Editorial

Getting away from work, being nice can improve health

Thursday, August 20, 2015

The traditional time for summer vacations is past, but Labor Day is approaching, and if you're lucky, a chance to get away from the day-to-day stress on the job.

That can be important for your health, according to a study published in The Lancet on Wednesday.

People who work 55 or more hours per week have a 33 percent increased risk of stroke and a 13 percent greater chance of developing coronary heart disease, compared to people who work the standard 35-40-hour work week.

It was another of those study-of-studies that have become more common lately, this one a study of 42 studies thousands of people from Europe, the United States and Australia. The results held steady even after demographic factors such as age, sex, socioeconomic states and health behaviors like smoking, alcohol consumption and physical activity.

Even a little overtime was bad news, according to the study -- 41 to 48 hours resulted in a 10 percent increased risk of stroke and 49 to 54 made it 27 percent more likely that you would have a stroke.

The researchers aren't sure why working longer is unhealthy, although it may contribute to other unhealthy activities such as drinking alcohol or sitting for hours at a time.

And while you're at work, it helps to have a good attitude, and work with people with the same temperament.

The University of Florida tracked 90 graduate business school students who were practicing negotiation techniques with classmates, and practiced with multiple partners over seven weeks.

The researchers found that people who rated their partner as rude were far more likely to be judged as rude themselves by a subsequent partner.

Rudeness rubs off, it seems.

And there's not much you can do about it, they found.

"What we found in this study is that the contagious effect is based on an automatic cognitive mechanism -- automatic means it happens somewhere in the subconscious part of your brain, so you don't know it's happening and can't do much to stop it," said Trevor Foulk, lead author.

Anything from snide remarks to ignoring a co-worker to snubbing someone or withholding information can create a toxic environment, Foulk said.

As we roll along into the fall and winter months, let's make a special effort to treat our co-workers with respect. If that doesn't help, let's just get away from the office as much as we can.

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