Medical Issues that Arise from Being Overworked

 

Introduction
Since the 1990s, researchers, scholars, and ordinary Americans are concerned with the issues that arise from being overworked. This is evident from many scholarly written literature in which authors and publishers have described their concern for a particular class in America who suffers from the issues of working time. Though time is an important factor for every citizen of the world, being indulged in continuous overwork is a serious concern mostly for middle and lower-class citizens which uphold many consequences. Let us first discuss overwork in context with those characters of the working class that are affected by the overworked and hectic schedule.


According to Nearing (1911) “Overwork is an amount of industrial activity so great that the capacity of the overworked individual is constantly decreased”. (Nearing, 1911, p. 190) That means overwork involves a daily expenditure of energy over the daily supply which results in fatigue. Excessive fatigue leads to exhaustion and exhaustion to disease and ultimately to death. Long hours and intense work both exist and constitute, in the fatigue which they produce, serious maladjustment.

Dual-Earning Couples
Research work by Gerson & Jacobs (1998) tells us that despite the changing social trends of the American working class, the overworked American is still where he or she used to be some thirty years ago. The average length of the workweek has not changed since then and the American worker is putting in about the same amount of effort on the job with American men 42 to 43 hours per week, while American women about 36 to 37 hours per week remain at the workplace (Gerson & Jacobs, 1998).

Overwork, causes many consequences for the couples among which some are:

Routine conflicts among the couples.
No time to spend with the rest of the family, this creates many misunderstandings and creates communication gaps among couples and family members.
High expectations from the family members.
Overwork causes ill health chronic diseases.
Increased pressure of overwork causes tension, depression, and frustration.
Some researchers suggest that overwork causes conflicts among young couples which later transform into a high divorce rate.
Husband and wife, both earn to make both ends meet, therefore they are unable to afford any health treatment in case they require it, provided they don’t have health insurance. In case they both possess health insurance, they won’t be able to feel lucky for the reason that American health insurance does not guarantee any treatment, and in case they start treating their patients, it is chaotic. The term ‘chaotic’ has been used in context with those scenarios that take place when an ordinary American citizen arrives at the local hospitals. Doctors try their best to get bonuses from the Government on behalf of ‘clearing’ the maximum number of patients that come to them.

Single-Parent Families
The most significant problem with single parent mothers or fathers is that they alone are responsible for their children’s upbringing and being overworked means they put their children at stake. Whether American families are categorized as ‘dual earners or ‘single-parent families’, reliance on women is a common factor that has affected and reduced familial support thereby increasing pressure on the working class. Some of the common consequences faced by single-parent families are:

Lack of attention to children resulting in problem child, children belonging to single parents are mostly found to be not attentive in their studies. However, adults possess chances to fall into inappropriate social gatherings, start drugs, or indulge in drinking.
Usually families are found hectic and chaotic.
Health problems among which dine out and reliance on fast food are commonly seen which is not only hazardous for parents but are also not good for their children.
Single parent members of the working class no longer see themselves at the bottom of an unchanging class-based society nor feel the need to align themselves with the vehicles of working-class support. With the change in class structure, lifestyle and standards have transformed towards ease and comfort, what has not transformed is the American Health System with useless Insurance policies. Useless in a sense that a poor worker, a working-class or a middle-class citizen is not liable to afford treatment even at the cost of his life savings. From the medical perspective, there is simply no difference between a poor and a middle class as both are denied the basic treatment which is provided on behalf of the social policies of the Government.