Working a 40-hour week raises women’s risk of getting cancer

WORKING women who put in long hours are far more likely to suffer severe illness later in life, experts have warned. Those who have worked for more than 40 hours a week over three decades have a 50 per cent increased chance of developing cancer, diabetes and arthritis, according to a major study.

But the same does not apply to men, suggesting the effects of juggling a job with family and other responsibilities take a far heavier toll on women.

Women who work too hard when they are young are storing up problems which hit them later in life, health experts claimed last night.

And the risk goes up with the number of hours women work. Those who consistently work more than 50 hours a week are 100 per cent more likely to suffer cancer and arthritis, and have a 68 per cent increased risk of developing heart disease. While those who work more than 60 hours a week are nearly 200 per cent more likely to suffer arthritis and cancer, and 66 per cent more likely to develop asthma.

The study found men who worked more than 40 hours a week actually had a lower rate of depression, heart and lung disease – although these rates did begin to rise if they worked more than 50 hours.

Researchers at Ohio State University tracked more than 7,500 people for their study, which was published in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine.

They found that the risk begins to climb when women put in more than 40 hours, then takes a turn for the worse for those working more than 50 hours.

Researcher Professor Allard Dembe said: ‘Women who juggle multiple roles feel the effects of intensive work experiences, and that can set the table for a variety of illnesses and disability.’

He added: ‘People don’t think that much about how their early work experiences affect them down the road. But women in their 20s, 30s and 40s are setting themselves up for problems later in life.’ Men with tough work schedules appeared to fare much better, the researchers found.

They said this was because women tend to take on the lion’s share of family responsibility and may face more pressure than men when they work long hours. In addition, work for women may be less satisfying because of the need to balance it with family obligations, Professor Dembe claimed.

He called for workplaces to offer more flexible hours, along with medical screening and support, to reduce the impact people’s jobs can have on their health. Previous research has shown that workers who put in longer hours face more stress, and have more sleep troubles and digestive problems. Their work performance suffers and they also have more injuries on the job.

The academics used data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, which tracked people born between 1957 and 1964.

They examined the health and work data for men and women who had worked for 32 years – and claimed their findings could help doctors ‘catch diseases early’.

WOMEN who diet for only two days every week could reduce their risk of breast cancer, experts have claimed.

Scientists believe the so- called 5:2 diet can lead to cancer-preventing ‘stabilisations’ in the breast tissue. Lead researcher Dr Michelle Harvie, of charity Genesis, explained the diet means breast cells are regularly starved of sugar, which may result in them dividing less frequently – reducing the risk of them turning cancerous.

However Eluned Hughes, of the charity Breast Cancer Now, said the study – which was published in the journal Breast Cancer Research – was still far ‘too small’ to allow experts to recommend the diet.

‘Setting themselves up for problems’