LONDON - Working long hours has a greater negative impact on women than men because it makes them more likely to smoke, drink coffee and eat unhealthy food.

Both sexes consume less alcohol if they spend more time working, researchers said on Wednesday, but toiling extra hours makes women crave unhealthy snacks.

“Women who work long hours eat more high-fat and high-sugar snacks, exercise less, drink more caffeine and, if smokers, smoke more than their male colleagues,” said Dr. Daryl O’Connor, a researcher at Britain’s Leeds University.

“For men, working longer hours has no negative impact on exercise, caffeine intake or smoking,” O’Connor said in a statement released by the Economic and Social Research Council, which funded his study.

O’Connor’s team of scientists were studying the impact of stress on eating habits. They looked at what causes stress at home and at work and how people react to it.

The results show that one or more stressful events such as making a presentation, a meeting with the boss or missing a deadline was linked to eating more between-meal snacks and fewer or smaller portions of fruits and vegetables.

“Stress disrupts people’s normal eating habits,” he said.

The people who were most vulnerable were so-called emotional eaters.

“These individuals have higher levels of vulnerability and tend to turn to food as an escape from self-awareness,” O’Connor said.

“When they feel anxious or emotionally aroused or negative about themselves, they try to avoid these negative feelings by turning their attention to food.”

I know this is true for me, When I stopped working - I lost 10 pounds in a manner of weeks. Of course, I was a manager at a coffee shop, so I worked long hours around tons of coffee and food. Sometimes I'd skip lunch and have a muffin or something, it was good when I was preggo but afterwards? Any experiance on this...?

i don't agree with the article--i think it depends on the person and her inclinations. *(but, i also don't agree that tv and music causes teenagers to be violent)
like the article says--emotional eaters are the most vulnerable. *personally, when i worked in "big business" i was never plagued by unhealthy vices--the lack of vitamin d (sunlight) and poor ventilation systems took a toll on me. *not to mention the dress code which was ridiculous! (but that's another story )

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I agree. I didn't gain weight after my pregnancy UNTIL I returned to work. I lost nearly 30 pounds during it, and kept it off. I didn't have the inclination to snack. I wasn't stressed at home, so I didn't have the hormonal reaction and the consequent weight gain associated with it. I wasn't surrounded by temptation, so I didn't give in to it.

Yet I returned to my office, and with it came unhealthy eating habits, quick fast-food and vending machine lunches, stress, bloat, weight gain, the consequent inactivity of being forced behind a desk for 10 hours a day, and the depression.

It's no wonder I'm unhealthy.

I don't know if I would agree that this was solely the dominion of women. None of the guys I work with are exactly calendar material. But I can speak from my own experience that I was much better off staying at home than coming back here.

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I worked at home after my first pregnancy, and managed to lose more weight than I actually gained during that pregnancy.

After my second, I went back to an office. I have now gained 40lbs in about 18 months - due to more stress, inactivity, and poor eating habits.

I don't think that the article can show any kind of causality, but there is a definite correlation, IMO.

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Well they are forgetting that women tend to also have alot more work to do in the home as well.

It really didn't look like the numbers were good on either side but I'm guessing more balance isn't an option?

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I ate much better when I worked and before I was married. Dh is thin and loves his snack cakes, pop, and other junk. I don't buy it, but he brings it home. I can't tell him he can't eat it (although I make sure ds doesn't eat it) so it sits here.

I'm always grabbing something and eating it here because my day is so busy at home and sometimes I eat meals pretty late and have to grab a snack. When I worked, there were few fast few places around so I always packed a lunch and we didn't have 'kid' food hanging around either.

I can't wait to go back to work to lose some weight!!