Dangers of working 70 hours a week

If you are working 60 to 70 hours a week and it feels like your body is ageing faster than the calendar is ticking, then it is not just your imagination. Working excessively long hours not only deprives you of your evenings and weekends but also brings about a series of biological changes that resemble those that happen during ageing: inflammation, metabolic strain, poor sleep, and even cellular-level changes. 

Why do long hours age you?

Work stress is not just a mental problem; it is also physical. Working long hours regularly increases your "allostatic load," which is the cumulative damage resulting from repeated stress responses. A repeatedly heightened stress response flattens the normal cortisol rhythm and increases low-grade inflammation (consider higher CRP, IL-6), which are key factors in ageing and chronic disease. After several months and years, this manifests as higher blood pressure, worse cholesterol, insulin resistance, and a greater risk of heart disease and stroke.

Cellular evidence: your cells notice

There’s growing research linking disrupted sleep and shift-work patterns to shorter telomeres and other molecular signs of ageing — in short, your cells can show “older” markers after prolonged circadian disruption. So late nights and chronic sleep debt don’t just make you tired — they may speed cellular ageing processes.

Metabolism, weight and the slow burn

Long hours also drive behaviours that contribute to poor metabolic health, such as missing meals or binge eating, reduced physical activity, increased sitting, and poor sleep. These behaviours increase the risk of developing metabolic syndrome (a group of high blood pressure, high blood sugar, high lipids, and high waist circumference), which itself accelerates vascular ageing. The data from shift work provides us with a clear example of how work schedules and metabolism interact.

Why this matters now

WHO and ILO analyses show that working long hours (≥55 hrs/week) is linked to a higher risk of stroke and ischemic heart disease and is responsible for a substantial number of premature deaths worldwide. This isn’t fear-mongering; it’s population-level evidence that repeated overwork shortens lives.

Long hours also drive the behaviours that contribute to poor metabolic health: missing meals or binge eating, reduced physical activity, increased sitting, and poor sleep. These behaviours increase the risk of developing metabolic syndrome (a group of high blood pressure, high blood sugar, poor lipids, and increased waist circumference), which itself drives vascular ageing. 

What you can do

•If you want to balance your hormonal cycle, then sticking to a consistent seven to eight hours of sleep/wake cycles can have fantastic effects on you. Consistency such as this will reset hormonal cycles and cut down on inflammation.
•Split up sitting as well as set a move every 45- 60 minutes reminder. You can enhance the glucose sensitivity and lessen the harmful effects of excessive sitting just by walking for 5 minutes.
•Tailor your portions to include more protein and fibre so as to prevent sugar highs and late-night snacking that worsen insulin resistance. Eat small portions but regularly.
•Ten-minute stress resets daily. Practicing breathing, taking a brisk walk, or a mindfulness break will lower cortisol and reduce inflammation.
•Recovery weeks should be scheduled as part of your plan. After a 60-70 hour work week, plan on at least one lighter week out of the following four to six weeks so that your body can recover from the stress incurred during that week.
•Some blood tests may help identify potential health problems before other more serious symptoms appear. These include blood pressure, fasting glucose/HbA1c level, lipid levels in the blood, liver enzyme levels in the blood, and waist circumference.

(The writer is lead consultant – endocrinology & diabetology at a Bengaluru hospital.)