British Heart Foundation says: “Work Sucks”

This comes from a news item about work being bad for our health.

Stress in the workplace could be shortening your life, a survey has found. Job pressures lead people to smoke more, drink more, eat unhealthily and exercise less than they should, posing serious health problems that contribute to heart disease.

British workers were also found in the survey to regularly work unpaid overtime, with almost one-fifth working more than five hours overtime a week.

The survey, carried out by the British Heart Foundation, found that two in five British workers said they feel their job has had a negative impact on their health in the last five years.

A third of workers also said they had put on weight because of their job, mainly through diet and lifestyle.

A stressful day often makes people want to get a takeaway or pick up a ready meal. Almost half of the workers surveyed said their work led them to eat more unhealthily.

There’s even a quote from yours truly:

Comedian Robert Wringham edits a magazine called New Escapologist, which advocates escape from the “everyday grind.” Speaking to RT he says: “When we’re not actually working (which is bad enough itself) we’re commuting to or from work, preparing for work, or recovering from work. We even dream about work because our jobs are so repetitive, anxiety-producing and dull. We wake from those dreams and think ‘I won’t even get paid for that shift!’ “

★ Tired of the everyday grind? Pre-order the New Escapologist book today.

About

Robert Wringham is the editor of New Escapologist. He also writes books and articles. Read more at wringham.co.uk

3 Responses to “British Heart Foundation says: “Work Sucks””

  1. Usually, you spend the best part of your life/day doing things you don’t want to do, involving pointless work. You eat badly, you’re too tired to exercise or engage in creative hobbies.

    At 40, I said no more. I quit the U.S. grind, via ecommerce consulting, and living cheaply. Currently in Goa, India, then off to Thailand for a while. Buying time to evaluate life, add to savings and see how others live. It’s refreshing in some ways.

  2. It’s nice to see that the british heart foundation is doing work that will hopefully help people. There’s nothing worse than being overworked and unhappy.

  3. Agree. I think it’s wonderful.

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