Workers being worked towards heart attacks

SO not only workers are loosing their jobs today and facing the worrying prospects of not being able to keep up their mortgage repayments and feeding their families but now a study has shown that we are working far too long and far too hard for you guessed it for less.

Workers who spend longer in the office could be at greater risk of heart disease, a study has found.
People who work an 11-hour day compared to those who work a standard seven or eight hours increase their risk of heart disease by 67%, according to researchers at UCL (University College London).

They said that the findings could be useful to GPs when calculating a patient's risk of heart disease alongside other indicators, such as blood pressure, diabetes and smoking.


This study might make us think twice about the old adage 'hard work won't kill you'

Professor Stephen Holgate, Medical Research Council

The research tracked 7,095 British civil servants aged between 39 and 62 for 11 years.

Over the course of the study, 192 participants suffered a heart attack.

Andrew Steptoe, British Heart Foundation Professor of Psychology at UCL, said: "Even if you take those factors into account, finding out how long people work adds to our understanding of heart disease.



Working long hours increased risk of heart attack, research found.



"This could be to do with stress, or it could be to do with other factors in peoples' lives - if you are spending 11 hours at work you are spending less time with the people you may love and like to be with.

"But we do know that work is associated with increases in stress hormones and various other biological changes which might themselves increase the risk of heart disease."

Professor Stephen Holgate, chairman of the Medical Research Council's (MRC) Population and Systems Medicine Board, said: "This study might make us think twice about the old adage 'hard work won't kill you'.

"Tackling lifestyles that are detrimental to health is a key area for the MRC, and this research reminds us that it's not just diet and exercise we need to think about."


So if you are one of the lucky ones remaining in employmemt during the time of these cuts start to bite you may wish to check with your doctor that you are healthy and doing well.

Workers conditions are slowly decreasing in this country as fewer jobs about and more is being asked of the reminaing workers. There is increased pressure on these workers to do more for less. I think trade unions should take heed of this and make a case again for a 35 hour week which we argue for as socialists . The capitalist greed has driven workers to have to work longer and longer as their boss's drive them forward in terms of production. All the capitalist boss's carea b out is deadlines and the next profit margins. SO lets think about the health and conditions of workers during these times of cutbacks as the workers who will remain will be in worsened conditions.