The risk of heart disease grows by 60 percent for those who work three hours or more overtime
Posted on May 14, 2010 by albert
Up late at his desk can bring a few dollars more in salary, if overtime is paid. But the game is not worth the candle, according to results of a study published on the European Heart Journal: working three or more hours beyond the standard time increases by 60 percent the risk of cardiovascular problems like heart attack and angina.
The data comes from a research epidemiologist Marianna Virtanen, Institute of Occupational Medicine in Helsinki, Finland, in collaboration with University College London. Researchers have carefully studied over 10 000 civil servants in London aged between 35 and 55 years, following them from 1991 onwards for over 11 years. Through questionnaires investigated the workload of each participant and were compared with clinical data recorded over time. Well, who was often more than three hours of overtime ended up with a risk of heart disease by 60 percent higher than those who let fall the pen at the end of 7 hours standards. It was saved, however, who made only one or two hours of overtime. “The strong correlation between the number of working hours and dangers for the heart is also taking into account factors such as age, sex, socioeconomic status, or risk factors such as smoking, high cholesterol or being overweight,” Virtanen explains.
The researchers emphasize that these data confirm and not a “conviction” for forced some of the extraordinary: more studies should specify whether this association actually dangerous for the heart and there is of this magnitude. But there are reasons that can explain, and suggest that the information is not their field in the air: who does overtime, for example, often has the personality type A, which is aggressive, competitive, hostile, always fighting with time. Subjects so they can have a huge load of stress and anxiety, poor sleep and end up hurt or fall into depression, all of which is known to be associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease. In most tireless workers often have hypertension “hidden”, which is not apparent in the office but never at the check-up doctors, many who also suffer from extraordinary “presenzialismo disease”, or go to the office even when are not fit, ignoring the symptoms and never asks for medical aid. “It is also possible that workers too have a lifestyle generally worse and more pronounced cardiovascular risk factors, or that the experience of chronic stress associated with it extraordinary mini metabolism. We investigate all these hypotheses in the course of future studies, “says Virtanen, who also points out how the results are not necessarily valid for other categories of workers, employees in the private sector workers.
It is not known, for the moment, whether to cut the overtime can reduce cardiovascular risk, the Finns have said they will continue to study the subject, “even and especially to see if overtime are associated with factors specific risk, other than those related to traditional lifestyle and mental health, “said Mika Kivimaki, an epidemiologist at University College London. Gordon McInnes, Glasgow University, signing an editorial accompanying the study stated: “These results, despite all their limitations, may have implications in the assessment of cardiovascular risk: stress at work seems to emerge strongly as it an element of danger is not negligible, independent of all traditional risk factors. If these data are confirmed, the effects of stress on health should be considered even greater than we have done so far. ” McInnes concludes quoting Bertrand Russell, with a phrase very appropriate to super-workers: “If I were a doctor, I would recommend a holiday in all patients who consider their work important.” So, better to work to live, not live to work. Also because to exaggerate, it appears, there is a real risk to be killed.