In today’s American society, a business executive can no longer work a normal forty hour work week. Now, most American business executives are “working 51 hours or more a week. . . this likely doesn’t include them doing e-mails at home, answering BlackBerrys at family events, etc.” (Staff). The adverse effects of working overly long work hours can be detrimental to both their mental and physical health. The thematic connection between two of the articles that are found in the stimulus material “A World Without Work” and “Long Working Hours and Cancer Risk: a Multi-Cohort Study” is that working can affect one’s health, whether it be beneficial or harmful. From this theme, the question “does being a business executive adversely affect an American’s …show more content…
Dictionary.com refers to stress as “physical, mental, or emotional strain or tension.” Many executives in the United States feel stressed on a daily basis, which brings adverse health effects. “A survey of more than 1,300 HR managers has found that 44% report that their level of stress has increased in the last six months” (Higginbottom). The physical effects of stress include “myocardial infarction, high blood pressure, ulcers, headache, neck and back pain, skin rashes and low resistance to infections” (Mental). The three most deadly effects from these are myocardial infarction, also known as a heart attack (Myocardial), high blood pressure, and ulcers. Ramona Fasula explains in her article that “the biggest killer . . . among executives, accounting for over 60% of Medicare costs and death is heart attacks.” The CDC states that “high blood pressure was a primary or contributing cause of death for more than 410,000 Americans.” The NCBI mentions in their article that “Peptic ulcer was the primary cause of death in 6,700 subjects per year.” These harmful health problems are on the rise, causing for more business executives in the United States to have their health adversely affected. Along with physical illness’, businessmen and women at managerial positions are becoming more susceptible to mental complications. Long work hours can also adversely affect a woman’s …show more content…
J.M. Harrington states that with extended working hours, “rapid eye movement (REM) sleep and stage 2 sleep have been shown to be reduced.” REM sleep is important because “if your REM sleep is disrupted even one night, your body won’t follow its normal circadian sleep cycle (“inner clock”) progression”(Azumio). This disturbance of sleep can cause one to be drowsy the next day at work, causing their productivity to lessen. Ann Pietrangelo of Healthline.com states that “Chronic sleep deprivation can interfere with balance, coordination, and decision-making abilities.” She also states that other risks associated with sleep deprivation are paranoia, impulsive behavior, depression, and suicidal thoughts. Matt McMillen of CNN states in his article that “workers who put in an average of at least 11 hours per day at the office had roughly two and a half times higher odds of developing depression than their colleagues who clocked out after seven or eight hours.” Depression can be a life-threatening mental illness to have. The CDC explains in their article that in 2016, depression was the main cause of death for 42,773 people. Since depression is an effect of long work hours that cause a lack of sleep, such as those of a business executive, this can cause harm to many Americans that are in a managerial position. Pietrangelo also states that “lack of sleep can trigger mania in people who have manic depression.”
Marks, L. (2006). The Loss of Leisure in a Culture of Overwork. Spirit of Change Magazine.
Previous generations have a strong belief of keeping work and home life separate; that work is for work and home is for play (Rampell, 2011, para 21). Today’s professionals do not seem to abide by similar beliefs, constantly crossing the borders of one into the other. While many recognize this as an issue that could result in employees being less productive, it has actually resulted in them accepting that their work may run late into the evening or even into the weekend. I agree with this completely in that I grew up being taught that business is business and personal is personal; you leave your home life at the door. But now times have changed, and my weekends are no longer dedicated to my home life, but for work, because I attend classes during the week. Also, in my line of work in the Allied Health industry, it is a requirement to work off hours. Long gone are the days of working nine to five, Monday through Friday; technology and the demand of wanting affairs done and done as soon as possible, has made it so the “work week” is now 24-7. “Jon Della Volpe, the director of polling at Harvard Institute of Politics, said, ‘Some experts also believe that today’s young people are better at quickly switching from one task to another, given their exposure to so many stimuli during their childhood and adolescence’” (Rampbell,
“In the last twenty years the amount of time Americans have spent at their jobs has risen steadily. Each year the change is small, amounting to about nine hours, or slightly more than one additional day of work (Schor, 1). Juliet B. Schor’s The Overworked American: The Unexpected Decline of Leisure explores the decline of leisure time in American professionals and laborers as a result of an increase in working time. In comparison to our European counterparts, American workers are now working close to 320 more hours yearly. Schor highlights the fact that American workers are choosing to work multiple jobs contributing to less leisure time due to longer working hours. In conclusion the book depicts the idea that the materialistic nature of Americans results in them choosing to work more so that they can spend more.
The same article showed other factors that play into the overworked life of an average American, and one of them is the 67% increase in cost of living since 1990(Gilson). Or, the fact that one’s annual salary at minimum wage is merely $15,080. In addition to that, one must have a $30,000 income in order to say that they genuinely have econmic security. So, maybe this is the reason why Americans find themselves having to work longer hours and having to work harder. It is because our economy is relentless, and in order to make a living, things like vacation and days off have to sometimes be put on ho...
Over the last several years, the United States has experienced the emergence of countless lifestyle based illnesses. We have seen an increase of inactivity, poor nutrition, an increase of tobacco use, and more frequent alcohol consumption; Americans are living unhealthy lifestyles that are surely factors contributing to the pervasiveness of chronic diseases. Chronic diseases use to be seen as problems that older generations faced, but over the past several years the United States’ working age group has become a main target. For example, Americans are experiencing higher rates of diabetes, and heart disease. Conditions like these only lead to a diminished quality of life, could possibly lead to shorter life spans, disability, and quite possibly in the long run increased health care costs. Businesses are also impacted by an employees lifestyle decisions; absenteeism and presenteeism.
Preidt, Robert. "Risk of Depression May Rise With Too Much or Too Little Sleep." US News. U.S.News & World Report, 5 Feb. 2014. Web.
Harrington, J. M. (2001). Health Effects of Shift Work and Extended Hours of Work. OEM Education. Retrieved on December 3, 2013, from http://oem.bmj.com/content/58/1/68.full. doi: 10.1136.oem.58.1.68
Working excessive hours is counterproductive to both employees and employers. Firms suffer as quality, innovation, and output fall because of overworked employees. Negative effects of overwork include impacts to productivity, interpersonal relations, judgments, task prioritization, and employee retention which impact firm’s bottom line. Studies also show negative impacts of working past human constraints manifest as health issues impacting output or causing employees to miss work because of sickness. Working more does not equate to greater production failing to achieve the goal of both employees and
The authors and scientists from a different study by the U.S National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health on long and short-term sleep deprivation state directly that “in certain jobs, people face sleep restriction. Some professions such as health care… require working at night. In such fields, the effect of acute total sleep deprivation (SD) on performance is crucial” (Alhola & Polo-Kantola, Sleep deprivation: Impact on cognitive performance). Depending on their schedule, nurses can often be susceptible to sleep deprivation and are no exception, especially if they are working long hours. The study performed research on how acute and chronic sleep deprivation can affect the brain and how it can slow down or worsen thought process and rationality throughout the day for working adults. The authors also explain that “motor function, rhythm, receptive and expressive speech, and memory ...deteriorated after one night of SD.” (Alhola and Polo-Kantola, Sleep deprivation: Impact on cognitive performance) Although everybody is affected by a lack of sleep differently, some might have the ability to handle it a lot better than others, but it is fair to say that no one can perform their jobs perfectly if their brains are being affected by sleep deprivation. This organization concludes this study by explaining that there is still much research that needs to be
Dr. Steven Feinsilver, the director of the Center for Sleep Medicine at Icahn School of Medicine in New York City, described the mental effects of sleep deprivation as causing "tremendous emotional problems" and that it has been used for torture (Mann, Jeff). The director of the Unit for Experimental Psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania, psychology professor David Dinges, said that people who are not getting enough sleep can receive physical and mental damages. This has been shown in many research results over the past years. Meanwhile, he also has a similar opinion to Dr. Feinsilver: depriving one's sleep on purpose is very inhumane, considering the serious emotional damage of sleep deprivation. Research shows that while being sleep deprived our brain does not function and cognize correctly. It can be hard for people with a lack of sleep to recognize other people's emotions, which might cause many unnecessary problems such as arguments and misunderstandings that could affect people's social relationships. People in a condition of lack of sleep don't show a positive look on their faces, either. They may also make mistakes in recognizing other people’s facial expressions. Other people's neutral face may seem negative to a sleep deprived person while their happy face may seem neutral (“Sleep and Mood”, Mann, Jeff, Miller Sarah G. , “What Are Sleep
Research indicates that long working hours contribute largely to stress and stress related diseases. Currently, employees are being put on pressure by the organization in order to achieve the set goals. Nevertheless, the employees are willing to work for longer hours in order to earn more money to satisfy their increasing needs (Gullotta et al., 2003:23). On the other hand, the organizations have been compelling their subordinates to work for longer hours as a way of punishment or increasing the possibility of achieving the set goals within the stipulated time. This aspect has increased the number of depressed people in the population. With many people being unaware of how to deal with depression, they are turning to smoking. As a result, long working hours have been associated with smoking behaviors (Burke & Cooper 2008:46). The most affected people are the young people. This behavior has increased the number of people suffering from cancer and other respiratory related diseases in the world. In addition, it has increased the number of people suffering from heart and lung diseases.
It is very important to understand sleep to then understand the effects of shift work and to understand how to increase safety. There is very little knowledge about why we need a normal sleep cycle that include sleeping at night, but even less is known about the sleep cycles of those who try to sleep during the day and go to work during the long night. All the studies are not clear about what is the correct amount of sleep is actually required for a healthy lifestyle. As you look there the research there are result that show long natural sleepers and short sleepers have increase in mortality stats.
Swaminathan, Nikhil. "Can a Lack of Sleep Cause Psychiatric Disorders?" Scientific American. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 May 2016.
Sleep is a very important factor in the human function. Our body and brain is able to reset itself and rejuvenate while we sleep. When we do not get the required amount of sleep, we start to feel lethargic and foggy minded, because our mind and body wasn’t able to replenish itself. Sleep is imperative that an insignificant rest deficiency or lack of sleep can affect our ability to remember things; decisions and can affect our temperament. Chronic sleep deficiency can get the body to feel agitated and it could lead to serious health problems such as, heart problems, stress, acne, and obesity.
Since people are always dealing with certain changes in their lives, they are always dealing with some type of stress. One of the biggest growing issues with stress is stress in the workplace. According to Northwestern National Life, one-fourth of employees view their jobs as the number one stressor in their lives (“Stress at Work,” 1999).... ... middle of paper ...