Issue link: https://cp.revolio.com/i/1056056
Page 28 | Abby's Magazine - www.AbbysMag.com The Key: How Does Work 'Grip' You? Bryan Robinson, PhD, a psychologist in Asheville, NC, and author of the forthcoming book #Chill, says that workaholism is about "how it grips you and takes over your life and debilitates you." "The research is overwhelming," he says. "In my mind, there is no ques on that work addic on is a compulsive disorder. It kills people. In Japan, they have a name for it: karoshi. It means death from overwork. "A true workaholic gets high from the adrenaline and cor sol, and [without work,] they go through withdrawal," Robinson says. "We are talking about working to the extreme," he says. "It's not just when you are in the office. It's the inability to turn it off," such as thinking through a work problem while watching your kid's soccer game. "A workaholic is someone who is on the ski slopes dreaming about being back in the office. A healthy worker is someone in the office who dreams about being on the ski slopes," Robinson says. Working too much not only leads to health issues, he says, but rela onship problems. "It has the same undergirding dynamic as alcohol, food addic on, or compulsive gambling," says Robinson, who says he is a former workaholic. Many workaholics come from dysfunc onal homes, he says. O en, those who have come from such environments feel like they need to take charge of something to overcome the chaos, he says, and that becomes part of their personality. "Work becomes the coping mechanism," Robinson says. Healthy and Engaged Workaholics? Chris Scruggs, 67, of San Antonio, TX, a lawyer turned pastor, works long hours but says his health is fine. When he worked at a large law firm, he regularly logged 70-hour weeks. Now, his "re rement" career is serving as a pastor, and he usually works about 55 hours. "I don't work just for work's sake," he says. In his pastoral role, he needs to respond to needs such as unexpected funeral planning or other events that come up. He says he has natural high energy and he takes care of his health, exercises regularly, eats a healthy diet, and keeps a healthy weight. In both legal prac ce and being a pastor, he says, you are not in control of your me. Brian Weinberger, 61, an a orney in Agoura Hills, CA, agrees. In professions such as medicine and the law, "we have people's lives in our hands" and o en need to respond quickly to that need, whatever the hour of day. He logs 60 hours in a typical week. "I enjoy what I do, and I take it seriously," he says. He rates his health as fairly good, but he admits the stress some mes makes him dizzy. Not So Fast Another expert doesn't buy the idea that it's not the hours, it's all about mentality. In a published cri que of the study by Brummelhuis, Jeffrey Pfeffer, PhD, the Thomas D. Dee II professor of organiza onal behavior at Stanford University, pointed out what he sees as shortcomings of the research, such as studying only workers in the Netherlands, where employees tend to work fewer hours than in the U.S. and enjoy more vaca on me. "The idea that work hours, by themselves, are not consequen al for health seems problema c," writes Pfeffer, who wrote Dying for a Paycheck, a book about work and employee health. While work hours by themselves are not the single aspect that harms health, the effects of long work hours have been clear in many studies, he says. The Studies Several recent studies bu ress Pfeffer's points Among them: Diabetes risk: Pu ng in 45 or more hours a week raises the chance of having diabetes in women, but not men, according to researchers who tracked the health and work habits of more than 7,000 Canadians between ages 35 and 74 over 12 years. "Women who worked 45 or more hours a week had a 63% higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes over a 12-year period, compared to women working between 35 to 40," says Mahee Gilbert-Ouimet, PhD, a postdoctoral fellow at the Ins tute for Work and Health, Toronto, who led the study. They found no such link in the men studied, she says, and in fact, "we see the opposite trend, though it was not sta s cally significant." She can't explain the lack of a link in men but speculates that "women might work more hours when all the household chores and family responsibili es are taken into account. We did not have the data to verify that, but it's plausible." Another factor, she says, is that most of the men working longer hours tended to have more physically demanding jobs than women had, and the ac vity may have protected them from ge ng diabetes. The chronic stress of excess work hours may make it more likely to have abnormal hormones and raise insulin resistance, which can make diabetes more likely, Gilbert-Ouimet says. Abnormal heart rhythm: Workers pu ng in 55 hours or more a week, compared with 35 or 40, had a 1.4 mes greater chance of having an abnormal heart rhythm known as atrial fibrilla on, according to a study of more than 85,000 men and women in Denmark, Sweden, Finland, and the U.K. Having atrial fibrilla on raises the odds of having a stroke. The link held even a er researchers accounted for other things that make the illness more likely, such as age, sex, obesity, physical inac vity, smoking, and