Working 50+ hrs a week literally changes your brain

This is a good point to bring up at your next meeting with management: working 50+ hours a week takes a toll on your brain.

A study has shown that overwork is associated with structural brain changes, particularly in regions linked to cognition and emotion.

The changes can lead to mood swings, irritability, and can affect attention span.

In the study, a total of 110 healthcare workers were split into two categories. Those who worked 52 hours per week(overworked) and those who worked 32 hrs a week (underworked).

Those who were overworked had“significant changes” in parts of the brain associated with executive function and emotional regulation.

Having these changes can mess with decision-making skills, cause you to get emotional, or fly off the handle a lot, and affect memory and attention span.

The study only focused on the short term affects of being overworked, and there's no data on long term burnout yet.

Feature image from Pexels by Andrea Piacquadio