Jay thought he could manage, balancing journalist deadlines, college classes, and graduate school essays at the same time. When he began using sleeping pills merely for six hours of sleep and woke up shivering with fear, something was amiss, he knew.
“There came a time when I had chills at night,” he said. “I was thinking about so many tasks I had to do. I didn’t have a fever, but I really had chills, and I really had nightmares.”
Jay’s story isn’t rare. Since the pandemic blurred the line between work and life, overworking has quietly become one of the deadliest habits in the modern world.
According to a joint 2021 report by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Labor Organization (ILO), clocking in beyond the standard eight hours a day can increase your risk of stroke by 35% and heart disease by 17%.
It was determined that 745,000 people worldwide, almost three-quarters of a million, perished of stroke or heart disease due to overwork for a period of a year. And it’s not getting any slower.
A Pandemic of Exhaustion
Though WHO rates were based on 2016 data, specialists note the trend declined further during the pandemic. Remote work, which had been praised for flexibility, has instead bound many workers to their computers long after the 9-to-5 shift is over.
“While telework is flexible, companies cutting back on costs mean some people need to take on heavier workloads, for the same salary”, said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
In 2016, almost 488 million workers worked 55 or more hours a week, which made up approximately nine percent of the people living worldwide. To make it clear, some workers were 11 hours a day, five days a week, nose-deep in work.
Long hours of work don’t kill instantly, but they accumulate over the years. Among the hundred thousand who died of sickness due to overwork, the greatest number fell between 60 and 79 years old, but they had been working for such long hours for some time since their mid-40s.
Men, middle-aged workers, and Asian and Western Pacific workers were the highest affected groups.
The Cost of Endless Stress
Stress is not always bad. In moderation, it makes us active and alert. When chronic, however, which it is when one is constantly overworked, it starts eroding the body from the inside out.
The American Psychological Association describes how long-term stress instills the body with hormones, which increase high blood pressure, compromise the immune system, and upset digestion and sleep.
When workers are overworked, they turn towards quick fixes, alcohol, cigarettes, fast food, or a complete lack of physical activity. These solutions don’t do anything but perpetuate the damage.
“It’s time that we all, governments, employers, and employees, wake up to the fact that long working hours can lead to premature death,” said WHO Department of Environment, Climate Change, and Health Director Dr. Maria Neira.
How Overwork Feels on a Day-to-Day Basis
For Jay, being at work has become a routine such that even rest time must be scheduled on his iPad. “For me, I’m always looking for something that I would be really proud of. I can see for myself that I’m doing something really good… it feels like I’m not totally worthless,” he said.
This is the mentality held by the millions of workers who believe they have to demonstrate their worthiness through sheer output alone. And, according to the report, such an all-out effort tends to become toxic.
How To Deal With Work-Related Stress
The good news? You can still pull yourself back before work literally kills you. Life Coach Hasmin Miroy of Life Coach Philippines shared several ways to break the cycle and protect your physical and mental health, before your body does it for you.
1. Clear Your Mind
Just as purging your closet clears out clutter, clearing your mind lightens the load.
When you’re feeling overwhelmed, hold up for a second, breathe, and say: What am I even controlling?
Whatever upsets you or did not go the way you planned, that is not in your hands, let alone.
2. Keep Your Priorities Right
It’s simple to overlook what matters when you have your nose buried in work. Take a step back and determine what truly matters to you: family time, physical health, personal development, or financial security.
3. Know How to Say No
Boundaries are not selfish; they are survival. Learning to say no when your plate is already full could help you save your sanity without burning out.
4. Rest and Recreation
Rest isn’t a luxury. Taking a walk, preparing a meal, getting some tunes on, watching a movie, and doing things that make you happy can stimulate serotonin and rebalance energy.
5. Discuss with Someone
Overworked people seldom have a clear sense of how bad things have gotten until somebody points it out. Open talk with a buddy, relative, or even a professional gets one into perspective again.
“They have to acknowledge it because that’s the time they can really take action,” Miroy said.
Redefining Success Before it is Too Late
We celebrate hustle, the late nights, the perpetual grind, the “I’ll rest when I’m dead” approach. And, as it turns out, that saying isn’t a funny pun. It’s a real-world fate for the thousands who die annually due to workplace-related stress.
Overwork does not decrease productivity; it decreases people. It’s not about refusing ambition, but it’s about reframing success.
Success isn’t demonstrating your worthiness through burnout; it’s maintaining it through equilibrium.
The next time you feel bad for stepping away, keep this in mind: rest isn’t lazy, it’s self-preservation. Because at the end of the day, there ain’t no deadline worth dying for.
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