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> The research found that working 55 hours or more a week was associated with a 35% higher risk of stroke and a 17% higher risk of dying from heart disease, com

> The research found that working 55 hours or more a week was associated with a 35% higher risk of stroke and a 17% higher risk of dying from heart disease, compared with a working week of 35 to 40 hours. That is a risk I'm willing to take, I'm afraid. To put it in context, according to Google search infobox, "The global lifetime risk of stroke is approximately 25% starting at the age of 25", so the risk jumps from 25% to 34%. Is that a lot? Depends on your priorities. I wonder if and how they managed to properly control for things like obesity or stress. Most middle-aged working professionals are in a terrible shape from my observations.

ryanbrunner 5y ago
What's the benefit though? When combined with the many, many studies that show that consistently working long hours significantly impacts productivity (to the point where it's a net negative), why would you ever do it if it additionally is bad for your health?
bachmeier 5y ago
> I wonder if and how they managed to properly control for things like obesity or stress. You wouldn't want to control for those things if the mechanism by which working long hours affects your health is that it causes you to be obese and increases your stress levels.
- zadokshi 5y ago
  Of course you need to control for other factors. I’d you don’t all you’d prove is that overweight and unhealthy people have more health problems. Which would not be a useful study.
mrpopo 5y ago
> I wonder if and how they managed to properly control for things like obesity or stress. Most middle-aged working professionals are in a terrible shape from my observations. Obesity and stress were considered both as a mediator and a confounder. Long working hours cause lack of sleep and bad eating habits. https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0160412021002208-gr1.jpg https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S01604120210022...
- admissionsguy 5y ago
  My comment was a bit foolish, actually. It has to be factors like that. It's not like the work itself magically kills a person. Though speaking as someone who strives to optimise his life for longevity with the single constraint of keeping working hours at a really high level, it does make the study much less meaningful.
  - Damogran6 5y ago
    You're exchanging hours of your life...hours you can't get back...for money that you may not be able to spend if you die early...due to exchanging hours of your life.
satysin 5y ago
> That is a risk I'm willing to take, I'm afraid. Fair enough, it is your life after all :) I do have a question though - What are you doing with that extra 15 hours of work per week that justifies a 9% increase in the chance of stroke or heart attack?
- admissionsguy 5y ago
  According to the first result from Google [1], men who died of stroke lost 11.4% of their lifespan on average. Using figures form my post above, an average person working 55 hours will lose 3.87% of lifespan due to stroke compared to 2.85% for a person working "normal" hours. With life expectancy of 82 years, it's a difference of about 300 days (and, statistically, these will be the lower quality days at the end of life) - in exchange for over 20,000 extra productive hours over 30 years, i.e. for ability to become world-class at two more things. Well yes, that is worth it, without a question. To answer your question, I have just finished client work for the year, will attempt to bootstrap a company now. Which itself is just means to another goal. I would sacrifice so much more than 300 days for it.. [1] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33406864/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33406864/
  - satysin 5y ago
    Thank you for taking the time to reply. I have mentioned this here before but after a friend (and previous manager and mentor) died in his early 50s literally overworking I totally changed my life. He was found by his wife and son as they were getting ready for school. He was in his home office with a P&L still on the screen after suffering a stroke working late. Two years later his son is still suffering from that moment and it breaks my heart to see the pain and difficulties they have had to endure. My friend worked so hard to provide for them but the shock broke the family. Without his income they could no longer continue living the way they were with private education and such a huge mortgage. A huge mistake my friend made was not ensuring he had adequate life insurance. Because of this I am aware that I have a very biased view of overworking and that this doesn't happen to everyone, or even the majority, of people who overwork. When something like this hits you so personally though it is difficult to shift. I wish you all the best on the bootstrap but please stay aware of your health if you continue to work very long hours. Remember you can always earn more money but never earn that time.

ryanbrunner 5y ago

What's the benefit though? When combined with the many, many studies that show that consistently working long hours significantly impacts productivity (to the point where it's a net negative), why would you ever do it if it additionally is bad for your health?

bachmeier 5y ago

> I wonder if and how they managed to properly control for things like obesity or stress. You wouldn't want to control for those things if the mechanism by which working long hours affects your health is that it causes you to be obese and increases your stress levels.

zadokshi 5y ago
Of course you need to control for other factors. I’d you don’t all you’d prove is that overweight and unhealthy people have more health problems. Which would not be a useful study.

mrpopo 5y ago

> I wonder if and how they managed to properly control for things like obesity or stress. Most middle-aged working professionals are in a terrible shape from my observations. Obesity and stress were considered both as a mediator and a confounder. Long working hours cause lack of sleep and bad eating habits. https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0160412021002208-gr1.jpg https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S01604120210022...

admissionsguy 5y ago
My comment was a bit foolish, actually. It has to be factors like that. It's not like the work itself magically kills a person. Though speaking as someone who strives to optimise his life for longevity with the single constraint of keeping working hours at a really high level, it does make the study much less meaningful.
- Damogran6 5y ago
  You're exchanging hours of your life...hours you can't get back...for money that you may not be able to spend if you die early...due to exchanging hours of your life.

satysin 5y ago

> That is a risk I'm willing to take, I'm afraid. Fair enough, it is your life after all :) I do have a question though - What are you doing with that extra 15 hours of work per week that justifies a 9% increase in the chance of stroke or heart attack?

admissionsguy 5y ago
According to the first result from Google [1], men who died of stroke lost 11.4% of their lifespan on average. Using figures form my post above, an average person working 55 hours will lose 3.87% of lifespan due to stroke compared to 2.85% for a person working "normal" hours. With life expectancy of 82 years, it's a difference of about 300 days (and, statistically, these will be the lower quality days at the end of life) - in exchange for over 20,000 extra productive hours over 30 years, i.e. for ability to become world-class at two more things. Well yes, that is worth it, without a question. To answer your question, I have just finished client work for the year, will attempt to bootstrap a company now. Which itself is just means to another goal. I would sacrifice so much more than 300 days for it.. [1] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33406864/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33406864/
- satysin 5y ago
  Thank you for taking the time to reply. I have mentioned this here before but after a friend (and previous manager and mentor) died in his early 50s literally overworking I totally changed my life. He was found by his wife and son as they were getting ready for school. He was in his home office with a P&L still on the screen after suffering a stroke working late. Two years later his son is still suffering from that moment and it breaks my heart to see the pain and difficulties they have had to endure. My friend worked so hard to provide for them but the shock broke the family. Without his income they could no longer continue living the way they were with private education and such a huge mortgage. A huge mistake my friend made was not ensuring he had adequate life insurance. Because of this I am aware that I have a very biased view of overworking and that this doesn't happen to everyone, or even the majority, of people who overwork. When something like this hits you so personally though it is difficult to shift. I wish you all the best on the bootstrap but please stay aware of your health if you continue to work very long hours. Remember you can always earn more money but never earn that time.