Long working hours 'kills 745,000 people a year': BBC News Review reviews

April 23, 2022



Long working hours are killing hundreds of thousands of people a year, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). The first global study of its kind showed 745,000 people died in 2016 from stroke and heart disease due to long hours. Neil and Tom give you the vocabulary to talk about this news story.

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News Review: Is red meat bad for you? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67bRNdqQ7ec

Video chapters:
0:00​​​​​​​​​​​​ – Introduction
0:36​ – Story
2:07 – Headline 1: Long working hours are a killer, WHO study shows
5:28 – Headline 2: A new study has put the spotlight on just how detrimental working long hours are for people’s health
8:00 – Headline 3: This work-related disease burden is particularly significant in men
10:04​​​​​​​​​​​​ – Language summary

The story:
The study looked at health risks for people working fifty-five hours a week or more and found a thirty-five percent higher risk of stroke and a seventeen percent higher risk of heart disease. Men are more vulnerable than women.

The Asia-Pacific, including Japan, Australia and China, is the worst-affected region. The statistics date from before the Covid-19 pandemic.

Key words and phrases:
killer
a cause of death / something difficult or unpleasant
– I’ve told you to stop smoking! Cigarettes are a killer!
– Running the marathon was a killer, but I did it!

detrimental
likely to cause harm
– Studies have found that air pollution can be detrimental to our health.
– Vinh prioritises his work, to the detriment of his family relationships.

burden
something that causes hard work or difficulty
– A criminal record is a burden that no young person wants to carry.
– Please don’t burden me with any more of your problems. I’ve had enough!

Test your understanding on our website at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/english/course/newsreview/unit-18/session-194

#learnenglish #vocabulary #workinghours #newsreview #bbcnews

For more English videos and English lessons to help you learn English: www.bbclearningenglish.com

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42 Comments
  1. Reply
    BBC Learning English April 23, 2022 at 8:56 pm

    Hi! There are lots more videos like this one in our News Review playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLcetZ6gSk968l1s4WuxwyhiyEUmg5GOZC

  2. Chào ⭐⭐

  3. Giọng hát của ah Đức phúc hát đúng tâm trạng hay quá

  4. 55 working-hours per week are common here in South Korea ; LoL

  5. Many thanks for all your lessons and content! you are the best! Greetings for all the team from BBC Learning English.

  6. Awesome lesson, 👌🆒️

  7. Very helpful

  8. It includes also india

  9. Working long hours is detrimental to our health

  10. भाई नहा कर आ जाया कर न🤣🤣

  11. Thank you BBC❤️

  12. Neil Please Have a Decent Hair Cut or Comb it Properly and Trim Your Beared.

  13. Tom : Neil works too many hours, to the detriment of his friendship.
    Neil : yess, it’s not true at all, but good for example.

    that was really funny 🤣

  14. Love Neil and Tom so much, their accents are great

  15. Reply
    Dr. Maysaa Alharbi. April 23, 2022 at 8:56 pm

    ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

  16. I'm currently at a medical billing job here in India that demands me to work for 10+ hours, which I and most others like me believe is mentally exhausting and physically taxing
    What's more is I work on night shifts that has drastically impaired my sleep routine and my diet.
    I've gained weight, blurred vision, low stamina, grogginess, poor diet, frustration, lack of motivation has become my foe.
    I'm considering quitting my job now and looking for something else, atlest in the long run.

  17. Layzi uk

  18. You guys are lady–killers

  19. Reply
    Hải yến Nguyễn thị April 23, 2022 at 8:56 pm

    Thanks two sir.i m from VN.Love you all.

  20. Tom is a killer today🙂

  21. distance education was a killer for everybody

  22. Excuse me, what is “running a marathon is a killer” means? Does it mean running a marathon is extremely hard ?

  23. It is understandable for Japanese workers to work overtime often but I can't imagine Australian working late at night. I saw a lot of businesspeople drinking beer even in the lunchtime on Friday.

  24. Reply
    Nhi Nguyễn Lê Thảo April 23, 2022 at 8:56 pm

    I'm afraid that my mother has been working for too long hours every week. She is waking up at 2 am these days and she feels exhausted, and frail.

  25. Like today's words. thanks, Neil and Tom

  26. BBC Learning English is getting better. Thank you guys. Keep it up :))

  27. Hello my name is Rania I'm from Syria I live in England so I'm so happy to learn English from BBC learning English thank you so much you very interesting I wish all best for you 💓

  28. Sir tom nice to see after long time i really missed your killer laugh.

  29. It seems that Tom has a problem with his ear speaker.

  30. Reply
    Superduper English Idioms April 23, 2022 at 8:56 pm

    I think overwork is not the only reason for the deaths, but it must be because overwork means that other aspects of life are neglected; such as eating healthy, mental health, social health, etc.

  31. I get covid19 but Thanks God recovered

  32. Reply
    Interesting Stories Pool April 23, 2022 at 8:56 pm

    Sad to hear about this number !!!!

  33. Reply
    Violetta Chernishova April 23, 2022 at 8:56 pm

    Thanks for your vocabulary ! ❤ Have a good time ! This message's like a killer.🌃

  34. Men work so long to please their women )) Be happy… If you can

  35. Reply
    Thế Lâm Nguyễn April 23, 2022 at 8:56 pm

    Excuse me, in the title, "long working hours" is in plural form, why is the verb "kills" in singular form?

  36. nowadays , there is a work models we called is 996, it means employees need to work from 9am to 9pm in a day , and work 6 days one week. it's sound very horrible , but actually there are a lot of high-tec companies executed this work model.

  37. Reply
    معجنات عثمان April 23, 2022 at 8:56 pm

    I work 10 hours a day in a bakery in Turkey, which is 70 hours a week in total and I earn just 1 dollar per hour.
    I really want to get fluent in English to get a better job before I got killed because of these long hours of work

  38. but in Japan, many company have employee do hard and long work, and almost employers take it for granted. We call it "BLACK COMPANY" in japan.

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