Investigating the Associations among Overtime Work, Health Behaviors, and Health: A Longitudinal Study among Full-time Employees

Abstract

The relation between overtime and ill health is partly accounted for by the unhealthy lifestyle in which overworkers tend to engage. However, a direct longitudinal effect of overtime on health suggested that the effects of overtime on health may also partly be due to the sustained physiological activation that results from working overtime. Whereas working a moderate amount of overtime does not usually entail major health risks, these will increase with increasing overtime.