Working Long Hours? 9 Reasons Why You Should Stop

Working Long Hours? 9 Reasons Why You Should Stop

Working Long Hours? 9 Reasons Why You Should Stop

Working Long Hours? If you think working for long hours is making you more focused and determined, you’re wrong.

In the quest to get the boss’ praise, most people end up working more than 40 hours a week that even gets stretched to 50 hours, which is, in fact, quite harmful to one’s health.

Working for long hours will slowly make you less productive and affect your mental strength for the long term.

To help you understand the effects better, here are some definite reasons why you should immediately stop working for long hours.

1. Reduced productivity

A research paper stated that participants who worked for 40 hours and added another 20 hours to their schedule recorded an increase in productivity for the first few weeks. But, after that, it started to get negative, and the productivity levels dipped to a very low level. This proved that people would face low productivity levels if they continue to work for longer hours than required.

2. Ergonomic hazards

Depending on where you work, lengthened work hours can expose you to serious ergonomic hazards like chemicals, radiation, vibration, noise, and extreme temperatures. Exposure to these ergonomic hazards can have serious health implications that you are better off avoiding by shortening your workday.

3. Neglected social life

Too much work makes you neglect your social life a lot. This causes rifts within relationships and your family suffers due to your inability to give them time. Even though attaining a good work-life balance is hard, it shouldn’t definitely be unattainable. Alluding time to your family is equally necessary compared to your work.

4. Higher safety risks

When fatigue increases and you become overwhelmed from long workdays, your safety is at risk. Accidents and injuries are more likely to occur in the workplace. This safety hazard, while difficult to clearly support with scientific evidence because fatigue levels are not easy to measure and quantify, is a logical concern that you should not ignore.

5. Heart attack and brain damage

Reports suggest that the chances of heart attack increase by a whopping 67% for those who tend to work more than 40-45 hours. The extra pressure takes a toll on the heart as well as the brain. Other factors like blood pressure, migraines, diabetes, etc. certainly don’t help your heart and mind.

6. Obesity

The extended time you spend working can affect your other functionalities during the day such as walking, exercising, cooking, and sleeping which are major risk factors for obesity. While sitting on the sofa for hours, you also tend to munch on junk food to find comfort, and that is also a big contributing factor for extreme weight gain.

7. Health deterioration

People’s health starts to deteriorate once the fatigue from all those overworking sets in. You might feel extra sleepy, tired, stressed, experience headaches, and even feel irritation at the smallest of matters. If this isn’t dealt with, work productivity will take a turn for the worse. And your life will also suffer.

8. Musculoskeletal damage

Repetitive work when sustained in awkward postures increases the risk of developing musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) that damage the body’s muscles, joints, ligaments, tendons and nerves. Avoid extended work hours to give your body sufficient time to recover and repair itself each day, otherwise your muscles might just buckle under work pressure.

9. More stress

Odds are when you work long hours, you do it at the expense of not only your family and close friends, but also your diet, exercise routine and sanity. The more you try to prove you are a passionate and productive team player at work, the more you get forgotten by your kids, spouse and dog; and the more your mind registers stress.

LIFE STYLE

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