Research conducted by Wen-Jui Han from New York University, US, and published on April 3, 2024, in the open-access journal PLOS ONE suggests that the hours individuals work in their younger years may have repercussions on their health decades later.

Numerous studies have consistently highlighted the detrimental effects of nonstandard work schedules, such as working outside the traditional nine-to-five workday, on both physical and mental health and social and family life. However, this study adopts a life-course approach to provide insights into how work schedule patterns throughout one’s career influence health outcomes in middle age.

Using data from The National Longitudinal Survey of Youth-1979 (NLSY79), which spans over 30 years and includes information on more than 7,000 individuals in the US, Han investigates whether employment patterns during younger adulthood are linked to sleep quality, physical health, and mental well-being at age 50.

Han’s analysis reveals that approximately a quarter of participants (26%) consistently worked stable standard hours, while another third (35%) primarily adhered to standard hours. Additionally, 17 percent initially followed standard hours in their 20s but later shifted to volatile working patterns involving evening, night, and variable hours. Twelve percent initially worked standard hours but later transitioned to variable hours; a final ten percent were unemployed primarily during this period.

Comparatively, individuals whose careers included more volatile work schedules experienced less sleep, poorer sleep quality, and a higher likelihood of reporting depressive symptoms by age 50, in contrast to those who predominantly worked traditional daytime hours throughout their working lives. Particularly noteworthy were the findings concerning individuals who maintained stable work hours in their 20s but shifted to volatile schedules in their 30s. This shift significantly impacted health outcomes, akin to the effects observed in individuals with educational attainment below the high school level.

Furthermore, Han’s research identifies racial and gender disparities in work schedules and health outcomes. For instance, Black Americans were more likely to have volatile work schedules associated with poorer health, underscoring how certain demographic groups may disproportionately bear the negative consequences of such employment patterns.

Han suggests that volatile work schedules contribute to poor sleep, physical fatigue, and emotional exhaustion, rendering individuals more susceptible to an unhealthy lifestyle. The study also indicates that work schedules’ positive and negative effects on health can accumulate over a lifetime, thereby exacerbating health inequities.

Han emphasises that work, which is traditionally viewed as a means to secure resources for a decent life, has now become a vulnerability to health due to the growing precarity in work arrangements within an increasingly unequal society. Moreover, individuals occupying vulnerable social positions, such as females, Black individuals, and those with lower levels of education, disproportionately bear the health consequences associated with volatile work schedules.

More information: Wen-Jui Han et al, How our longitudinal employment patterns might shape our health as we approach middle adulthood—US NLSY79 cohort, PLoS ONE. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0300245

Journal information: PLoS ONE Provided by PLOS