Many scientific studies relate long working hours to the physical and emotional deterioration of people. It is known that our dizzying pace of life, with untimely schedules that affect rest and sleep hours, is associated with diseases that undermine daily well-being: stress, mood swings, cognitive alterations, risk of obesity, diabetes and other cardiovascular pathologies. These effects are not immediate for everyone. But sooner or later everyone ends up paying them.
Research published in the journal PLOS by Dr. Wen-Jui Han of New York University explains how the work patterns we adopt when we are young can significantly impact health decades later. Especially, from the age of 50. Dr. Han’s team analyzed more than 7,000 cases in the United States over 30 years to assess the long-term repercussions of having nonstandard work hours (that is, anything that doesn’t be the traditional working day from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.).
The main conclusion is that people who during their youth had jobs with “volatile” schedules (changing or night shifts) reached middle age with a higher incidence of physical fatigue and emotional exhaustion. They were also more likely to have depressive symptoms at age 50. In general, they had less healthy lives compared to people who worked for most of their lives in a traditional daytime schedule.
The most striking data is observed among people who had stable schedules in their 20s and went on to have more variable schedules in their 30s: the deterioration of health from the age of 50 was comparatively much greater than that of the rest of the sample segments. Among this group, the medium-term health effect of unstable work schedules is similar to that of having less than a high school education. That is, a very large effect.
“Work should provide resources to live with dignity, but it has become an obstacle to having a healthy life. This is because of the growing job insecurity in an increasingly unequal society,” explains Han. The data throws up another unsurprising conclusion: people in more vulnerable social positions disproportionately suffer these health consequences.
Other correlations identified in the study related to ethnicity or gender are also not surprising: African Americans, especially those with little education and volatile employment patterns, were more likely to report poor health. Also, women indicated that they have a lower quality of sleep than men, despite the fact that they sleep more hours than them.
Although the study establishes an association and not necessarily causation, the findings are consistent with what is known in the public health field: the intersection of social position and work patterns widens the disparities between those in good health and those who don’t People in vulnerable social positions often have no choice about their work schedules, which poses a greater risk to health.
For those who cannot avoid unstable work schedules, the researchers suggest maintaining a healthy diet, exercising, seeking relaxation methods and spending time with loved ones. Also optimize sleeping conditions and get regular health checks. All these recommendations seem very logical, but also difficult to fit into the lifestyle of the most disadvantaged strata of the population, those who suffer not only from a poverty of resources, but also from a poverty of time: they are people who cannot devote time optimal to these important activities, since they are busy precisely working in precarious conditions to survive.
