Long hours make people more likely to drink heavily

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn26793-long-hours-make-people-more-likely-to-drink-heavily.html#.VXyBZVIYFB8

23:30 13 January 2015 by Penny Sarchet
page 7 of print version of New Scientist

Work hard, drink hard. People who work more than 48 hours a week drink more heavily and are more likely to develop risky levels of alcohol consumption, the largest ever study of working patterns and alcohol finds.

An analysis of 61 studies from 14 countries, including the US, UK, Australia and Germany, found that those who work longer hours are 11 per cent more likely to be heavy drinkers than people who work a standard week of around 40 hours.

The study is also the first to examine how likely people who start working longer hours are to acquire dangerous drinking habits. By analysing cohort studies, which follow the same people over long periods of time, Marianna Virtanen at the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health in Helsinki and her colleagues found that people working 49 to 54 hours a week were 13 per cent more likely to start drinking at "risky" levels. This is defined as 14 drinks a week for women, and 21 drinks a week for men.

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Booze may offer a way to unwind. "We think that some people may cope with excess working hours with habits that are unhealthy, such as using alcohol," says Virtanen. "The symptoms they try to alleviate with alcohol may include stress, depression and sleep disturbances."

Journal reference: The BMJ, DOI: 10.1136/bmj.g7772