Workaholics — everyone knows at least one. Maybe it’s a family member, or a friend, or a coworker, or even a neighbor. To their employers, these people may be known as “overachievers” (or perhaps just “someone who’s not trying hard enough,” depending on the employer). These people are always on the go, always checking their phones on vacation for emails — scratch that, they probably aren’t even going on vacations at all, to be honest.
And if you don’t know one of these people, we’ve got some news for you: you are probably the workaholic.
Besides just missing your kids’ baseball games and being an hour late to Grandma’s birthday party, working long hours can actually cause you to miss out on a lot of stuff in life. To be even more precise, it can jeopardize your overall health — it can even take years off your life, according to a new study.
On August 19, TIME magazine reported on a study which was just published in the British academic journal, The Lancet. This study was conducted by researchers from the University College London (UCL) and analyzed work patterns and health trends of hundreds of thousands of workers across the U.S., Europe, and Australia for several years.
According to the study, there’s a strong connection between people who work 55+ hours per week and people who are at risk for heart failure; this group of workaholics is actually 33% more likely to have a stroke and 13% more likely to develop coronary heart disease than people who keep their work weeks a bit shorter.
So what does this all really mean for you?
It means that work is important, but so is your health. More people are realizing that these long work days, stuck in a small cubicle with no sunlight, are actually pretty harmful to a person’s health. Looking for unique office space solutions and office suites which fit your budget, your job, and your personal health-related needs is something that more people are doing each year.
Maybe it means looking for a virtual office space so you don’t have to commute everyday — 67% of American professionals today agree that working remotely is productive, and 80% of workers see the option of telecommuting to be a job perk. Maybe it means looking for a unique office space rental so that you can relax and talk with other people throughout the day, rather than sitting at your desk quietly for eight hours straight.
Whatever a unique office space means for you, make sure that it also includes a way for you to de-stress, to exercise, and to put your health on top of your priorities list.
