Too Much Work Can Kill

Posted by Jerry Lopper Aug 30, 2006

A recent article of the American Heart Association revealed research indicating that people who work more than 51 hours per week are 29% more likely to have hypertension than those working less than 40 hours each week.

Sampling the records of California adults, researchers found that the incidence of high blood pressure increased steadily with hours worked. Those of us who work long hours won't find this surprising, but should find it alarming. One moderating factor was that the degree of mental challenge in the job somewhat reduced this tendency toward high blood pressure.

The life threatening affects of long work hours have long been a problem for Asian workers; however, Americans now work longer hours than their Japanese counterparts.