Recently, we can see that Infosys founder and IT billionaire Narayan Murthy suggested the youth generation of our country to work for 70 hours per week. In a recent podcast, he highlights the low productivity of India in comparison to other developed countries of the world. In order to ensure the country’s development, the youth must volunteer to work at least 70 hours a week.
His suggestions have been supported by many professionals, but scientifically, it is not evident because it can be seen that productivity and focus gradually decline after 50 hours of work per week, which often leads to fatigue and mood swings.
Many youngsters gave befitting replies to Narayan Murthy’s suggestion of working 70 hours a week. One of them said, “Working for 70 hours per week, we will be the best country in the world, BUT AT WHAT COST? What will we achieve after working 70 hours a week? Good health? Good family? Good companion? Happiness? Fulfillment? What will the individual achieve?” While another individual said, “Yes, only the youngsters should work for such long hours, and then the rich will evade the tax and enjoy their vacation in the Bahamas.” Strong disagreement can be seen against Narayan Murthy’s suggestions.
According to the experts, working long hours can also affect your health and can cause various diseases in your body. It can physically and mentally strain your mindset and work-life balance. Here are some expert suggestions as to why 70 hours of work a week is not worth it.
70 hours of work can affect Mental Health
Overworking mainly impacts mental health due to ‘physiological responses such as fatigue, stress, impaired sleep, and unhealthy lifestyle changes in response to the stress.’ also, it disrupts our usual work life and diverts our focus and mood from doing our regular work. Mental Health is very crucial for every human being, and long hours of work can take away your peace and happiness from life.
Long hours of work can cause Diabetes
Researchers saw that people who are working for more than 52 hours per week have a higher chance of developing Type-2 diabetes compared to people working 35–40 hours per week. This is concerning as diabetes accounts for 20.9 deaths per 100,000 population, as per WHO data.
70 hours of work can also cause Early death
According to researchers, people who are inclined to work long hours may die early from strokes and heart disease, which has been a major concern since 2020 as early deaths have increased since then. Long working hours are the biggest risk factor for occupational diseases, as the number of people working long hours stands at a whopping 9% of the total global population, putting more and more people at risk of work-related disability and early death.
Since it is not always suitable to work for long hours and disrupts your mental as well as physical health. Be conscious and work according to the capacity your body allows.
