Men who work more than 45 hours a week are more than twice as likely to die from heart disease if they are unfit, research has found, although exercising can counteract the effects.
Researchers found that men who were physically fit coped better with their long working hours than those who were unfit.
The findings, based on 5,000 Danish men aged between 40 and 59, found that overall men who worked between 41 and 45 hours were almost 60 per cent more likely to die of heart disease than those working fewer hours.
The effect was more pronounced when physical fitness was taken into account, as measured by their lung capacity, with unfit men twice as likely to die as men working less than 40 hours.
The findings were published in the journal Heart.
Lead author Dr Andreas Holtermann, National Research Centre for the Working Environment, Copenhagen, Denmark, wrote in the journal: "These findings suggest that men working long hours should be physically fit."
Via : telegraph.co.uk
