> At worst, you are seriously harming your long-term health. Not even long-term health. This can affect you quicker than you might think. During one particula

> At worst, you are seriously harming your long-term health. Not even long-term health. This can affect you quicker than you might think. During one particular crunch time, I was working long hours on a regular basis (crunch time here being "after the project had continued years after it's originally scheduled end date, we were given a hard deadline a few months in the future, so everything was a "crunch" until then). I wasn't sleeping right, and one morning I came in looking like hell. My boss - my nice boss, anyway - diverted us when we went for our morning coffee. He took me to the pharmacy instead, and bought me a bottle of Valerian pills. If that isn't a warning sign, I don't know what is. Also, I ended up on a stress leave for a couple weeks after a while. Without the constant pressure of work, my body finally relaxed. When it did, I ended up getting strep throat and general body aches. It could be coincidence, but I tend to think that I worked myself so hard that I actually compromised my own immune system. I don't have a problem working long hours over short periods of time when it's properly needed, but I won't ever let myself work a job where that's the norm for extended periods of time (or, god forbid, all the time) again.