Working Overtime Bad For Your Heart?

"Hey Boss, it's Jeff...I just wanted to let you know those reports you wanted by the end of tomorrow - yeah, they're not going to happen because that would require I work an extra three to four hours of overtime a day. According to recent studies, that amount of overtime increases my risk of heart problems by 60%. Hopefully you can do without those reports for the next couple days, thanks!"

Wouldn't it be nice to tell your boss you're not going to work a overtime because it's bad for your health? The conversation above may not be so far from the truth given a recent study in London:

 In all, there were 369 cases of death due to heart disease, non-fatal heart attacks and angina among the London-based study group -- and the risk of having an adverse event was 60 percent higher for those who worked three to four hours overtime. - Yahoo! News

To anyone who has worked a corporate job, these findings come as no surprise. I can't remember any other time in my life when I was so zapped of energy and run down as when I worked 11-12 hour days as a manager for 24 Hour Fitness. Long days of work and the stress that goes with them are no doubt going to have an adverse effect on anyone's health. The reality is chronic stress is an extremely silent, but prevalent cause of many of our health issues.

Think about what the body does when it perceives stress: heart rate goes up, blood pressure rises, the digestive system shuts down and the hormone cortisol is released to help supply the body with the necessary energy to respond the the perceived threat. In the case of someone in real physical danger, an athlete or someone who is faced with a physical stress, once the threat is removed or conquered the body can return to a resting state. With the stresses that attack us as work, it is often true that they never go away. It's one problem after the next, one production goal to another or dealing with one insubordinate employee after the next. This cycle of constant bludgeoning of stress many people face at work leads to the body constantly being in a state of fight or flight, which can be detrimental to our health. Previously we've known chronic stress to cause high blood pressure, accumulation of fat, digestive system problems, adrenal fatigue and now increased risk of heart issues.