Hanna, a finance director at an international home care retailer, works long hours. She’s usually in the office from 9am to 5pm, but at home, when her three children go to sleep, she’ll work another four hours, not closing her laptop until midnight. She sometimes also works on weekends. But even though she works 60 to 65 hours per week, she told us that she can “switch off” when she needs to, and that she still feels energetic every day. She hasn’t had to worry about her health.
How Being a Workaholic Differs from Working Long Hours — and Why That Matters for Your Health
We generally assume that working too much is bad for our health. But what exactly is unhealthy about this is unclear. Is it working long hours that increases our risk of developing health issues? Or is it something else, like Michael’s compulsive work mentality, that is harmful for health? A study unravels the difference between behavior (working long hours) and mentality (a compulsion to work, or what we call workaholism). A survey and health screening of 763 employees found that work hours was not related to health issues, while workaholism was. Whether or not they worked long hours, people who obsessed over work reported more health complaints and had increased risk for metabolic syndrome; they also reported a higher need for recovery, more sleep problems, more cynicism, more emotional exhaustion, and more depressive feelings than employees who merely worked long hours but did not have workaholic tendencies. Unlike people who merely work long hours, workaholics struggled to psychologically detach from work. However, workaholics who loved their jobs were somewhat protected from the most severe health risks.