Working 60 Hours a Week: Warning Signs and Boundaries

Working 60 hours a week is not a normal productivity challenge to which everyone should learn to adapt. Sometimes a deadline, emergency or short, clearly bounded project creates an intense period. When 60-hour weeks become the permanent operating model, the problem is workload and workplace design—not a personal failure to optimize your sleep, email or morning routine.

I learned this through experience. After my master’s degree, I entered an industry built around billable hours and found myself working 60, 70 and sometimes even more hours. I had always considered myself efficient, so the culture of rewarded overwork was a shock. I did adapt in the sense that I kept functioning, but there were breakdowns along the way and my health was eventually affected.

I originally framed this subject as advice for getting used to extreme hours. I would frame it differently now: how do you protect yourself, identify whether the period is truly temporary and decide when the job is no longer sustainable?

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Why chronic 60-hour weeks are a health issue

A joint World Health Organization and International Labour Organization analysis found that working 55 or more hours per week was associated with an estimated 35% higher risk of stroke and 17% higher risk of dying from ischaemic heart disease compared with working 35–40 hours. Long hours can also crowd out sleep, movement, relationships, medical care and the mental recovery required to work safely.

That does not mean every demanding week causes lasting harm. It means “I can still do it” is not evidence that the arrangement is safe to continue indefinitely.

Is this a surge or the real job?

Before optimizing anything, ask your manager for concrete boundaries:

What event created the extra workload?
What is the end date?
Which tasks or standards are being reduced?
What additional staffing, time off or compensation is available?
Who decides that the surge is over?

A temporary peak has a reason, a plan and an endpoint. If every month contains a new emergency, the long hours are the business model.

What to do when the workload is too large

Make the trade-off visible

Instead of saying only “I am overwhelmed,” show the conflict: “I can complete the client analysis or the presentation by Thursday, but not both to the required standard. Which has priority?” This puts the decision with the person responsible for allocating work.

Keep a private, lawful record of your hours, workload requests and agreed priorities. The purpose is not to build a dramatic dossier; it is to stop an unsustainable week from disappearing into memory and to give you accurate information for a review, medical appointment or advice service.

Set a real communication boundary

An 11 p.m. email cutoff is not work-life balance. Unless you are genuinely on call, choose a time after which notifications are off and colleagues know how to reach the appropriate person for a real emergency. A boundary works best when a team shares it; an individual rule is fragile in a culture that rewards instant replies.

Protect sleep before optimizing convenience

Meal preparation, a cleaner or a faster morning routine may buy time, but they do not repay chronic sleep loss. Avoid treating caffeine, adrenaline and skipped recovery as a system. If hours must temporarily rise, sleep, medication, meals and basic healthcare belong in the non-negotiable category.

Use leave and medical support when you are unwell

Working through illness can prolong recovery and create mistakes that matter in safety-critical or client-facing roles. If you are experiencing chest pain, fainting, severe shortness of breath, thoughts of self-harm or another urgent symptom, seek immediate medical help rather than relying on workplace coping tips.

For mounting exhaustion, anxiety, sleep disruption or loss of functioning, speak with a healthcare professional early. Burnout-like symptoms can overlap with depression, anxiety, sleep disorders and physical illness. Our guide on what to do when you are burned out from work or school offers a broader recovery framework.

Warning signs the job is becoming unsustainable

The “temporary” hours have no credible end date.
You are regularly working nights or weekends just to meet ordinary expectations.
Your sleep, mood, concentration or physical health is deteriorating.
You cannot take leave without work accumulating or being punished.
Management responds to capacity concerns with motivation slogans rather than priorities or resources.
Errors, near misses or unsafe shortcuts are becoming normal.
Friends and family receive only cancellations, exhaustion and whatever energy remains.

When leaving may be the responsible choice

For me, the intense work brought money, learning and rapid career development. It was also eventually harming my mental and physical health. Both things can be true. A role can have been useful and still become wrong for the next stage of your life.

If you are considering leaving, reduce the decision into practical parts: calculate essential monthly costs, preserve an emergency fund, update your CV, reconnect with trusted people, understand any notice or visa consequences and begin a targeted search. Our article on career goals can help you define what the next role must do differently.

Also check the employment rules where you live. Working-time limits, overtime, rest breaks, sick leave and protections for raising health and safety concerns vary widely. Use your government labour regulator, union or a qualified local adviser for legal guidance.

A realistic short-term survival plan

Confirm the deadline, priorities and endpoint in writing.
Track actual hours and the work displaced by new requests.
Protect sleep, medication, meals and urgent healthcare.
Set a communication cutoff and an escalation route for genuine emergencies.
Schedule recovery time immediately after the surge rather than hoping it appears.
If the endpoint moves, activate your exit or escalation plan.

The aim is not to become better at absorbing unlimited work. It is to get through a genuinely temporary period without confusing endurance with consent—and to recognize when the healthiest, most professional decision is to change the conditions or leave.