My Dad Always Said: “Hard Work Never Hurt Anyone.” Well . . .

The European Heart Journal contains a report of a study of British civil servants (governmental bureaucrats) who worked 3 to 4 hours’ overtime daily for prolonged periods.  (That’s a surprise in itself for many of us, who often wonder at the working hours of government employees.)  The zealots were found to have a higher risk of developing coronary heart disease (CHD) than their co-workers.

The Whitehall II study began in 1985 and enrolled over 10,000 civil servants aged 35 to 55.  Between 1991 and 1994 their regular questionnaires included a question on working hours.  The recent analysis, done by Finnish scientists, covers the fate of over 6,000 participants who were followed until 2002-2004.

After adjusting for possibly biasing effects, such as age, gender, marital status, and occupational grade, the scientists found that working 3-4 hours overtime daily was associated with a 60% higher rate of CHD than that seen in no-overtime co-workers.  One to 2 hours’ overtime daily was not linked to an increased CHD risk.

The researchers had several possible explanations for their findings.  Working overtime can be linked to a type A behavior pattern – aggressiveness, competitiveness, time-conscientiousness, and so on.  Or high blood pressure, related to work-induced stress, which may not show up at routine medical exams.  Then there’s the obsessive worker, who always comes to work even when feeling ill – it’s called “sickness presenteeism”.  Such persons may work when ill and damage their health.

I wonder if US office workers would show similar ill-effects of working overtime.  I doubt it, somehow.  The American tendency to “work hard, play hard” may offer some protection against CHD (provided the “play” is off the couch).