Share:
Heartache caused by workload Frequent overtime leads to atrial fibrillation
In today's society, many people often work overtime or generally work very long. These long working hours not only have a negative impact on your social life, but also on the health of your heart. Researchers now found that working more than 55 hours a week leads to a 40 percent chance of developing an irregular heartbeat. In addition, for example, increases the risk of suffering a stroke.
Researchers at University College London found that working longer than 55 hours per week makes sufferers more likely to have strokes and more often develop atrial fibrillation. The experts published the results of their study in the medical journal "European Heart Journal".
Long working hours can lead to health problems. Researchers have now found that working hours over 55 hours in those affected cause them to suffer more strokes and more often develop atrial fibrillation. (Image: Rido / fotolia.com) What is atrial fibrillation?
Normally, the natural electrical impulses regulate the rhythm of the human heart. In atrial fibrillation, the coordination of these electrical impulses is no longer correct. Sufferers often develop a feeling that their heartbeat is beating irregularly or very fast. In addition, breathlessness and dizziness may occur, the researchers explain further.
People should have their pulse checked
However, there are also people with atrial fibrillation, in which no symptoms occur at all. Because of this, the British Heart Foundation is encouraging people to have their pulse checked more frequently. So a doctor can determine if the pulse is regular. It is important to diagnose atrial fibrillation because the disease quintuples the likelihood of stroke, the researchers explain. However, blood thinning treatments can significantly reduce this risk.
For the study, data from 85,494 participants were analyzed
The research team headed by Professor Mika Kivimaki from the Department of Epidemiology at University College in London analyzed the data of the work patterns of a total of 85,494 participants for his study. Subjects were middle-aged men and women from the UK, Denmark, Sweden and Finland.
Increased rate of atrial fibrillation in people with more than 55 hours of work per week
The participants were divided into different groups according to their work patterns. The group with a working time of 35 to 40 hours per week was considered the control group. None of the subjects suffered from atrial fibrillation at the beginning of the study. After medical surveillance over a ten-year period, 12.4 out of every 1,000 people developed atrial fibrillation on average, say the authors. For the group with working hours over 55 hours, the figure was 17.6 cases per 1,000 people.
What effects do long working hours have on people??
The people who had the longest working hours were more often overweight, had a higher blood pressure, moreover, the people smoked more and drank more alcohol. But even after taking these factors into account, the team's conclusions about the impact of longer working hours persisted, say the experts.
Change of work patterns could not be considered
However, there were also some limitations in the work of the scientists. The researchers interviewed the participants only at the beginning of the study about their working hours. So a change in working patterns over the course of ten years could not be taken into account. In addition, the physicians were also unable to determine if certain types of jobs were at increased risk for atrial fibrillation.
Increased risk is no reason to worry for healthy individuals
For healthy people, the risk of atrial fibrillation is very low. A 1.4-fold increase in this risk through long working hours therefore does not change the situation significantly, explain the physicians. Also, other factors such as obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure and smoking are associated with the risk of atrial fibrillation and these factors should therefore also be kept in mind. (As)