Worthy reasons why working overtime can be killing your physical and mental health

These days,  most businesses are battling with the concern of overtime and are paying a hefty price for all those extra hours worked by their employees.  Did you ever wonder to yourself whether or not you could totally rule out overtime from your life?  You certainly couldn’t!  Once you ask a wage & hour attorney,  you’ll get to know the various kinds of problems faced by employees who are not given their deserved overtime payments.

It can’t be denied that the damage of working overtime is irreversible.  In this post, we are going to discuss the pitfalls of working overtime and how it negatively impacts your work efficiency.

Is working overtime not good for you?

 Generally, we have an idea that working overtime adversely affects our work efficiency.  But how is that possible?  What are the actual effects of working overtime?

 It deteriorates your physical health

You wouldn’t ever require an expert to tell you how working overtime could adversely impact your health.  According to reports from the University of Columbia,  sitting even for a few extra hours in your office chair can be as harmful as smoking.  Employees who spend almost 13 hours ( instead of 11 hours)  sitting on their office chairs are more likely to succumb to premature death.  Long hours of sedentary work are also directly related to heart issues.

 Impact on your mental health

Just as all other muscles in your body,  your mind too needs to relax and take a rest after a tiring day.  When you work for more hours in a day,  you give more pressure on your mind.  You also give less time to your brain to relax.  What are the consequences?  Overstress has a drastic impact on your mental health.  more than 50% of employees who work overtime complain about suffering from overeating, depression, insomnia, or excessive drinking.

 Hampers your work and personal life balance

Research done at Cornell University highlights that employees who work for extra hours in their offices are 40% more likely to face issues in their married life.  Spending more hours in your office will mean giving less time to yourself and to your spouse.  Your family and your children don’t get the emotional support that they deserve from you.  This leads to marital conflicts which often end up in separation.

 Less job satisfaction and diminished productivity

You can’t forget the fact that work tends to expand to fill in your time. This doesn’t mean that giving long hours to your office will help you get more work done. What you actually end up doing is you fill that extended time with your usual work and this reduces your productivity.  Companies also don’t demand overtime from you as they have already realized that overtime decreases your productivity. 

Hence plan and prioritize your work in such a manner that you complete your tasks within the given working hours.  Learn to say ‘No’ to working overtime.  Be punctual about the entry and exit times.