Over 40? That’s A 3-Day Work Week

An expert says that if we’re over 40 years old, we should only be working 3-day weeks, and I printed this story and hung it around the office.

By DAVID on August 10, 2018
(Photo by Oli Scarff/Getty Images)

Well, that’s what one “expert” is saying, anyway. They think that if you’re over 40 years old, a 3-day work week is best. Why 3 days? We’ll get to that just below.

The reason a 3-day week was suggested comes down to what they say results in 40+ best performance. The researchers talked to about 6,500 people, and learned about their work habits. They were asked questions about their performance, and given simple tests. The researchers found that out of those people, ones who worked only about 25 hours a week performed the best on those tests. Those who worked 55 hours or more per week performed poorly, and even did worse than people who were unemployed.

They’re not totally sure why it works out that way, but they do have a theory. They say that if you work the 25 hours per week, it’s just enough activity to keep your brain going. When you work too much, it causes fatigue and stress. Fatigue and stress can “potentially damage cognitive functions.” But wait, there’s more! The doctor working on the study also said that a 40-hour week is better than no work, but could still be too much. “Full-time work (40 hours a week) is still better than no work in terms of maintaining cognitive functioning, but it is not maximising the positive effects of work.”

Hey Boss, I got something for you to read! See some more information on the study here.

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