Poor mental function tied to long work hours

Updated : Thursday April 2 , 2009 11:58:54 AM
ISLAMABAD: People who work beyond the standard 40-hour week may show a faster mental decline in middle-age.

Researchers from UK followed-up 2,214 middle-aged civil service participants for five years. At the beginning and end of the study period, employees completed five standard tests of cognitive function, Health News reported.

In general, it was found that workers who logged 55-plus hours per week scored lower on one test a vocabulary test at both the beginning and the end of the study.

They also showed a greater decline over time in a test of so-called fluid intelligence, which is related to a person's ability to reason and problem-solve.

Employees, who worked long hours tended to have higher stress levels, slept less and drank more than their counterparts who worked a standard week. However, that did not fully explain their lower cognitive-test performance.

Compared with men and women who worked 35 to 40 hours per week, those who worked 55 hours or more showed a greater decline in reasoning ability over five years.

It's not clear whether the long work hours themselves explain the difference. The researchers accounted for a number of other factors like workers' specific jobs, education and medical conditions like high blood pressure and heart disease.

Still there may be other, unmeasured factors that account for the association between long work hours and poorer cognitive function.