Do you want to live up to 100 years? Work less, rest more | Health, medicine and fitness

Intro

The number of hours you work each week can have a significant impact on your health and longevity, especially if you are overworked.

Based on the hours worked by full-time and part-time workers, the United States works an average of eight hours a day, or 40 hours per week, according to the 2017 data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the US Department of Labor. United States.

Working more than this has been linked to negative health outcomes, especially for "people who work long hours or very long hours, we are talking about people who work 50, 60, 70, 80 hours a week", said Azizi Seixas, an assistant professor at NYU Langone Health, specializing in sleep and stress research.

"Generally, this is associated with a host of mental and psychological health issues, as well as physical health issues, and the third, which we do not hear much about, relates to relationship health issues," he said. -he declares.

Each of these aspects of your health – mental, physical and personal relationships – can play a role in the life of your life. Here are four ways that working fewer hours each week could help increase your longevity.

1. You could de-stress

"Long weeks of work increase the risk of psychosocial stress reactions and depressive symptoms in a person," said Christian Benedict, a researcher at the Department of Neuroscience at the University of Uppsala in Sweden.

In other words, long weeks of work can stress you and this is not good for your mental health.

A study published in the journal Psychological Medicine in 2011 found that working more than 55 hours a week predicted subsequent depressive and anxiety symptoms in 2,960 Britons aged 44 to 66 who were employed full-time.

"A 1.66-fold risk of depressive symptoms and 1.74-fold of anxiety symptoms in employees working more than 55 hours per week, compared to employees working 35-40 hours per week, was observed ", said Benedict XVI about the study, in which he was not involved.

An article published in the British Medical Journal in 2015 found that alcohol consumption was more likely to reach high risk levels among adults working more than 48 hours a week compared to those working on average hours. This paper included the review and analysis of 63 previously published studies on the association between long hours of work and alcohol consumption.

"Finally, if you work all day, you will have no chance to pay attention to your worries before going to bed, but going through your troubles in bed is one of the most worst things you can do to sleep, "said Benedict XVI. .

"Stress and anxiety, in turn, make it difficult to fall asleep and stay asleep," he said.

2. You could catch more Z

As you sleep, you enter a biological process in which certain hormones are released to repair the cells and ensure that your body and brain function properly the next day.

"During sleep, the brain eliminates the metabolic waste that accumulates during the waking state, which is important for maintaining brain health," said Benedict XVI.

"Studies have also shown that newly acquired information is consolidated during sleep, especially those related to future behavior," he said. "There is also evidence to suggest that sleep promotes the processes involved in creativity and problem solving.Finally, during sleep, the parts of the brain that are involved in decision making, stress resilience, the brain, the brain, the brain, the body, and the body. learning, planning, vigilance and impulse control are recovering. "

Road accidents, industrial disasters and medical and occupational errors can increase when we get tired, not to mention the decrease in productivity and the efficiency of work.

Long hours of work and lack of sleep can affect performance, memory, inability to process new information, problems with judgment, difficulty alerting and lack of attention. of concentration, said Seixas.

"The only two behaviors that seem to improve the process of removing cell debris and proteins associated with Alzheimer's disease and brain dementia are physical activity, to some extent, but especially sleep, "he said.

"When you have an excess of blockage and accumulation of protein debris in the brain, it has been associated with poor brain function.

"Sleep is important for maintaining the important biological processes of homeostasis, maintaining balance in the body," he said. "What does it mean?" It means that your liver, your heart, all these organs can not function 100% all day long.They need a period during which they recover and regenerate, so sleep is an important activity for this. "

Getting less than the amount of sleep recommended on a regular basis has been linked to an increased risk of premature death.

A longitudinal study of 10,308 British officials, published in the Sleep magazine in 2007, found that those who reduced their sleep by seven to five hours or less per night were almost twice as likely to die from all causes, particularly illness. cardiovascular. The study also showed that an increase in sleep duration, greater than 8 hours, was associated with an increase in mortality.

In fact, an increased risk of cardiovascular disease has also been associated with long weeks of work, said Seixas.

3. You could improve your heart health

Observational studies suggest that the risk of coronary heart disease is increased by about 40% in adults working long hours (more than 50 per week or more than 10 per day), according to an article published in 2012 by the American Journal of Epidemiology.

The paper reviewed and analyzed 12 previously published studies of long working hours and health risks, including a total of 22,518 participants.

"By extending your work hours, you have less time to sleep," said Seixas.

"We need about seven to eight hours a day to get optimal health benefits, according to the individuals," he said. "But if you do not get it, this can lead to an increased risk of obesity as well as an increased risk of diabetes, especially type 2 diabetes, and an increased risk of developing diabetes." hypertension."

You may be at increased risk of cardiovascular and cardio-metabolic health problems, as well as musculoskeletal problems such as back and neck pain, headaches and vision problems, said Seixas.

Women who work an average of 60 hours or more a week over a 32-year period may be at high risk for diabetes, non-skin cancer, heart disease and arthritis, according to a study published in the Journal occupational and environmental occupational medicine in 2016.

The study showed that work weeks that averaged 60 hours or more over three decades appeared to be associated with the risk of chronic disease, and that heart disease and cancer are the two leading causes of death in the United States. United.

The study looked at data for 7,492 adults, covering a 32-year career from 1978 to 2009. Data are from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth.

4. You could spend more time with your loved ones.

Overall, when you work less, "you have more time for your family and the time needed for healthy recreation activities, exercises, meetings with friends, etc.," said Benedict XVI. .

Engaging with loved ones can help fight loneliness, which has proven somewhat detrimental to longevity.

A study published in the JAMA medical journal in 2012 found that out of 1,604 people over the age of 60, loneliness was a predictor of functional decline and premature death. 43% of the participants were classified as solitary. Of those who felt lonely, 22.8% died within six years of the study, compared to 14.2% of their peers.

Loneliness has become such an important public health issue that in the UK, Premier Theresa May this year appointed a Minister of Solitude to address social isolation, which which is estimated to affect 9 million Britons.

& # 39; When are you really productive? & # 39;

Nevertheless, there may be disadvantages to working less than the average, Benedict said.

"Working fewer hours a week usually leads to greater work intensity, which could offset the positive effects of a short work week," he said. "Work is not only a source of income, it helps to meet material needs, it also provides non-monetary benefits such as status and recognition."

Overall, research suggests that the best amount of work can be determined on a case-by-case basis and can vary depending on your needs.

"You have to understand, when are you really productive?" According to CNN's medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

"The key is to try to determine when these productive hours are for you and try to do your most important things then," Gupta said.

"If you can spend a few minutes thinking about the task at hand, if you work smarter, no longer, I think a lot of things will happen," he said. "You will do more, and you will be able to spend more time without working, and this will certainly help you live up to 100 years."