These 10 Things Will reflect how Overworking Can Kill You Slowly And Not So Softly

Hey y’all, do you remember that episode of F.R.I.E.N.D.S where in a parallel universe our sweet goofy Phoebe Buffay turns into an uptight, workaholic Wall Street tycoon?

If you remember Phoebe in her badass power-suit, you’d also happen to remember that she literally worked herself to her deathbed and had a stroke in her late 30s.

Well, folks, this is just one example of how deadly and real the side-effects of overworking can be. We live in such a fast-paced world where we tend to the needs of our office over our health. Not realising that overworking can actually cost us the quality of our life. No, we’re not kidding or exaggerating, overworking can actually be lethal, infact, there’s a Japanese term ‘Karoshi’ which literally translates to “Death by work”.

Don’t believe us? Here are a few ways in which overworking is killing you softly and changing your body for the worst:

1. Working for over 45 hours a week may increase the risk of diabetes in women.

According to a Canadian study, clocking in more than 7 to 8 hours a day puts working women at a 63% higher risk of being diabetic.

This study was conducted over a period of 12 years between over 7,000 people between the ages of 35 to 75 years.

2. If you’re overworked, chances are that you might be undersexed. They’re at a chance of having a lower Libido.

According to Bustle, if you’re noticing a decrease in sex drive, it could have something to do with the fact that you’re overworking yourself to exhaustion to a level where you’re way too tired to have the energy to perform. You might not be getting laid off but you aren’t getting laid either.

3. Longer work hours have been linked to “hidden” blood pressure problems.

It is no news that overworking yourself causes stress and stress is the biggest arch-nemesis of blood pressure. But have you ever heard of a condition called masked hypertension? Well, unlike traditional BP issues, this one is hard to diagnose and treat. Well if you’re working for more than 49 hours a week, you’re at a 70% risk of developing this condition.

4. If you don’t take regular breaks, your heart is prone to skip a few beats, in a bad, irregular heartbeat way.

A state of mental, physical and emotional exhaustion is termed as a “burnout”. And if you try to shoo this feeling away by putting in extra hours of work, instead of listening to your body, studies show that it’ll have an effect on your cardiovascular health. In the sense that it can lead to irregular heartbeats.

5. When you’re overworked, you usually ignore your hunger and focus on your work. When you do that you’re basically unconsciously starving your body of all the nutrients.

I don’t know if this has ever happened to y’all but there are times when I forget to have lunch when I’m on a deadline and I literally survive on coffee. While most of you might skip lunch to save time, you can also develop a loss of appetite when you’re body is overworked.

6. Overworked people are at a higher risk of getting insomnia.

According to Media News Today, overworking can majorly reduce your sleep quality. Not only that, but people who bring their work and office baggage home also find it extremely difficult to unplug from office stressors. People who Fare unable to shut out their working brain, report more cases of insomnia.

7. Frequently working extra hours takes a toll on your reproductive health by causing a major hormonal imbalance for both men and women.

Keeping the external stressors in mind, extra working hours have been found to lower testosterone levels in men, which degrades the quality of semen produced. Whereas, women missing or skipping their periods is a sign of an overworked body and excessive stress.

8. Overworking actually hampers your productivity and your innovative thinking abilities.

According to Forbes, people who are busy tend to work quickly to get more work and they confuse this for work efficiency. And if overworkers miss a deadline, they will try to overcompensate for it as much as possible which results in lack of time for them to realize their innovative potential.

9. Working long hours is directly linked to increased stroke risk.

It is not a sudden moment of realisation that people who overwork and take on the additional stress are more prone to facing adverse cardiovascular diseases like strokes and heart attacks in the future. But this study defines long working hours as a minimum of 10 hours daily for at least 50 days per year. Yup, if you’re clocking in those many hours, you’re prone to getting a stroke in the near future.

10. Working too much can cost you the luscious hair on your head.

According to New York Post a study claims that working longer hours can double your chances of going bald. The study further revealed that men who work for more than 52 hours a week lost their hair twice as fast as those who were clocking in only 40 hours. They further explained that this could have a direct relation to anxiety and how it triggers the end of the active hair-growth cycle.

Well, I think it’s high time that we start listening to the signs that our body is giving and stop treating it like a machine before it’s too late. Maybe trying to maintain a work-life balance will help.

BRB, applying for a chutti to de-stress from the trauma of being overworked.

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