Health effects: Long working hours can make us sick
In a new study has shown that the increase of the weekly working time is detrimental to one hour of health. This small increase is sufficient for that employee to rate their own condition worse and significantly more likely to go to the doctor.
Increasing Workload
For many people, the stress in the Job increases. This poses a risk to health. Due to too much Stress, we get sick, experts warn. Also problematic to work long hours. As specialists point out for years that more than 40 work health hours per week of harmful. What can make workers to create, is if the working hours increase. This has now been shown in a study by researchers from two German universities.
Increased risk especially for women
Anyone who works too long, to endanger his health. Thus, the stroke risk increases by an international team of researchers reported.
A US study found that long working hours especially for women are a health risk. For more than 40 hours of work per week, your risk for heart disease, cancer, Arthritis, and Diabetes increases accordingly.
In addition, it will be for both sexes – but especially for women – problematic when you need to longer work: If the weekly working hours will rise by even an hour can make the lives of people.
This small Grew up enough that workers in the public service of their own health worse and far more often go to the doctor.
This is the result of a study by scientists at the Martin-Luther-University of Halle-Wittenberg (MLU) and Friedrich-Alexander-University of Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU), which was recently published in the journal “Labour Economics”.
Connection between working hours and health
The study by the German researchers is the first to examine the connection between increasing weekly working hours and the consequences for the health.
“In the descriptive analyses, a positive relationship between health and working hours often shows itself, for example, if healthier people work longer,” says Prof. Dr. Christoph miracle of the MLU in a message.
The Halle economic scientist who has carried out the work together with Dr. Kamila Cygan-Rehm of the FAU, said that they did not know previously, but little is known about what are the causal effects of a rising working hours have on the health of the people.
“The Evidence of a causal influence of a longer working time on the health is empirically very difficult, since unobserved factors – for example, the inner Motivation – must exclude, which can lead both to longer working hours as well as for better health and, thus, the direct causal effect of distorting,“ said Dr. Kamila Cygan-Rehm of the FAU.
Women and families with young children particularly affected
In order to illuminate this connection in more detail, evaluated by the scientists, the data from the German Socio-economic panel from the years 1985 to 2014.
According to the figures, it is the largest and longest-running longitudinal study that questioned for more than 30 years, more than 12,000 private households in regular intervals, their life circumstances are.
The SOEP data provide information for example on education, health, income, employment, and life satisfaction.
“As for the SOEP, each year the same individuals are interviewed, and hence the long-term Trends and responses to external changes, such as the working time, trace”, so beautiful.
The two researchers found that is already a Plus of one hour had significant consequences: The self-reported health of the respondents decreased by two percent, while the number of doctor visits increased by 13 percent.
Especially from these negative effects, women, and families with young children were affected.
“Presumably, the effects in these groups, because they are outside of their working hours with very limited time budgets. The working time increases, the time increases and thus pressure outside of work,“ said miracle.
No statements in optimal working time
According to the communication from the universities, only data from employees were included in the study and workers from the old länder, the employed in the public service or as civil servants.
“Employees in the public service amendments of weekly working hours tend to take over rather than Employees in the private sector, the adjust in the case of a Change of contractual working hours, for example Overtime and weekly working hours constant. Public service workers have less flexibility,“ explained miracle.
In the years 1985 to 1991, the weekly working time decreased from 40 to 38.5 hours. Later, they rose in Bavaria and Hesse, for officials back to up to 42 hours per week. In the new Federal States there were not these strong fluctuations.
From the study, no statements can be made to derive an optimal working time, they are but a glimpse of what the consequences may already have a small change. (ad)