Study reveals the impact of rigorous work schedules on health

A brand new study finds that overwhelming and demanding work schedules will be harmful to people’s physical and mental health in the future, and this negative effect disproportionately harms the Black community.

A study by Professor Wen-Jui Han of New York University’s Silver School of Social Work, published in the scientific journal PLOS One, examines the significant impact of employment on health. The study examined how work schedules throughout one’s profession may impact health through age 50. Han emphasizes that usually working late at night can have harmful effects on health.

According to Han, “employment plays a key role in our health by examining how employment patterns over the working life, based on work schedules, can shape our health in our 50s.”

Tests analyzed data collected from Americans aged 22 to 49. They included data on their sleeping habits, work schedules and overall health. The findings show that folks with “stable” employment patterns are likely to have higher health and sleep schedules.

Han stated, “Our current job makes us sick and poor. Work is supposed to allow us to accumulate resources. However, for many people, work does not allow this. They become more and more unhappy as time goes on.”

The study cited the impact of difficult working conditions on the health of people of different socio-economic status. The data was balanced against personal aspects reminiscent of race, ethnicity, gender, education, immigration status and geographic location.

The impact of stress to introduce that a difficult work schedule can accumulate in the human body over time. Those who work usually and consistently throughout the day before switching to a more “variable” schedule later in life are likely to have poor health outcomes.

The professor continued to list effects reminiscent of “depression, anxiety, obesity and a higher risk of stroke.”

This effect is seen more often in Black Americans because they usually tend to must “work night shifts, have irregular schedules, and sleep less than other groups…”

Han continued to say that it’s unlucky that such widespread negative effects result from something that folks must do almost daily to sustain themselves.

He said: “Work, which is supposed to provide resources to help us maintain decent lives, is now making healthy lives harder due to increasing uncertainty in the organization of work in this increasingly unequal society. People in vulnerable social positions (e.g., women, blacks, people with low education) disproportionately bear these health consequences.”