04-24-2024
A recent study examined how the changes to work caused by digital and tech advances and a bigger service economy impact our health. These changes include more irregular work hours and low or unpredictable wages for workers. The National Longitudinal Study of Youth-1979 gathered over thirty years of data from more than 7,000 Americans. Just one-quarter of the participants worked only the traditional work hours during the day. The others (most of whom were born in the 1960s) worked variable hours. Individuals with more variable hours reported less sleep and a greater likelihood of poor health and depression by age 50. The primary researcher, Wen-Jui Han, told NPR, “Our work now is making us sick and poor.” Han hopes her work will trigger conversations about helping people have a “happy and healthy life when they’re physically exhausted and emotionally drained because of their work.”
Han experienced the type of work schedule she researched. In her 40's, Han worked 16 hours days, taking time off only to eat and sleep. Her physician told Han she seemed more like a woman of 60. Similarly, her subjects sacrificed sleep to work long hours. They suffered from depression and poor health. Men and women of color with limited education disproportionately worked night shifts and had volatile schedules. White college-aged women working in stable daytime jobs had an average of six more hours of sleep per night than Black men without a high school education who worked in jobs with variable hours. The CDC links insufficient sleep with chronic diseases like diabetes, heart disease, and obesity. Black individuals are twice as likely to die of diabetes compared with white people.