996 is not a joke. Working more than 55 hours a week may be life-threatening!

Another sudden death incident has caught the attention of us workers. Student Wu, who was only 28 years old, passed away after a day of emergency treatment.

The background of industry involution and the reality of the midlife crisis force us to overdraw our health again and again, but this overdraw always comes at a price. How far is sudden death from us?

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01

The first global analysis of burnout

The World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Labor Organization estimate that overtime work caused 398,000 deaths from stroke and 347,000 deaths from heart disease in 2016, accounting for 4.9% of the total number of deaths. The disease burden caused by overtime work accounts for about one-third of all work-related disease burdens. It can be said that overtime work is one of the greatest occupational disease risks. It is estimated that people who work more than 55 hours a week have a 35% increased risk of stroke and a 17% increased risk of death from ischemic heart disease.

Dr. Maria Neira, Director of the World Health Organization's Environment, Climate Change and Health Department, pointed out that working 55 hours or more per week can seriously harm your health. It is time for all of us to realize that long working hours may lead to premature death.

Screenshot from Sina Weibo

02

Current situation of overtime work in my country and European and American countries

Statistics show that in 2017, 42.2% of workers in my country worked more than 8 hours a day; among them, the situation was most serious for manufacturing workers, with nearly 60% of them working overtime every day.

Data from the National Bureau of Statistics show that in July 2018, the average weekly working hours for employees in enterprises across the country was 46 hours. Based on a five-day work week, the average working time per day is 9.2 hours.

Before March 2020, the average daily online time for British employees was 9 hours, for American employees it was 8 hours, and for Canadian employees it was 9 hours. Since January 2021, the average daily online time for British, American, and Canadian employees has reached 11 hours. Who says the epidemic is a long vacation arranged by fate? It is clearly a new weight added to the squeeze.

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03

Working more than 55 hours per week

What is the status?

What exactly does 55 hours a week mean? If we calculate based on a 5-day work week, it is equivalent to 11 hours a day. Currently, we recommend the 8-hour legal work system, which means that these people need to work more than 3 hours a day. A day and night is 24 hours, of which more than 11 hours are left for work, leaving less than 13 hours.

So what does it mean to work 11 hours a day? If you start working at 8 a.m., leave an hour for lunch and toilet breaks at noon, and you can’t leave work until 8 p.m. That means people who work more than 11 hours a day will hardly see the sun during the day, which is a real-life interpretation of what it means to work day and night.

We all know that only by getting enough sleep can we work, study and live better. An adult should sleep about 7-8 hours a day. So if we subtract 11 hours of work time and 8 hours of sleep time in 24 hours, there will be 5 hours left.

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During these 5 hours, we need to do things like get up, get dressed, brush teeth, make breakfast, eat breakfast, wash dishes, go out, wait for the bus, take the bus, get stuck in traffic on the way to work, eat lunch, get stuck in traffic after work, buy groceries, cook, wash dishes, clean the house... How much time is left for us to exercise, walk, entertain, have fun and be happy?

Working more than 55 hours a week, we become a wound-up spring, running from the time we wake up in the morning to the time we go to bed at night, without any time to stop. Just imagine, the feeling of suffocation is already overwhelming.

A survey shows that 80% of companies have overtime work; and many migrant workers need to work 12-13 hours a day, and some even work 13-16 hours. The Labor Law stipulates that the country implements a working hour system in which workers' daily working hours do not exceed 8 hours and the average weekly working hours do not exceed 44 hours. If it exceeds this range, it is considered overtime work according to the Labor Law.

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04

What harm does overtime work cause?

Overtime work will first cause excessive fatigue. When working continuously for a long time, the human body cannot get enough rest, and is physically and mentally exhausted, with low immunity and resistance, making it easy to develop various diseases.

Take physical labor for example. Overtime work will have a certain impact on muscles, limbs, bones, and joints, leading to injuries, strains, and trauma, and causing orthopedic diseases such as the lumbar spine, spine, and cervical spine.

Some people think that "most modern people work in front of computers, and sitting and working does not require much effort, so the chance of physical injury is very small." This perception is completely wrong! Long-term work at a desk will increase the incidence of cervical spondylosis; long-term sitting without exercise will increase the risk of obesity, hypertension, diabetes, hyperlipidemia, fatty liver, and cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. Moreover, for people who sit for a long time, especially those who do mental work, the long-term mental stress caused by various assessment tasks will also increase the risk of cardiovascular disease.

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As we calculated above, 24 hours a day is limited. If more time is allocated to work, then the time for sports, leisure, shopping, watching movies, eating, singing, traveling, and other kinds of rest and self-enjoyment will definitely be reduced. This forms a vicious circle. The more overtime you work, the greater the risk of disease; the less time you have for health and happiness, the less you can live a healthy life; your physical and mental health is in jeopardy, and there are loopholes everywhere for diseases to exploit.

05

The body has these "alarms"

It means the body is overwhelmed

If you are working overtime and see this, check whether you have the following symptoms: neck pain, back pain, drowsiness, slow reaction, memory loss, lack of strength, chest tightness and shortness of breath, headache, dizziness, precordial pain, crooked gait, and imbalance of the four limbs... If so, be sure to seek medical attention immediately!

There is also a simple judgment. If you did not feel any discomfort after activities or exercise before, but recently found various discomforts or intolerance after activities and exercise, it means that your body is "sounding the alarm", and it may be cardiovascular and cerebrovascular disease that is sounding the alarm.

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At present, among adults over 18 years old in our country, 27.5% suffer from hypertension, 11.2% suffer from diabetes, and 8.8% suffer from hypercholesterolemia. The "three highs" are the biggest risk factors for cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. The "three highs" often come without warning, so we should take the initiative to monitor blood pressure, blood sugar, and blood lipids. Especially those who work overtime, are obese, and have a family history should be monitored. The "three highs" must be discovered and controlled early, and at the same time, the working status must be improved and a healthy lifestyle must be developed to effectively prevent cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases.

06

Work for a better life

Life is an attitude and a process

Whether it is 996 or 007, or what we now call working more than 55 hours a week, most of us work for the purpose of living, for a better life.

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But no matter it is a good life or a bad life, the foundation of life is health. Without health, everything will be in vain. Work requires hard work, seriousness, and care, but life must go on day by day. The beautiful dream of a comfortable life through 996, 007, 55+ will be shattered due to the greatly increased risk of disease, and even induce cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases and even an increased risk of sudden death. Slow down a little, work hard when you are working, but also take time off when it is time to rest, spend more time to relieve yourself, accompany your family, and experience and cherish the good life we ​​have now.

At the same time, we also hope that employers from all walks of life in society will strictly implement and arrange work in accordance with the Labor Law, and try not to work excessive overtime. Only when employees are healthy can the company be healthy!

Author: Wang Xing, deputy chief physician of the Cardiovascular Center of a tertiary hospital

Review | Ma Qingchun, Chief Physician and Professor of Cardiology, Peking University People's Hospital

This article is produced by the "Science Rumor Refutation Platform" (ID: Science_Facts). Please indicate the source when reprinting.

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