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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

#41

Post by mrpopo »

admissionsguy wrote: post #35

> The research found that working 55 hours or more a week was associated with a 35% higher risk of stroke and a 17% higher risk of dying from heart disease, compared with a working week of 35 to 40 hours. That is a risk I'm willing to take, I'm afraid. To put it in context, according to Google search infobox, "The global lifetime risk of stroke is approximately 25% starting at the age of 25", so the risk jumps from 2…

> I wonder if and how they managed to properly control for things like obesity or stress. Most middle-aged working professionals are in a terrible shape from my observations.

Obesity and stress were considered both as a mediator and a confounder. Long working hours cause lack of sleep and bad eating habits.

https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S01604120210022...

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

#42

Post by onion2k »

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…

My grandfather was a passionate carpenter. His workweek was always at least 60 hours. [...] He was in good shape and died at 92 years age.

A friend of mine had to get a new carpenter to work on his house when the previous one died of a heart attack aged 45.

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

#43

Post by fwsgonzo »

thewarrior wrote: post #30
fwsgonzo wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 ?

It was after the stroke. He really started enjoying mountain hiking and he still does. He keeps telling me that I need to take care of my body. That we aren't made for office life.

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

#44

Post by lnsru »

onion2k wrote: post #42
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…

My grandfather was a passionate carpenter. His workweek was always at least 60 hours. [...] He was in good shape and died at 92 years age. A friend of mine had to get a new carpenter to work on his house when the previous one died of a heart attack aged 45.

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.

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

#45

Post by onion2k »

nottorp wrote: post #40

Somewhere, a CEO is reading this and preparing to demand permanent 54 hour work weeks off his employees :)

What a fool. He's letting people slack off for a full hour. That's a solid week of additional work over the year he's not optimizing for.

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

#46

Post by pessimizer »

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…

I spent 76 hours/week working in a factory for a while as a machine operator and on the line. I guarantee you it's not healthier in the long term than programming work or stock trading at a desk and in conference rooms for 45 hours a week.

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

#47

Post by onion2k »

lnsru wrote: post #44
onion2k wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My grandfather was a passionate carpenter. His workweek was always at least 60 hours. [...] He was in good shape and died at 92 years age. A friend of mine had to get a new carpenter to work on his house when the previous one died of a heart attack aged 45.

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.

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

#48

Post by trulyrandom »

otalp wrote: post #21
jonplackett wrote: post #16

Elon Musk needs to chill out a bit if he’s gonna (personally) make it to Mars.

He probably counts 10 hours a day on twitter and reddit as working

So would I if I were able to make the cryptocurrency market move like he does with a single tweet.

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

#49

Post by admissionsguy »

mrpopo wrote: post #41
admissionsguy wrote: post #35

> The research found that working 55 hours or more a week was associated with a 35% higher risk of stroke and a 17% higher risk of dying from heart disease, compared with a working week of 35 to 40 hours. That is a risk I'm willing to take, I'm afraid. To put it in context, according to Google search infobox, "The global lifetime risk of stroke is approximately 25% starting at the age of 25", so the risk jumps from 2…

> I wonder if and how they managed to properly control for things like obesity or stress. Most middle-aged working professionals are in a terrible shape from my observations. Obesity and stress were considered both as a mediator and a confounder. Long working hours cause lack of sleep and bad eating habits. https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S01604120210022...

My comment was a bit foolish, actually. It has to be factors like that. It's not like the work itself magically kills a person.

Though speaking as someone who strives to optimise his life for longevity with the single constraint of keeping working hours at a really high level, it does make the study much less meaningful.

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

#50

Post by Mandelmus »

pessimizer wrote: post #46
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…

I spent 76 hours/week working in a factory for a while as a machine operator and on the line. I guarantee you it's not healthier in the long term than programming work or stock trading at a desk and in conference rooms for 45 hours a week.

I think there are huge differences between being a carpenter and being an assembly-line worker though.
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