Work long hours? Then you’re twice as likely to fall ill

HAVING a poor work-life balance makes you twice as likely to become ill, a study has suggested.

Researchers surveyed 32,000 working adults across Europe, including 1,600 in the UK, and found that those who struggled to fit in family life with long working hours reported poorer general health.

Women experiencing conflict between their work and personal lives were slightly more likely to suffer ill health than men.

The study, led by researchers from the University of Bielefeld in Germany, said this was due to the ongoing ‘unequal distribution’ of paid and unpaid work between men and women.

Women consistently spent more time on household and family duties, although men in general reported longer working hours.

Women are often under more pressure than men to combine work with care and household demands, especially in countries with poor welfare systems, it said.

Across the UK and Ireland, 19 per cent of men and 15 per cent of women said they had a poor worklife balance, a higher proportion than in most European countries.

The study, published in the journal BMC Public Health, found that those who said they had a bad work-life balance were twice as likely to report poor general health. Work-life conflict is linked to ‘ poor physical and mental health, and life dissatisfaction’.