Long Hours at Work May Lead to Dementia

1. VonSkippy
   February 25th, 2009 at 2:45 pm

   Another wonky study. Perhaps the British workers that put in 50+ hours on their job just stink at it, and therefore are already mentally deficient.

2. sullynick
   February 25th, 2009 at 3:27 pm

   What???
   I always knew there was something wrong with all this working crap.

3. Christophe
   February 25th, 2009 at 3:43 pm

   I was about to post something along VonSkippy lines...

4. faburobin
   February 25th, 2009 at 4:14 pm

   VonSkippy is right. Unless they tested the same workers 10 years ago and they all had equal scores, this study is baloney.

5. gyvrix
   February 25th, 2009 at 4:19 pm

   Everyone who is "exempt" from overtime should encourage this research to be continued. Finally we can have what FDR promised us over 50 years ago.

6. dooflotchie
   February 25th, 2009 at 4:33 pm

   All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.

   So dull he goes crazy hanging out with ghosts in the hotel and then he chops everyone up with an axe.

7. Sadie
   February 25th, 2009 at 4:38 pm

   That isn't even dementia. Dementia is impaired mental processes due to brain damage or injury. They should have said impaired mental functioning, but not dementia. Also, correlation doesn't imply causation. I think this deserves an emoticon on my part: =P

8. David Govett
   February 25th, 2009 at 5:42 pm

   Your parents were more right that they knew when they said, "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy."

9. violet
   February 25th, 2009 at 5:59 pm

   Well I'm not going to argue that this study is solid, but my personal opinion is that working monotonous jobs, doing the same thing over and over, to the exclusion of variety in life, getting enough time outdoors, in bed sleeping or not sleeping (wink), playing with your kids or writing that book or whatever--cannot be optimum for the human organism.

   I know people have to do what they have to do, but it does not strike me as implausible that spending ten hours a day shuffling papers would atrophy the brain and curb vitality a bit. At another time in history, a typical day might look something like: prepare food, dig in the earth, tell stories around a fire, build something, etc. That picture, I think, engages more of the full human being rather than denying certain parts of it, as the common modern lifestyle could be argued to do.

   This probably sounds kind of new agey, but whatever. Doing the same thing over and over, especially in a noncreative realm that doesn't have any direct personal meaning, for the majority of your waking life does not seem like the surest route to health and happiness.

10. konfetka
    February 25th, 2009 at 6:23 pm

    I want to know if this applies to all jobs across the board or just certain types. Office jobs? General labor? Doctors? Government? it's pretty vague.

11. Evilbeagle
    February 25th, 2009 at 7:35 pm

    I'd like to see solid evidence for this, and have it factor in things like job satisfaction and genetic disposition, blah blah blah, over the course of a decade or so, which someone mentioned.

    Either way, glad I'm a housewife.

12. Johnald
    February 25th, 2009 at 7:39 pm

    Conclusion :

    People that work that many hours in civil service jobs already were stupid.

13. Kathy
    February 25th, 2009 at 10:55 pm

    People who work long hours are more likely to be stressed. I wonder if the dementia is because of the cortisol.

14. Moodindigo
    February 26th, 2009 at 4:05 am

    I have worked as a Civil Servant in Britain and I would love to know where they are finding some who do that many hours. I struggled to fill half many hours a week.

15. Miss Cellania
    February 26th, 2009 at 8:40 am

    Too many hours at work affects your mental processes. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

16. Patrick Nice
    February 26th, 2009 at 10:58 am

    "But my worry is that in a recession people will actually work longer hours. There will be a culture of "presenteeism" - people will go to work even if they are ill because they want to show commitment, and make sure they are not the next to be made redundant."

    This is 100% the case where I work. Even though there is usually not 8 hours of work to do each day, everyone stays 12 hours or more each day purely for appearance.........

17. Jacki
    February 26th, 2009 at 3:09 pm

    Maybe there's a relationship with higher paying jobs, less work hours and the people who hold these positions versus the alternative...

18. delicious
    April 10th, 2009 at 12:37 am

    ...world of warcraft nerd...

19. Podflower
    April 18th, 2009 at 8:56 am

    Lol, I like the way the Finish had to use British people for the study! We are the only ones crazy enough to work 55 hours + weeks!

20. Eric Gates
    September 11th, 2009 at 11:17 am

    Or, could people who workk 55 hours per week be drinking to excesss to calm down, leading to Dementia?

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