If you often find yourself working late, it could be bad news for your waistline as well as your stress levels.<\/p>\n
People are more likely to be obese when they work long hours, according to research that has prompted some experts to call for Britain to consider a four-day week for health reasons.<\/p>\n
Scientists said long days meant \u201ctime poor\u201d staff relied on unhealthy convenience food, were left with fewer opportunities to exercise, and had higher levels of cortisol, the stress hormone, which increased fat storage.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Pradeepa Korale-Gedara of the University of Queensland in Australia, the study\u2019s author, said a four-day week could be considered as a result of the findings.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She said obesity cannot be addressed solely through nutritional factors. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe need to change the food environment and working conditions,\u201d Korale-Gedara said. \u201cWhen people have a more balanced life, they have a better life. They have less stress, they can focus on more nutritious food and engage in more physical activities.\u201d<\/p>\n
The research, published at the European Congress on Obesity in Istanbul, examined data from 33 countries working with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, including the UK, and compared average working hours with obesity rates.<\/p>\n
Every 1 per cent reduction in working hours was associated with a 0.16 per cent decrease in obesity rates at a population level. Cutting working hours by 20 per cent by switching to a four-day week could result in a 3 per cent fall in obesity rates, the data suggests. If applied to England, where 13.5 million are obese, this would result in over 400,000 fewer obese adults.<\/p>\n
The study found nations with the highest rates of obesity, including the US and Mexico, also had the longest working hours. Others, such as the Netherlands<\/a> and Nordic countries, had low obesity and low working hours.\u00a0<\/p>\n Of the 33 countries, the UK was ninth for obesity rates but 24th in terms of working hours. The average adult works 1,505 hours a year in the UK, compared with 1,811 in the US.<\/p>\n Korale-Gedara said: \u201cThere are many ways that working hours could promote obesity besides convenience foods, which are obviously significant \u2014 for example, long hours could promote the stress hormone cortisol, which is associated with weight gain.\u201d Other factors were \u201cthe associated lack of exercise\u201d and \u201clack of time to engage in meal planning\u201d, she added.<\/p>\n There is a growing movement in the UK towards a four-day week, with proponents insisting productivity can be maintained<\/a> and it will have wider health and societal benefits. Angela Rayner<\/a> has previously expressed some support for the concept.<\/p>\n Office for National Statistics data shows more than 200,000 workers have switched to a four-day week since the Covid-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n Rita Fontinha, of the World of Work Institute at the University of Reading, said a four-day week could \u201ccontribute to healthier societies\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cWe know that obesity is related to lower incomes but it is also related to something called time poverty,\u201d she said. \u201cIf you work two jobs or long hours, you simply do not have the energy to cook and it becomes easier to just buy something packaged or processed.\u201d<\/p>\n James Reeves, campaign manager of the 4 Day Week Foundation, said: \u201cA four-day week on full pay could slash Britain\u2019s obesity levels by giving millions the time they need to ditch bad habits and make healthier choices.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s essential that local and national government seriously consider the role that a shorter working week can play in improving the health of our communities. The nine to five, five-day working week is 100 years old and we\u2019re long overdue an update.\u201d<\/p>\n However, Christopher Snowdon, of the Institute of Economic Affairs, said: \u201cThe UK is among the ten countries in this study with the lowest working hours and yet has one of the higher obesity rates, so the idea that a four-day week would make [us] slimmer seems dubious. <\/p>\n \u201cFor most people, a four-day week would mean a lower income, and we know that people on low incomes are more likely to be obese. Even if they weren\u2019t, lower incomes would still be a bad thing.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If you often find yourself working late, it could be bad news for your waistline as well as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":952163,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4322],"tags":[1630,105,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-952162","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fitness","8":"tag-fitness","9":"tag-health","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116554845848695622","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/952162","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=952162"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/952162\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/952163"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=952162"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=952162"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=952162"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}