Working overtime increases hypertension
Long hours spent working will do no favors for your blood pressure, a new Canadian study suggests.
The five-year study tracked the working hours and blood pressure readings of 3,500 white-collar workers at three public institutions in the province of Quebec.
Compared to those who worked less than 35 hours a week, those who worked 49 or more hours each week had a 70 percent higher risk of what’s known as “masked” hypertension – high blood pressure that can be missed during a routine medical appointment, but is detected when blood pressure is tracked at home.
Lots of overtime was also tied to a 66 percent higher risk of “sustained” hypertension – high blood pressure that’s recorded both in and out of health care settings.
The study could not prove cause-and-effect, but even a few extra working hours per week seemed to matter to heart health. For example, people who worked between 41 and 48 hours a week had a 54 percent higher risk of masked hypertension and a 42 percent higher risk of sustained hypertension, the researchers reported.
The link between long working hours and high blood pressure in the study was about the same for men as for women.
Source: HealthDay News
