Work and mental health are related, since working provides many benefits for people: it gives meaning to our lives, provides economic stability… Although it is a source of well-being, overwork can be harmful to our body, as many studies affirm. . It can cause, among many phenomena, what is known as burnout or burnout syndrome.
Now, overwork can cause death Today we will talk about a recent case in which a person died from working long hours.
Work is health, because in the world we live in it is necessary to earn a minimum of money to survive. Furthermore, if we dedicate ourselves to what we like, work can be a source of happiness.
However, overwork has detrimental consequences for people’s health. But how does it affect us? Work can cause both psychological and physical problems The most important are the following.
1. Stress
Stress is one of the most frequent problems that can appear due to overwork. This does not mean that this phenomenon cannot appear due to other organizational phenomena that have nothing to do with the job (for example, poor relationships with colleagues), however, task overload and excessive work can cause a worker ends up suffering from stress.
2. Burnout
When stress becomes chronic, what is known as burnout or burnout syndrome appears, because when the stressors do not disappear, the person ends up exhausted.
Overwork can also bring sadness and depression , because we spend a lot of time doing work tasks and without being able to enjoy time for ourselves. It also distances us from social relationships and, at the same time, causes us to have fewer moments to enjoy life. If we don’t enjoy our life we are not happy.
4. Sleeping difficulties
Overwork and the stress derived from it can cause difficulties in sleeping, not only due to the quantity but also the quality. Sleep is health, which is why we advise you to follow the advice that appears in this article: “10 basic principles for good sleep hygiene.”
5. Substance abuse
Among the problems derived from overwork we can also find substance abuse Well, when a person is at the limit, it is possible that he decides to escape from reality by consuming drugs such as alcohol and other drugs.
Overworking can cause death
Working too hard not only causes these consequences, but can also lead to death. Just a few days ago we learned about the case of a Japanese woman who died due to the amount of overtime she worked. After her death in 2013, the company she worked for confirmed that her death was caused by long work hours and lack of rest.
The deceased was a 31-year-old journalist, who was an employee of the Japanese television network NHK. This represents a new case of death due to overwork in Japan, so it is not the first.
Miwa Sado, that was the journalist’s name, He worked 159 hours of overtime and only took two days off in the month before his death This caused congestive heart failure, according to the results of his autopsy, and according to the Japanese public broadcaster.
The employment situation has become precarious in some countries such as Spain, but Japan’s social model is even more extreme. During this critical period of work, which led to her death, the journalist covered the Tokyo Government elections and those of the Upper House of Parliament.
NHK has regretted what happened and for that reason has decided to change the company’s policies. With this, he hopes that what happened does not happen again.
Now, excessive overtime is not at all strange in Japan, which in 2016 prepared a report that stated that practically a quarter of the active population worked more than 80 overtime hours per month.
Just a month ago, the government of this country approved a package of emergency measures that were intended to prevent new cases like that of Miwa Sado. In this country, in 2015, at least 2,159 people committed suicide. Of which 675 of them decided to end their lives due to exhaustion according to data from the Japanese Ministry of Labor.
Hikikomori, a disorder characteristic of the Japanese country
Japanese culture is very demanding, and the psychological problems of the inhabitants of this country are very frequent. Overwork is something very common in the Japanese country, but so is the demand in most areas of Japanese life, for example studies (even at an early age).
One of the disorders that has been talked about the most in recent years is Hikikomori. If you want to know what it is about, you can read our article: “Hikikomori: young people permanently locked in their room.”
