Take it easy..

They say, all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy, and rightfully so. However, this goes beyond becoming dull. Researchers have found that working more than 55 hours a week significantly increases the risk of developing serious heart problems. Those working for such long hours are 40 per cent more likely to suffer an irregular heartbeat than those who work 35 to 40 hours a week.

The study was conducted with over 85,000 British and Scandinavian people and the researchers found that for every 1,000 people in the study, an extra 5.2 cases of atrial fibrillation occurred among those who worked long hours. 

Study leader Professor Mika Kivimaki, of University College London, said, “These findings show that long working hours are associated with an increased risk of atrial fibrillation — the most common cardiac arrhythmia. Atrial fibrillation is known to contribute to the development of stroke, but also other adverse health outcomes, such as heart failure and stroke-related dementia.”

A 40 per cent increased extra risk is an important hazard for people who already have a high overall risk of cardiovascular disease due to other risk factors such as older age, male sex, diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, overweight, smoking and physical inactivity, or living with an established cardiovascular disease.

Expert speak

So do our experts agree with the findings of the study? Dr Santosh Kumar Dora, Senior Cardiac Electro Physiologist, Asian Heart Institute, says that this is a first of its kind study, which has shown increased incidence of atrial fibrillation in persons with long working hours compared to persons with standard working hours. Earlier studies have already shown increased risk of heart attack and stroke in sleep deprived persons. The casual relationship of long working hours and atrial fibrillation may be less sleep, increased heart rate, increased blood pressure and increased stress.

“To a certain extent, I do agree with the study. Specifically, it increases incidence of atrial fibrillation, a condition of rhythm disturbance of the heart. It is a study of more than 85,000 people over 10 years,” says Dr Narayan Gadkar, Cardiologist, Zen Hospital.

Work culture demands long working hours

In Mumbai and many other metro cities in India, work culture demands long working hours. A lot of people work anywhere between 10 to 14 hours a day, and some work even more than that depending on their job. Is their risk of developing serious heart problems more than 40 per cent? Dr Gadkar says, “Not exactly because the results cannot be generalised. There were a few limitations in the study. We should be aware of the findings but there’s no need to panic.”

Dr Dora says, “It is a well-known fact that the incidence of heart attack and stroke in India is one of the highest in the world. In addition to many other risk factors prevalent in Indian population, long working hours must be contributing to the increased risk of heart disease. A study may be planned to see whether Indians working for long hours are similarly exposed to higher incidence of atrial fibrillation.”

Incidences of atrial fibrillation

Atrial fibrillation is mostly a disease of the elderly population. However, Dr Dora informs that in recent years, he has come across more and more young people suffering from this problem. One of the factors may be long working hours which is responsible for increased stress, heart rate and blood pressure that can predispose one to increased incidence of atrial fibrillation. He sees two to three young persons (less than 40 years of age) a month, suffering from atrial fibrillation.

How to cope

Unfortunately, majority of people who work long hours don’t have the luxury of changing their work schedule or change profession. Then what? “Job change is difficult and the new job may not guarantee fewer working hours. However, jobs requiring strenuous activity for long hours may be having the highest risk. A period of rest for half an hour after a period of four to five hours may be good to normalise heart rate and blood pressure. One can take rest in various ways like relaxation, meditation, listening to music, short quick nap etc.,” advises Dr Dora.