Working Overtime Risks Woman to diabetes

According to new research, it is suggested that those who work for 45 hours or more within one week have a higher probability of developing type 2 diabetes as compared to those women who clock 35 to 40 hours a week.

Dilemma on why women are affected and not men

The study authors are still not sure why working for extra time may boost the risk of developing diabetes, or why this has to happen only to women but not men. Though, they suspect that it has something to do with the unpaid work which most ladies do at home as they mostly engage in house chores as compared to men.

The study’s lead author, Peter Smith-a senior scientist at the Institute for Work and Health in Toronto noted that there is a great role played by the work environment in the risk of type 2 diabetes among other chronic diseases. It is not healthy to work for long hours.

“By looking at the time which people spend outside of work, you will realize that women do more care of household and more routine housework as compared to men. Watching television and exercising are the only things that women do not engage in a lot,” added Smith.

There are a lot of increases in type 2 diabetes cases, which have been reported. By the year 2030, it is estimated that about 439 million people worldwide will be suffering from the disease. And this will be an increment of 50 percent from the year 2010; this is according to the researcher.

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Heart disease and stroke

It was also noted by the study team that for the chronic diseases such as heart disease and stroke, diabetes is still the major risk factor.

Other known factors for type 2 diabetes are obesity and sedentary lifestyle, but according to American Diabetes Association, genetic also play a role.

Above 7000 working adults from Ontario, Canada and whose ages were ranging between 35 to 74 years old were included in the current study. They were followed for a period of almost 12 years and during the study, out of every ten people, one developed diabetes.

Factors that were accounted for by the researchers were parenthood, marital status, age, lifestyle, ethnicity, residence, smoking, weight, and any other chronic health conditions. The additional factors that were considered by the researchers included a number of weeks in which one has to work within one year, shift work and whether a job was sedentary or active.

There was no statistically significant link found by the study between work hours for men and developing type 2 diabetes.

The study found out those women who were working for 45 hours and above were associated with at least 50 percent increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

It should be noted that the study was not designed to prove a cause and effect of diabetes. It could only show an association between diabetes and long work hours.