SOURCE 1: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/50730.php
If you work more than 51 hours each week you should be aware that your
chances of developing hypertension are 29% higher, when compared to
someone who works up to 39 hours a week, according to scientists from the
University of California in Irvine, USA.
(Hypertension = High blood pressure)
You can read about this study in the journal Hypertension.
Americans work more hours per week than the Japanese do. In Japan they have a
term, Karoshi, which means dying suddenly as a result of working too much.
In this study, researchers studied data on 24,305 Californian citizens who worked
more than 11 hours per week. They used data from the Public Use File of the
2001 California Health Interview Survey. After making adjustments for
socioeconomic status and body weight, the study found there was a strong link
between hypertension prevalence and more hours worked - the more hours a
person worked each week, the higher his/her hypertension risk was.
When compared to people who work up to 39 hours per week, a person working
40 hours had a 14% increased risk of suffering from hypertension. The risk
increased in parallel with extra hours worked, reaching 29% for a 51-hour-week.
They also found that challenging and mentally stimulating jobs tended to protect
people from developing hypertension. Those with highest risks of suffering from
high blood pressure as a result o doing many hours were clerical and unskilled
workers.
The USA is the only developed country which does not have legal restrictions on
the number of hours a person can work each week.
Work Hours and Self-Reported Hypertension Among Working People in
California
Haiou Yang; Peter L. Schnall; Maritza Jauregui; Ta-Chen Su; and Dean Baker
Hypertension 2006, doi:10.1161/01.HYP.0000238327.41911.52
Click Here To View Abstract Online
Written by: Christian Nordqvist
Editor: Medical News Today
Copyright: Medical News Today
Not to be reproduced without permission of Medical News Today
SOURCE 2: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-402763/Long-working-hourslinked-high-blood-pressure.html
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Workers who clocked more than 51 hours at the office each week were 29 per cent more
likely to have high blood pressure than those who worked 39 hours or less, a new study from
California has found.
Nearly all past research linking long work hours and high blood pressure has been done
among Asian workers, Dr. Haiou Yang of the University of California in Irvine and
colleagues note in their report in the journal Hypertension.
Interest in the topic began in Japan, they add, where a notoriously high-pressure work culture
has given rise to a phenomenon known as Karoshi, or "sudden death from overwork." Today,
Americans work longer hours than do Japanese, the researchers add.
To investigate whether more time on the job could drive up hypertension risk among
Westerners, the researchers looked at a representative sample of 24,305 California adults who
worked 11 hours or more each week.
The likelihood of having high blood pressure rose steadily with the number of hours worked,
the researchers found, and persisted even after adjusting for factors such as socioeconomic
status and body weight.
Those who worked 40 hours per week were 14 percent more likely to have high blood
pressure than people who worked 39 hours or less. Hypertension risk was 17 per cent greater
in those working 41 to 50 hours weekly, and 29 percent higher in those working 51 hours or
more.
The researchers also found that hypertension was more common among clerical and unskilled
workers than among professionals. This "suggests that occupations requiring more
challenging and mentally active work may have a protective effect against hypertension,"
Yang and his colleagues write.
Almost all of the developed world has legislation limiting work hours, except for the United
States, the researchers note.
SOURCE 3: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1731895/
Abstract
STUDY OBJECTIVETo evaluate the association of long working hours with the risk for
hypertension.
DESIGNA five year prospective cohort study.
SETTINGWork site in Osaka, Japan.
PARTICIPANTS941 hypertension free Japanese male white collar workers aged 35-54
years were prospectively examined by serial annual health examinations. Men in whom
borderline hypertension and hypertension were found during repeated surveys were defined
as incidental cases of borderline hypertension and hypertension.
MAIN RESULTS336 and 88 men developed hypertension above the borderline level and
definite hypertension during the 3940 and 4531 person years, respectively. After controlling
for potential predictors of hypertension, the relative risk for hypertension above the
borderline level, compared with those who worked < 8.0 hours per day, was 0.63 (95%
confidence intervals (CI): 0.43, 0.91) for those who worked 10.0-10.9 hours per day and
0.48 (95% CI: 0.31, 0.74) for those who worked
11.0 hours per day. The relative risk
for definite hypertension, compared with those who worked < 8.0 hours per day, was
0.33 (95% CI: 0.11, 0.95) for those who worked
11.0 hours per day. The
multivariate adjusted slopes of diastolic blood pressure (DBP) and mean arterial blood
pressure (MABP) during five years of follow up decreased as working hours per day
increased. From the multiple regression analyses, working hours per day remained as an
independent negative factor for the slopes of systolic blood pressure, DBP, and MABP.
CONCLUSIONSThese results indicate that long working hours are negatively associated
with the risk for hypertension in Japanese male white collar workers.
How competion with collegues rise hypertension?
SOURCE 1: http://www.stress.org/interview-Stress_Metabolic.htm
7. Too much work load Not everyone is gifted at time management and even
those who are really skilled at organizing find themselves overloaded most of the
times these days. It always one deadline after the other with no time for a
breather. The work just piles on daily leaving little room for planning, so most of
the work gets done in a stressful manner.
8. Job insecurity Outsourcing and cut backs go hand in hand. This may be a
good thing as far as globalization is concerned but employees find it very
stressful. Living on the edge with no job security can play havoc on the nerves.
Layoffs are stressful for the concerned employees as well as their colleagues who
feel they are next in the line.
9. Poor work compensation Close to 73% Americans have cited money as
the most stressful factor in their lives. Since your work is the only source income
any insecurity at the financial level will directly increase your work stress.
Several employee work in resentment because they believe their pay package is
too low for their position. Such thoughts and feelings leads to increased job
stress.
10. Hostile job environment If your office feels like a battleground where
your basic needs of personal security are threatened, it is quite difficult to keep
sane. Work place harassment is on the rise, women are the usual targets but it is
quite true for a lot of men also. If it is usual for your superior to throw temper
tantrums at every meeting, then the very thought of the next meeting would
cause your stress levels to increase dramatically.
11. Discrimination at workplace There may be cases of racial or cultural
discrimination in any office, some of it is direct while most of it stays indirect.
Any employee who feels victimized by discrimination is bound to feel stressed at
workplace, not only because of the alienation but because of the stigma itself.
12. Job related travel Even though some people might like traveling, there is
nothing more strenuous than a packed schedule of continuous travel. One can
never be at peace when half the day involves traveling to and fro between client
locations. Work related traveling as source of stress is quite prevalent in most
marketing jobs.