# Working Hard Will Kill You!



## Packerjohn (May 17, 2021)

The deaths of about 745,000 people in 2016 were linked to long working hours, an increase of nearly 30 per cent from 2000
The WHO's Maria Neira said "working 55 hours or more per week is a serious health hazard"
Long hours are linked to a 35 per cent higher stroke risk
The joint study, produced by the WHO and the International Labour Organization, showed that most victims (72 per cent) were men and were middle-aged or older.
Now, I know why I'm still alive.  I retired at the age of 53.5 and have been smelling the flowers ever since.  The above facts might show why women live longer than men.  Women are more sociable and know that smelling flowers, reading books and traveling is more important than killing yourself working "like a dog."


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## hollydolly (May 17, 2021)

Packerjohn said:


> The deaths of about 745,000 people in 2016 were linked to long working hours, an increase of nearly 30 per cent from 2000
> The WHO's Maria Neira said "working 55 hours or more per week is a serious health hazard"
> Long hours are linked to a 35 per cent higher stroke risk
> The joint study, produced by the WHO and the International Labour Organization, showed that most victims (72 per cent) were men and were middle-aged or older.
> Now, I know why I'm still alive.  I retired at the age of 53.5 and have been smelling the flowers ever since.  The above facts might show why women live longer than men.  Women are more sociable and know that smelling flowers, reading books and traveling is more important than killing yourself working "like a dog."


My husband works up to 84 hours per week some weeks .. but an  average of 70,  hours most weeks,  including travel to a sedentary job ,

He is 61..Drinks and Vapes too much IMO.. and doesn't take exercise..I do worry about him

ETA..his job is very stressful...although his saving grace so far is that he personally is a very calm, laid back type of person....


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## Aunt Marg (May 17, 2021)

I believe it. From the standpoint of schedules, alarm clocks, under the watchful eye and scrutiny of others, the daily grind, I've never viewed working for someone else as being healthy.

On the flip-side, I believe staying active, even doing a little hard work (physical and for oneself) goes a long ways and goes to the good of ones health including longevity.

I've always sort of laughed inside when hubby and I run into people that boast that they're happy still working for someone at age 65, 70, 75 (whatever age), because A, I think to myself, why? Why are you working your life away, and B, I think to myself, for what and for who are you throwing your life away?

Good on you, Packer, for retiring early and embracing it!


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## Murrmurr (May 17, 2021)

I don't buy what Maria Neira said. It's gotta have more to do with the kind of work a person does. I'll bet a guy who sits at a desk for 40 hours a week is more apt to die young than a guy who does physical work for 100 hours a week.


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## Mr. Ed (May 17, 2021)

I heard being born eventually leads to death


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## Murrmurr (May 17, 2021)

Mr. Ed said:


> I heard being born eventually leads to death


Oh it's a death sentence alright.


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## Chet (May 17, 2021)

One man's work could be another man's passion. It's hard to generalize when it comes to work. The number of hours worked is not the only criteria. There's also shifts to consider. Try a 4X4 shift where you go in at 6 PM and get out at 6 AM for four days straight. I did it for a while and am glad to have it behind me.


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## hollydolly (May 17, 2021)

Chet said:


> One man's work could be another man's passion. It's hard to generalize when it comes to work. The number of hours worked is not the only criteria. There's also shifts to consider. Try a 4X4 shift where you go in at 6 PM and get out at 6 AM for four days straight. I did it for a while and am glad to have it behind me.


My husband goes in at* 6am.. and comes out at 8pm.*.. 5 or 6 days a week.....


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## Feelslikefar (May 17, 2021)

For 15+ years, I work at an Ethanol Plant on shifts that 'Flopped'.
For 2 weeks, we started at 8 a.m. and quit at 8 p.m.
For the next 2 weeks, we started at 8 p.m. and quit at 8 a.m.
The money was great, but a lot of people couldn't handle that flopping back and forth.

For a couple of years when I first moved to Nashville, I worked at a hospital where the shifts
consisted of:  One day on day shift (7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.), the next day was a swing shift (3:30 p.m. to 12 a.m.)
and next day, ( 11:00 p.m. to 7:30 a.m. )  Never really got used to that one!

The rest of my work life was pretty normal day shifts.  

Sleep, for me, is still something that only happens in 4-6 hour stretches. 
If I sleep for 8 or more hours, my wife is really worried something is wrong.


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## hollydolly (May 17, 2021)

Feelslikefar said:


> For 15+ years, I work at an Ethanol Plant on shifts that 'Flopped'.
> For 2 weeks, we started at 8 a.m. and quit at 8 p.m.
> For the next 2 weeks, we started at 8 p.m. and quit at 8 a.m.
> The money was great, but a lot of people couldn't handle that flopping back and forth.
> ...


pretty much all my adult life I worked shifts.. early morning..4am to around 3pm... depending on what was happening..and others weeks, starting at Mid-day until midnight.

My working life was 48 years long....in total


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## Aunt Bea (May 17, 2021)

I worked long and hard for thirty years.  

I stopped working at the age of fifty-one.

I figure that early retirement allowed me to average things out.  

My choice is to rust out!

_“We must all either wear out or rust out, every one of us. My choice is to wear out.”_ — Theodore Roosevelt


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## hollydolly (May 17, 2021)

Aunt Bea said:


> I worked long and hard for thirty years.
> 
> I stopped working at the age of fifty-one.
> 
> ...


I retired ..exhausted... at 63    
	

	
	
		
		

		
			





...3 years ago....and just last month I got the first of my state pension...


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## win231 (May 17, 2021)

I think it depends on whether you hate your job or like your job.
But I like the saying:  _"Hard work won't kill me.  But why take chances?"    _


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## Remy (May 17, 2021)

Every job I have had has been on my feet. I'm not retired yet. I do only work part time. With other things I've endured, I couldn't take my full time job anymore. Most every day I worked more than 8 hours. Sometimes on and sometimes off the clock. When I was worried about getting in trouble for overtime, I'd finish paperwork off the clock.

I don't know when I will be able to retire. The part time work I thought would give me some help having more time but I'm still stressed. My old stepfather causes me great stress and I worry they won't need me at work anymore. At this time, that doesn't seem to be the case. 

I also have to go over to work everyday to feed the 3 stray cats that have been there for years. Many people say they like the cats but I can't find anyone to reliably help me feed them. I worked this weekend and I was tired. I could have slept in more but when I wake up and I notice it's starting to get light, I know they are hungry and waiting, so I drive over and feed them. 

I'm really tired right now. I have to wait for my stepfather to call at 7 because he just has to every night and I hate it. Then I'm going to bed.


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## mellowyellow (May 17, 2021)

I think many people are in a job they hate and dread going into work the next day, like a man better suited to being a landscaper who is stuck behind a desk.  After a while, that must affect your health.


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## Gary O' (May 17, 2021)

I've been a workaholic
Two jobs most my working life
Eat it like candy

What did I do when I finally retired at 66?

Built cabins in the mountains





My grandson sez there's no quit in me

Can't

For me, not working is not living

Don't get me wrong, I don't fidget if I'm idle
I just think its a waste of opportunity

Work hard
Play hard
Sleep hard

I may go 'early' , but I've packed a couple/three lives into one so far

I don't worry much about dyin' when there's so much livin' to do


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## Paco Dennis (May 18, 2021)




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## JonDouglas (May 18, 2021)

Murrmurr said:


> I don't buy what Maria Neira said. It's gotta have more to do with the kind of work a person does. I'll bet a guy who sits at a desk for 40 hours a week is more apt to die young than a guy who does physical work for 100 hours a week.


Well, I think you'd be right on that.  I did some hard time as an operations research analyst (math stuff on big computers) for one of the world's largest insurance companies.  I remember digging into some of their mortality stats they shared with other insurance companies (i.e., actuarial data), and learning that the one of the shortest life expectancies was for desk-bound insurance executives.  Oh, the irony.


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## Aunt Marg (May 18, 2021)

mellowyellow said:


> I think many people are in a job they hate and dread going into work the next day, like a man better suited to being a landscaper who is stuck behind a desk.  After a while, that must affect your health.


Guaranteed.

I can't imagine having to set an alarm clock each night before bed and waking to it each morning, doing the morning mad-scramble thing... shower, breakfast, pack a lunch, then race off to be on time like a good little girl or good little boy for an employer that doesn't care less about your needs, just their own needs, and then to have to accept the fact that the pay one makes doesn't even begin to compensate one for the lost time and years they put in being a slave to someone else.

I'm glad I didn't have to enter the workforce, because I never would have made it. I like working for myself, it's the best job in the world, and when I tire of the regular ordinary mundane, I schedule my own time and days off to suit my needs, not someone else's, and I work at my own speed.

With that said, the comedy never ends related to the shear numbers of people hubby and I know who claim they loathe their jobs, yet they're driving a brand spanking new vehicle every 2-3 years, and talking about upgrading their homes into something bigger and better. I guess for those who failed to learn how to prioritize, being a slave to others runs in their blood, but as far as my husband is concerned, work is overrated.


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## fmdog44 (May 18, 2021)

Long hours and seven days per week versus 8-4 five days per week. We have a choice. I never liked working only five days but that was just me. Too much time off can be unhealthy if you are not energetic or an active person. I was always bored on my time off but that's my fault. Add to the fact if you are at work you are not out spending money. I loved working long hours 80-90 per week under the stress of getting completed assemblies to the Gulf of Mexico to maintain oil production. I am happy to say now I love retirement just as much.


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## horseless carriage (May 28, 2021)

hollydolly said:


> pretty much all my adult life I worked shifts.. early morning..4am to around 3pm... depending on what was happening..and others weeks, starting at Mid-day until midnight.
> 
> My working life was 48 years long....in total


If you include helping my grandmother in her fish & chip shop from the age of nine, then from eleven to fifteen a morning and evening paper round, whilst still helping granny. Then, after leaving school, I worked in the vineyards of France whilst at college. The long summer recesses coincided with the grape harvest. I didn't earn much there but I did come home speaking French, which was the object of the exercise. So up to the present day, I have been working for sixty-six years.

The reason that I work is because I enjoy my job. Work doesn't control me, far from it, my wife and I enjoy a wonderful social life, so much so that the lock down felt more like house arrest. Both of us working until my wife retired, and having no children and therefore, no grandchildren, we have been able to afford the use of professional home helps. A husband & wife team keep our garden in beautiful condition. Another helper is a lady that runs an ironing service, she collects the laundered washing and returns it all ironed and wrinkle free. Yet another domestic fairy goes to work on cleaning & polishing our home.

I can't see any difference between me working and being stimulated by the work that I do, than my wife losing herself in her cabin, making our clothes and our home's soft furnishings, other than I get a wage for the work that I do. Work not only stimulates it relieves boredom and probably staves off dementia, but I'm ignorant of the causes of dementia so I'm probably wrong. 

We both enjoy a reasonable pension, so when push finally comes to shove, I won't have to worry about making ends meet.


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## hollydolly (May 28, 2021)

Sadly H&C.. work doesn't stave off Dementia.... if that were the case then everyone who works wouldn't get it,  and people in the entertainment industry who often work from childhood to old age would never get it... ..however I hope your theory is right with regard to you and yours...


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## Paco Dennis (May 28, 2021)

I became a "Journeyman" in two fields. Installing and remodeling kitchens. Entertainment (playing electric guitar in bands). I started working when I was 15 working at Duncan Doughnuts. Then gas station attendant, electronic assembly, ran a power wash truck, major moving van warehouse supervisor, delivering books and magazines, helped build custom cabinets, had a home repair business, and finally a house cleaner. 
  I started house cleaning in 1984. At my prime I had two helpers and we would clean up to 4 houses from 8am-12am. Then we had the rest of the day to do what we wanted to. I threw in the towel at 60. My knees gave out and my right shoulder. That is the job I loved the most, but don't miss it.


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## Verisure (May 28, 2021)

Packerjohn said:


> Working Hard Will Kill You!​


I'm going to live to 150.


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## Nathan (May 28, 2021)




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## Jim W. (May 28, 2021)

Packerjohn said:


> The deaths of about 745,000 people in 2016 were linked to long working hours, an increase of nearly 30 per cent from 2000
> The WHO's Maria Neira said "working 55 hours or more per week is a serious health hazard"
> Long hours are linked to a 35 per cent higher stroke risk
> The joint study, produced by the WHO and the International Labour Organization, showed that most victims (72 per cent) were men and were middle-aged or older.
> Now, I know why I'm still alive.  I retired at the age of 53.5 and have been smelling the flowers ever since.  The above facts might show why women live longer than men.  Women are more sociable and know that smelling flowers, reading books and traveling is more important than killing yourself working "like a dog."


I retired in 2012 about 2½ months before I turned 55. 

I'm bored but I'm fairly healthy and very relaxed.


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## Knight (May 28, 2021)

I think the thread title is misleading. The article as presented doesn't mention working hard it's  linked to long working hours. Working long hours doing something you enjoy doing, I doubt was the intent of the writer.

Over my lifetime of jobs that I was able to quit & work at something different some of those I could work long hours and not feel that I was working hard. When I became bored & saw a better opportunity quitting something I enjoyed wasn't easy. But the challenge of succeeding at something different made the challenge worthwhile.

My last "job" was  a position in corporate structure unlike the previous blue collar "jobs" I had. When the opportunity to retire at age 54 surfaced with fantastic benefits I looked at retirement as another challenge.  Retirement has been relaxing & obviously the key to living longer.  My parents died before reaching 62 . My older brother at age 45, next at 61 & youngest at 61. Lifestyle played a major role, I saw what they were doing & did differently. I happy to be 80, in excellent health & looking forward to many more birthdays.


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## Mr. Ed (May 28, 2021)

I've worked part time all of my life while mostly attending college. I graduated from community college at age 56 and completed my Bachelor's degree in 2017 at age 62. Although I started late, I finished big. Will somebody wake me for the next show?


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## Ladybj (May 28, 2021)

Jim W. said:


> I retired in 2012 about 2½ months before I turned 55.
> 
> I'm bored but I'm fairly healthy and very relaxed.


Jim.. I think I was around the same age when I retired.  However, never a dull moment in my life but I would take that over having a 9 to 5 right about now.


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