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1 Working Long Hours Kills Hundreds of Thousands Every Year N004 www.english-practice.at Working long hours is a health risk that kills hundreds of thousands of people every year. According to a publication recently released by the World Health Organisation (WHO) people who work 55 hours and more every week have a 35% higher risk of suffering a stroke and a 17% higher risk of a heart attack compared to normal labourers who work 35 to 40 hours a week. 500 million people all over the world, 9% of the global working population, were exposed to long working hours in 2016. 745,000 people died, a 30% increase since 2000. In the last two decades, stress-related heart diseases rose by 43% and strokes increased by 19%. Middle-aged men were the group hardest hit by overworking. While workers in Southeast Asia and the Western Pacific region were most at risk, workers in Europe suffered the least. The WHO report states that health dangers were caused not only by psychological stress but also by bad living habits like smoking, a bad diet, lack of sleep and alcohol abuse. The study focuses on the period before the COVID-19 pandemic engulfed the world. The lockdowns during 2020 and 2021 increased work at home by 10%. As a result, there were no clear boundaries between work and private life. Workers suffered from a higher stress level because they were not sure if they could keep their job. In its publication WHO officials recommend measures to improve the health of workers, including labour standards on working time. Words • according to = as reported by … • alcohol abuse = drinking too much alcohol • boundary = here: line between two things or events • cause = the reason for something • decade = a period of 10 years • diet = the food that you eat regularly • engulf = here: hit,…