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Working Hours and Mental Health: When the 9-to-5 Isn’t Just 9 to 5 Anymore
Why Setting Boundaries at Work Matters More Than Ever for Your Mental Health
The Subtle Stress of “Always On”
I remember when I started my first full-time job. The excitement was real — I felt productive, valued, and ready to climb the career ladder. But, somewhere around year two, a sneaky habit started to settle in: the late-night emails. Maybe it’s familiar? You tell yourself it’s just a quick reply, a small update — but soon, you’re checking work messages before bed and first thing in the morning. That’s when it hit me — working hours weren’t just about the hours at the office anymore.
Today, we talk so much about work-life balance, but it feels more like we’re just shifting around the pieces of a puzzle without really seeing the big picture. Are we balancing, or are we just juggling?
What “Overwork” Really Looks Like (and Feels Like)
It’s not just the extra hours that can eat away at you. Sometimes, it’s the intensity of those hours. You’ve probably felt it too — the meetings that could be emails, the endless Slack pings, the expectation that you’ll always be reachable. Even on so-called “normal” days, there’s this background hum of urgency that feels…
