal with another company not on this same schedule. It’s very nice having every other friday off though.

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

#170

Post by alphabetatheta »

meheleventyone wrote: post #27
ayushchat wrote: post #22

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…

Your father having a mini stroke at a very young age does sound to be like a pretty important risk factor. Family history is super important in these situations.
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