Office lifestyle: Working nine hours per day may increase risk of depression in women, not in men

With today's time when every organisation demands and expects a lot from its employees for whatsoever reason (be it rising competition in the market or to flaunt the tag of being trendy), it is really difficult to take care of ourselves and maintain a healthy lifestyle. Shift-based job and nine hours of work eventually affect human's body leading to negative consequences and problems like stress and depression. According to the latest health study, working for nine-plus hours a day could put women at higher risk of depression. Interestingly and sadly (Yes, a woman is editing this piece of writing!), the study states that this isn't the case with men, it is just women who develop the higher risk of depression with long working hours.

Women who worked extra long hours, more than 55 hours a week, had 7.3 per cent more depressive symptoms than women working a standard 35-40 hours a week. However, the same was not the case in men, the study found.

"This is an observational study. Although we cannot establish the exact causes, we do know many women face the additional burden of doing a larger share of domestic labour than men, leading to extensive total work hours, added time pressures and overwhelming responsibilities," said lead researcher Gill Weston, a postdoctoral student at the University College London. "Additionally, women who work most weekends tend to be concentrated in low-paid service sector jobs, which have been linked to higher levels of depression," Weston said. 

For the study, published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, the team included 11,215 working men and 12,188 working women. The study also showed working on weekends was linked to a higher risk of depression among both men (3.4 per cent) and women (4.6 per cent).

Two-thirds of men worked on weekends compared with half of the women. Those who worked all or most weekends were more likely to be in low-skilled jobs and were less satisfied with their job and earnings than those who only worked on weekdays or some weekends.

"We hope our findings will encourage employers and policy-makers to think about how to reduce the burdens and increase support for women who work long or irregular hours, without restricting their ability to work when they wish to," Weston said.

"More sympathetic working practices could bring benefits both for workers and for employers of both sexes," she suggested.

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