Is Your Job Killing You?

We work more hours than ever it seems, with few breaks and even less vacation time. Under these stresses, your job may be killing you. Too many hours – The chances for a heart attack spike after working for more than 10 hours per day. At 11 hours, European researchers found that people have 60% greater risk of heart attack, angina and death from cardiovascular disease than those who just work 7 or 8 hours

Amping up – Coffee and energy drinks raise blood pressure for hours. The increases are large enough to affect heart attack and risk of stroke

Fast food on the go – Working without breaks means you’re ordering horrible food. Fast food carries about twice as many calories as regular food of the same weight as well as tons of oxidized fat which accelerates the buildup of plaque in arteries and increases your risk of having a heart attack

Sitting all day – Sitting hours on end isn’t good for you, increasing your risk for obesity, diabetes, heart disease, a variety of cancers and an early death

What you do to wind down from may not be good either.

Vegging out in front of the tube – Researcher David Dunstan compared to people who watch less than two hours of television per day to people who watch more than four hours per day and found that the TV veggies had a 46 percent higher risk of death from all causes. They also have an 80 percent increased risk from cardiovascular disease

Sleep deprivation – Not getting enough sleep reduces your glucose metabolism by as much as 40 percent, increases your levels of cortisol (a stress hormone), decreases levels of human growth hormone (which is important for repair to damaged muscles and boosts the immune system), and weakens your memory and attention-span

Excessive drinking – Drinking too much has all kinds of bad repercussions including negative effects on every organ in the body. Excessive drinking is associated with a ton of health problems including: cirrhosis of the liver, pancreatitis, some cancers, high blood pressure, and psychological disorders. Throw in car crashes and other alcohol induced accidents and it’s all bad.

If you’re sitting at your desk and working long days, your health is going to be affected at some. If you’re coming home with a six pack of beer, a burger, and fries so that you can stay up late watching TV, that day may come sooner rather than later.