Newsletter #166: Work Smarter, Not Harder
Hello humanOS friends! This week, we took a look at some research examining the deleterious impact of working long hours on your health, as well as some aspects of the workplace that appear to be linked to higher stress (and perhaps, in turn, to poor long-term health outcomes).
We were inspired to look into this topic by a recent experiment in Iceland testing a shorter working week (with no concomitant reduction in salary). This was the world's largest ever trial of its kind, and sure enough, it appears to have been a resounding success - participants were happier and healthier, with no reduction in productivity. Sounds like a finding we could all learn from 🤔
This Week’s Research Highlights
🩸 Long work hours may significantly elevate risk of type 2 diabetes.
Researchers in Ontario analyzed data on working hours and type 2 diabetes incidence from 7075 actively employed Canadian participants with no previous diagnoses of diabetes at baseline. They found that female participants (but not men) working 45 hours or more per week had a 63% higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes, compared to those working 35-40 hours per week. Notably, the adverse effect of long working hours appears to have been most elevated among women living with young children.
🫀 Working long hours may also increase risk of a second heart attack.
Researchers recruited 967 patients from 30 hospitals across Quebec who returned to work after having a heart attack. Participants were followed for six years to assess coronary heart disease events and various lifestyle risk factors (including work environment and working hours). Individual participants were divided into four groups based on their total working hours. Compared to those working an average of 35-40 hours per week, participants who worked more than 55 hours per week had about two-fold increased odds of experiencing a second heart attack.
👨💻 Open-plan offices boost stress and worsen mood.
Researchers exposed participants to a simulated office setting under two different noise conditions: one with sound effects typical of an open-plan office, and the other equivalent to a quieter private office. These manipulated soundscapes included background noises of people talking, typing, walking, papers printing, ringing telephones, etc. Participants were equipped with sensors to track objective changes in heart rate and sweat response, and facial emotion recognition software was used to measure emotional responses. While the subjects “worked” (they were asked to complete a proof-reading task) in the open-plan office setting, they exhibited increased physiological stress responses. Negative mood increased by 25% and sweat response by 34%. Importantly, this was only for eight minutes at a time. One would imagine that in a real office, where workers are exposed to such stimuli continuously for hours, the effects would likely be greater.
🧠 Toxic workplaces take a serious toll on mental health.
Researchers in Australia examined data on working hours, work environment, and mental health from a cohort of 1084 full-time employees over a period of one year. They were specifically interested in the role of the psychosocial safety climate, meaning management practices and systems that protect employees’ mental health.
They found that a low score on the psychosocial safety climate scale was associated with a three-fold increase in risk for new depressive symptoms in participants. Lead author Amy Jane Zadow says: "Evidence shows that companies who fail to reward or acknowledge their employees for hard work, impose unreasonable demands on workers, and do not give them autonomy, are placing their staff at a much greater risk of depression."
Random Trivia Question of the Week
🤔What was the first refrigerator/freezer (that we know of)?
🧊 Answer
Podcasts We Loved This Week
- James Suzman: Why do we work so damn much? Via Ezra Klein Show.
- Maggie Koerth: How the CDC’s blindspots complicated the fight against COVID-19. Via Podcast-19.
Products We Are Enjoying
Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers. By Robert Sapolsky.
The physiological stress response is highly conserved across different animal species. Fish, birds, reptiles, mammals, etc all secrete certain hormones (adrenaline and glucocorticoids) that raise heart rate and blood pressure, among other effects. This response is adaptive in the face of danger (like, say, if you are a zebra running from a lion on the savannah), and generally short-lived. But humans are somewhat unique because although most of us are never confronted with mortal peril like the zebra, we experience chronic stress. This is, ironically, because we are intelligent enough to induce this state in ourselves, and in each other.
In this book, Dr. Sapolsky explains how prolonged exposure to psychosocial stress affects nearly every organ system - increasing atherosclerosis, suppressing the immune system, shutting down reproduction, disrupting digestion, deranging blood glucose metabolism, etc. Much of Sapolsky’s insights emanate from his decades of research on African baboons in Kenya. These animals are highly social primates that are generally safe and well-fed, but are subject to psychological stress due to interactions with one another. And it turns out that they pay the price for these elevated stress hormones - much like we do.
humanOS Catalog Feature of the Week
That's all for today. See y'all next week!