If you’re working 12-hour days week after week, then your health is almost certainly taking a hit. Between work, sleep, and a couple of hours of downtime, it can feel like there aren’t any spare minutes in the day. But no matter how much you’re working, there are always ways to prioritize your health while working 60 hours a week – you just have to find them.
60 Hours a Week is How Many Hours a Day?
Working 60 hours a week means people work 12 hours a day and take two days off from their job.
Pros of Working 60 Hours a Week
- Make more money. Typically, you’ll make much more money working 60-hour weeks versus 40-hour weeks – especially if you’re working hourly or earning commissions on deals. This could be enough to build up your savings, accelerate your retirement investing, or even set yourself up to retire early.
- Get ahead in your career. When you work 60 hours per week, you typically are able to get more done, earn the respect of your boss, gain experience, and build more connections. This leads to a much faster climb in your career.
- Greater productivity. What will you do if you don’t work 60 hours per week? Most people think they’ll do constructive things with their time, but they typically end up watching Netflix, sleeping in, and spending more money than they should.
Cons of Working 60 Hours Per Week
- Hurts your social life. Between working 12 hours per day and getting seven or eight hours of sleep, there isn’t much time left for a social life. This can hurt your relationships and limit your happiness.
- Leads to burnout. You need balance in your life. Working 60 hours a week might be good for your bank account, but it strains your emotional health and may lead to excessive stress, anxiety, and depression. In other words, you’re prone to burnout.
- Impacts physical health. You might not feel it right away, but sitting at your desk for 12 hours per day isn’t good for your health. It can lead to many negative health issues, including high blood pressure, obesity, and an increased heart attack risk. You might even start to lose your hair or go bald.
Is 60 hours a week a lot? How to survive while following a 60-hour work week?
5 Ways to Survive Working 60 Hours a Week
When there’s limited time in the day, you have to be very intentional about your physical and mental health. Otherwise, you could be in a downward spiral that prevents you from doing your job and compromises your long-term well-being.
With this in mind, here are several suggestions that you should be able to squeeze into your 60-hour work week schedule:
Do Weekly Meal Planning
You can significantly improve your health by cutting out fast food and eating freshly prepared meals with healthy ingredients. And while you probably don’t have time to cook every meal every day, a little weekly meal planning and prep once per week can set you up for the next seven days.
If you work a traditional Monday-Friday schedule, try taking two hours on a Sunday afternoon to cook all your meals for the week. Use versatile ingredients to keep things fresh and cost-effective. Go ahead and portion everything into individual containers that you can grab each morning on the way out the door.
Try 30-Minute Workouts
Most people who spend an hour in the gym only work out for 30 minutes anyway. They often spend other time standing around, chatting, or resting between sets. But if you’re determined, you can get an entire workout in 30 minutes or less. (That’s short enough to conquer on a lunch break). Here are several good options, including cardio, yoga, gym, and at-home workouts.
Make Sleep a Priority
Most people make the mistake of cutting out sleep when they’re busy. But this is a huge mistake. Your body needs sleep to recover and stay healthy. Whatever you do, carve out at least seven to eight hours per night. Treat this like a work obligation that can’t be erased.
Snack Healthy
Avoid running for the vending machine when you’re hungry. While a bag of potato chips or candy bar might taste great, it will leave you feeling bleh later. It will also negatively impact your health in the long run while working 70 hours a week. Try healthy and filling snacks like almonds, fruit, crunchy vegetables, or a fresh smoothie.
Avoid Bad Habits
You have very little margin right now. As constricted as your 60-hour work week schedule, you can’t afford to be doing things hurting your health. So, in addition to adopting good habits, you also need to avoid bad habits. This includes:
- Smoking. There’s no excuse for smoking. If you have an addiction, address it at the source as soon as possible. Working crazy hours and smoking is like having a fast pass to serious, chronic health issues.
- Drinking. There’s nothing wrong with having an occasional glass of wine or cocktail, but too much drinking (as a form of stress relief) will negatively impact your sleep and overall health.
- Toxic relationships. If you’re in a bad relationship, it’s probably increasing your stress and wrecking your emotional health (which is already fragile when working 60-plus hour weeks).
Is Working 60 Hours a Week Too Much?
You might not have much time, but you have time to implement these suggestions. Whether working 60, 70, or even 80 hours a week, there’s always time to prioritize your health – sometimes, you just have to make it! But don’t stop here. Once you fit these into your routine, begin looking for ways to implement even more healthy (but efficient) habits.