Workaholics: Too Much Time in the Office Bad for Mental and Physical Health

Workaholics only care about one thing. Working. And so, it comes as no surprise that they're not so concerned if they miss 8 hours of sleep every night or healthy meals, etc.

In fact, according to doctoral student Sarah Asebedo from the College of Human Ecology's personal financial planning and conflict resolution program, Edina, Minn., she found that many who spent more time on work also have reduced physical and mental well-being.

"We looked at the association between workaholism and physical and mental well-being," Asebedo said, via a press release. "We found workaholics -- defined by those working more than 50 hours per week -- were more likely to have reduced physical well-being, measured by skipped meals. Also, we found that workaholism was associated with reduced mental well-being as measured by a self-reported depression score."

In order to further study this theory, the researchers used Gary S. Becker's Theory of the Allocation of Time, what's known as a mathematical analysis that helps measure the cost of time.

"It looks at the cost of time as if it were a market good," Asebedo said, via the release. "This theory suggests that the more money you make, the more likely you are to work more. If you are not engaged in work-related activities, then there is a cost to the alternative way in which time is spent. Even if you understand the negative consequences to workaholism, you may still be likely to continue working because the cost of not doing so becomes greater."

"From a financial planning and counseling perspective, it's good to be aware of workaholism," Asebedo said, via the release. "It helps me understand what can be the cause of my clients' stress. It's just a reminder that you may want to dig a bit deeper into clients' work lives. Sometimes you might find that they don't like what they are doing and they want to make a change, yet financially, they don't know how they can accomplish that."

What do you think?

More information regarding the study can be found in the Financial Services Review.