Work-Life Balance
Table of Contents
The Dangers of Being a Workaholic & How to Find a Healthy Work-Life Balance
87% of working adults admit that they overwork!
How much do we overwork?
- 5+ hours: 39.2%
- 2-5 hours: 35%
- Less than 1 hour: 13.1%
- 0 hours: 12.7%
Are You a Workaholic?
According to Workaholics Anonymous, if you answer yes to 3 or more of the following questions, you may be a workaholic.
Do You:
- Skip your lunch brake and do work instead?
- Have trouble in any of your relationships as a result of your long hours of work?
- Find yourself constantly thinking about work, when you aren’t at work?
- Feel stressed when you are not at work?
- Feel exhausted, burnt out or run down?
- Hide your work from your loved ones?
- Become irritated when others (i.e. family/friends) ask you to stop working in order to do something else?
- Take your work home with you?
- Work on weekends and/or vacation?
- Work more than 40 hours per week?
- Turn your hobbies into money-making ventures?
- Often get home late due to your workload?
- Justify working long hours?
- Constantly overbook yourself?
- Work while you are eating?
The Impact of Workaholism
Pros:
- Sense of pride
- Increased income
- Experience & skills
Cons:
- Accelerated aging
- Burnout and exhaustion
- Strained relationships
- Higher levels of stress
- Higher heart attack risk
- Increased risk of diabetes
- Decreased emotional well-being
Conclusion: The cons of being a workaholic far outweigh the benefits. Furthermore, Workaholics lead a life that sacrifices health for wealth.
For 87% of men and women, work affects their health in a negative way.
STRESS
- Men: 58%
- Women: 67%
HEADACHES
- Men: 43%
- Women: 54%
TENSION
- Men: 34%
- Women: 44%
WEIGHT GAIN
- Men: 37%
- Women: 44%
DEPRESSION
- Men: 28%
- Women: 29%
Prioritize Health Over Wealth
A wealth man can’t buy his health; But a healthy man will always have time to find wealth.
The Optimal Balance
The ideal healthy work-life balance would look like this:
- Health: 34%
- Family & Friends: 29%
- Career: 24%
- Other: 8%
- Fitness: 5%
This weekly balance includes a 40hr work week, five 1 hour workouts, 8 hours of sleep per night, and a few hours to prepare healthy meals for the week.
How to Achieve “The Balance”
- Don’t work more than 40 hours per week
- Avoid bringing your work home with you
- Get 7-8 hours of sleep each night
- Exercise for 30-60 minutes, 3-5 days a week
- Don’t skip breakfast
- Prepare healthy meals for the week
- Make time for family & friendships
- Get a physical exam each year
The Important of Being Active: For the Sedentary Workaholic
FACT: The average american is sedentary for 21 hours per day; and only active for 3 hours!
Just 30 minutes of intense cardiovascular exercise immediately reduces body tension. Furthermore, weightlifting is shown to neutralize anxiety and depression.
Sitting for Long Periods of Time Contributes to:
- Lower metabolism
- Increased risk of heart attack
- Increased risk of stroke
- Lower life expectancies
- Larger Bottoms!
FACT: People with sitting jobs have twice the rate of cardiovascular disease as people with standing jobs!
AS SOON AS YOU SIT:
- Electrical activity in the leg muscles shut off
- Calorie burning drops to 1 calorie per minute
- Enzymes that help break down fat drop 90%
AFTER 2 HOURS:
- Good Cholesterol drops 20%
AFTER 24 HOURS:
- Insulin effectiveness drops 24% and risk of diabetes increases
What to Do if You Have an 8-Hour-a-Day Desk Job?
For many of us, sitting for 8 hours a day at our job is inevitable. But it’s the extra sitting outside of work that turns a serious problem, deadly. So … interrupt sitting whenever you can!
- Stand at least once an hour
- Sit on an exercise ball instead of a desk chair
- Walk around the office whenever you can, or take a walk on your lunch break
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