Do you spend more than 10 hours a day in the workplace? There is a huge possibility that the money you get to save for being the last person to leave the office each time will be spent in dealing with all sorts of health issues you are very much likely to encounter sometime in the future. No, it’s not just having less time with your family and friends that being a workaholic brings, but also some very disastrous consequences on your well-being.
Make sure that you take full advantage of the weekends. Also, dodge as much overtimes in the office as you can to keep the negative effects of working too much at bay. And what are these effects? Here are some of them:
Depression
A recent study found out that being constantly in the confines of the office for more than the usual 7 or 8 hours per day can increase your risk of depression by more than twice! Experts say that it’s most likely caused by the fact that you don’t spend enough time to connecting with your loved ones as well as exercising. Try your best to step foot outside the workplace when it’s time to leave in order to ward off depression.
Insomnia
The National Sleep Foundation conducted a survey on the effects of overtime on sleeping habits. The result was quite astounding — up to 20% of those who spend more than 50 hours a week in the workplace tend to get fewer than 6 hours of sleep at night. Lack of sleep is unquestionably bad for you as it can cause a host of health issues — ranging from mood swings, weight gain to serious heart problems.
Stress
Majority of people consider work as a form of stress. It’s not just your workload that can leave you stressed out, but also other factors such as your jealous co-workers and dreadful traffic jams. What’s so terrible about chronic stress is it floods your body with hormones that can have an assortment of negative impact on your weight, blood pressure, mood, appearance and heart health.
Eye Strain
It can be very easy for your eyes to end up fatigued after looking at a computer screen for extended periods of time. The likes of reading printed reports, receiving and sending text messages on a smart phone, and driving to and fro the workplace all add up to the problem. Eye strain is something that can ruin your day as it also tends to cause other nuisances such as a nagging headache, dry eyes and blurred vision.
Cognitive Decline
Exercising the brain by learning to play a musical instrument or solving crossword puzzles is definitely a good thing. However, it’s a completely different story if you are slaving away in your cubicle for hours on end. Way back in 2009, a study was included in the American Journal of Epidemiology which said that middle-aged people engaging in long hours of work could be at risk of cognitive decline and even dementia.
Health Problems Linked to Sitting a Lot
Naturally, spending lots of hours in the office causes you to devote majority of your time to sitting than exercising. It’s for this reason why you are at higher risk of ending up with problems that are linked by experts to being seated constantly. Some of them include obesity, diabetes, heart disease and even cancer. The sad truth is researches say that people who spend plenty of time sitting at work tend to remain seated a lot even at home.
The next time you are planning on spending all of your waking hours in the office, bear in mind everything mentioned above. Sure you will make a lot of money for being a workaholic, but no amount of big bucks that you earn can buy you good health and quality life.
