Research: People above 40 years should only work 3 days a week

This is not a fools day prank.

A study issued in the Melbourne Institute Worker Paper claims that people who are older than 40 performed best at work when they worked three days per week.

So, does this mean that older workers could work less efficiently?

According to the Australian study, researchers tried to analyze the cognitive abilities of older workers. As a result, the participants in the study, 3,500 women and 3,000 men, took part in the testing.

The researchers focused on the participant’s abilities such as abstract reasoning, memory, and executive reasoning. In addition, researchers measured their cognitive performance in order to conclude how effective they were at work.

The participants had improved when they worked 25 hours per week. However, their performance greatly reduced when they started working for 55 hours per week.

Causes for Reduced Performance

What made the participants lose their touch was fatigue and stress. According to one of the lead authors of the study, professor Colin McKenzie, the level of intellectual stimulation depends on the working hours.

Even though work can stimulate the brain activity, it can also cause fatigue and stress. Therefore, it can have a drastic impact on the cognitive functions.

How Working Hours Affect the Brain

Working hours play a huge role in maintaining the cognitive functions, especially in elderly adults. Moreover, working more than 30 hours every week can have a negative impact on the brain health of middle-aged men.

As Prof. McKenzie claims, working 40 hours per week is effective for maintaining normal cognitive functioning. However, it doesn’t maximize the positive effects of work. Furthermore, the results may vary in other countries.

After all, it is difficult to control every factor that may contribute to the results of the study.

The Solution

Does the type of work you do matters? Is it more important to be a full time or a part-time job? What if the job is more intellectually demanding?

According to Prof. McKenzie, it is difficult to tell. It is hard to identify the common effects of the type of work you do and how it can affect the cognitive functions. So, people may choose jobs based on their cognitive abilities.

This article was originally published on Gottadotherightthing.