Unhealthy overtime?

3-4 extra hours a day has big impact on heart disease risk

Recent research has suggested that people who regularly work overtime and work for 10 to 11 hours a day may increase their risk of heart disease by nearly two-thirds. The findings, published in the European Heart Journal, are based on a study of 6000 British civil servants. Doctors found that those who worked three to four hours of overtime a day accumulated a 60% higher risk, even after accounting for known heart risk factors such as smoking. There were 369 cases where people suffered heart disease that caused death, had a heart attack or developed angina, and in many cases these were closely linked to the number of hours spent working overtime. The suggested reasons for these findings are related to lifestyle and having time to live healthily. People who spend more time at work have less time to exercise, relax and unwind, and they may also be more stressed, anxious or have depression.

However, while this makes a strong case for the role of overtime in heart disease, lead researcher Mianna Virtanen, an epidemiologist at the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health in Helsinki and University College London, said: ‘More research is needed before we can be confident that overtime work would cause coronary heart disease.’

What is apparent, though, is that an active lifestyle and healthy diet can minimise risk and so workplaces should make the effort to be more accommodating and encouraging to employers to help them stay fit and healthy. Cathy Ross, senior cardiac nurse at the British Heart Foundation, which part-funded the research, pointed out that small changes can make a difference to health: ‘there are simple ways to look after your heart health at work, like taking a brisk walk at lunch, taking the stairs instead of the lift, or by swapping that biscuit for a piece of fruit.’

Source: BBC News online, 11 May 2010.

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