Workaholism is detrimental to your physical and mental well-being, reveals a study

A study reveals that being a workaholic takes its toll on people both in the physical and mental sense. Yet the unfortunate part is that most of them who do work more than necessary know that it isn’t healthy yet are unable to stop it as it has become a habit.

Sarah Asebedo, a doctoral student at Kansas University, explains her findings in a statement, which read, “We found workaholics — defined by those working more than 50 hours per week — were more likely to have reduced physical well-being, measured by skipped meals. Also, we found that workaholism was associated with reduced mental well-being as measured by a self-reported depression score.”

The reason attributed to this “habit” can be traced to a theory called the Allocation of Time, where the individual views “the cost of time as a market good”. In fact, the more money one makes by working, the more likely they are to work longer hours. To them, the cost of not working becomes greater the longer they don’t spend their time at work.

This habit of workaholism has been in the news recently, thanks to the death of a 21-year old intern at the Bank of America who worked for three nights continuously and succumbed to a seizure.

If that’s not enough, Forbes has reported that workaholism can result in heart disease, anxiety and insomnia. But despite these warning, many of them cannot break out of this pattern.

Sarah also puts it well in saying that some of them might not like what they are doing and might want to change but yet from a financial standpoint do not know how to do so.