White-collar workers need to be careful overtime hours 11 hours prone to heart disease
Hannah Gao
2016-12-24 12:53:57
White-collar workers need to be careful overtime hours 11 hours prone to heart disease
Overworked: New research has found that those who work 11-hour days or more increase theirchance of a heart attack by two thirds If you’re about to embark on your usual 12-hour day atthe office, you might want to pause a while – a few hours, actually. A study has found thatthose who spend more than 11 hours at work increase their chance of having a heart attack bytwo thirds.
The team from University College London looked at more than 7,000 civil servants working inWhitehall over a period of 11 years and established how many hours they worked on average aday. They also collected information including the condition of their heart from medical recordsand health checks. Over the period, a total of 192 had suffered a heart attack. But the study,published in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine, found that those who worked more than 11hours a day were 67 per cent more likely to have one than those who had a ‘nine to five’ job.
Professor Mika Kivim?ki, who led the study, said: ‘We have shown that working long days is associated with a remarkable increase in risk of heart disease. ‘Considering that including a measurement of working hours in a GP interview is so simple and useful, our research presents a strong case that it should become standard practice. ‘This new information should help improve decisions regarding medication for heart disease.
‘It could also be a wake-up call for people who over-work themselves, especially if they already have other risk factors,’ Professor Kivim?ki added. Around 2.6million Britons have heart disease, where the organ’s blood supply is blocked by the build-up of fatty deposits in the coronary arteries. It is the nation’s biggest killer, claiming 101,000 lives in this country every year. Heart attacks occur when a coronary artery becomes completely blocked; if the blood supply is not restored, the section of the heart being supplied by the artery will die.
Overworked: New research has found that those who work 11-hour days or more increase theirchance of a heart attack by two thirds If you’re about to embark on your usual 12-hour day atthe office, you might want to pause a while – a few hours, actually. A study has found thatthose who spend more than 11 hours at work increase their chance of having a heart attack bytwo thirds.
The team from University College London looked at more than 7,000 civil servants working inWhitehall over a period of 11 years and established how many hours they worked on average aday. They also collected information including the condition of their heart from medical recordsand health checks. Over the period, a total of 192 had suffered a heart attack. But the study,published in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine, found that those who worked more than 11hours a day were 67 per cent more likely to have one than those who had a ‘nine to five’ job.
Professor Mika Kivim?ki, who led the study, said: ‘We have shown that working long days is associated with a remarkable increase in risk of heart disease. ‘Considering that including a measurement of working hours in a GP interview is so simple and useful, our research presents a strong case that it should become standard practice. ‘This new information should help improve decisions regarding medication for heart disease.
‘It could also be a wake-up call for people who over-work themselves, especially if they already have other risk factors,’ Professor Kivim?ki added. Around 2.6million Britons have heart disease, where the organ’s blood supply is blocked by the build-up of fatty deposits in the coronary arteries. It is the nation’s biggest killer, claiming 101,000 lives in this country every year. Heart attacks occur when a coronary artery becomes completely blocked; if the blood supply is not restored, the section of the heart being supplied by the artery will die.
