As the vehicle maintenance world twirls, more and more of us are working longer and longer hours.
There's more work to be done because there's fewer people to do it as companies "right size."
As my brother Steve - a veteran sales and marketing professional - is fond of preaching: "It is what it is, and you do what you have to do."
True enough, but consistently putting in too many long hours could be affecting our brains - and there's research that makes that case. (Not that I'm building a case to present to my boss about my working less or anything like that.)
I just happened to come across a British study that discovered, when compared with working the typical 40-hour week, middle-aged workers who put in more than 55 hours per week had significantly lower performance on a series of mental skills, reasoning and vocabulary tests.
More disturbing, the research adds to the increasing evidence that establishes a link between cognitive impairment and dementia in later life.
"Cognitive functioning between employees working long hours and those working normal hours is similar in magnitude to that of smoking, a risk factor for dementia," stated the study.
In short, it seems that long hours aren't just bad for our health, they're also bad for our performance.'
You might want to share this blog with your boss when you leave the office - on time - today. (Let me know how it goes.)
