Why People Over 40 Should Only Work 3 Days A Week

You're probably well aware that working 9-5 for five days a week is draining on the heart and soul. You get the feeling that maybe working long hours isn't the best option. I would go so far as to say that it's downright detrimental simply due to the pure stress and exhaustion it leaves you feeling. 

It looks like this may, in fact, be the case for people over 40 and over. Researchers have found some startling negative effects that working long hours can have on cognitive performance, and you need to know what they are.

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A 40-hour or more work week can seem like a major drag to many people. 

But until we retire, that's just what we have to deal with, right?

Well, maybe not. Experts have just come out with a study saying that, at least for people over 40, they should be working less per week. 

Time to celebrate, right?

There's a perfectly reasonable explanation for this...

Unfortunately, by the age of 40, cognitive abilities have started to decline compared to our 20s and 30s. 

In the current study, researchers from the Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research looked at the number of hours people worked and then their performance on various psychological tests. The tests tapped into levels of short-term memory and concentration. 

Working up to roughly 25 hours per week was found to be helpful for psychological performance, but working more than that was associated with worse scores on these tests. 

This would mean that the optimal work week for these individuals would be three days. 

It seems that those over 40 need some stimulation, but going overboard can be detrimental to thinking, attention, and memory. 

This is an incredibly important result as the retirement age seems to keep going up and up. 

If you are someone who really goes the extra mile, your cognitive abilities may really suffer...

Those individuals who worked around 60 hours a week showed cognitive performance that was worse than those who didn't work at all. 

The research has been met with some criticism, though.

Geraint Johnes, a professor of economics at Lancaster University, said to the BBC that "the research looks only at over-40s, and so cannot make the claim that over-40s are different from any other workers." 

Technically, the research can only differentiate those above and below 40 if a younger group was included. It may be the case that those under 40 are also negatively affected by a work week that is more than 25 hours long. 

But, it still means those over 40 have the freshest brains when they work less than 25 hours a week. 

You can't take that away!
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