It's official: working late is bad for you. According to a new study, working just one or two hours extra a day could increase your chance of having a stroke.
Data on more than 500,000 men and women from the Europe, the US and Australia showed that the longer you worked each day, the more at risk you were from a heart attack or stroke.
Compared to those working a typical 35 to 40-hour week, workers were 10% more likely to suffer from a stroke if they worked 41 to 48 hours a week. Working 55 or more hours a week raised the risk of a stroke by a third, plus a 13% increase in the risk of developing heart disease, according to a study published in the Evening Standard.
Professor Mika Kivimaki, from UCL said that health professionals (who work long shifts) in particular should be aware that: "Working long hours is associated with a significantly increased risk of stroke, and perhaps also coronary heart disease."
So why does working such long hours lead to such shocking health risks? Quite on obvious one really - stress. If you're working long hours, you're more likely to be finding work stressful, plus you're missing out on valuable down time to do activities like sleeping, exercise and preparing healthy meals.
Dr Shanim Quadir of The Stroke Association said: "Working long hours involves sitting for long periods, experiencing stress, and leads to less time to look after yourself."
So slogging your guts out may gain you a promotion or brownie points from your boss, but you could be risking your health. Which leads us nicely to our recent feature - should we bring back the 9-5?