One Day of Work a Week Is Most ‘Effective’ Dose for Mental Health | Hacker News Reader

One Day of Work a Week Is Most ‘Effective’ Dose for Mental Health

bloomberg.com

58 pointsperfunctory12 comments

No one who commented this far has read the article. Somehow this doesn’t surprise me, people only think of themselves.

The thesis is that to counter the effects of unemployment on mental health, you only need one days worth of work. As in, work is a psychological remedy for people who have not been able to contribute to society and have no place on the pecking order.

Giving the unemployed more work did little to improve their mental health much further. This article was not about your poor ass having too much work. And for some its even a status symbol to be so important that you are busy all the time.

I recently asked to take Friday off and Thursday to work from home. Plan to start next month. I would like to push it to 3 days, but nevertheless its a great start. Doesn't make sense to waste your life in front of a computer...

I started feeling burned out and asked for part time, just 3 days a week. Company refused - we don't do part time. Instead they tried to convince me to stay, give me perks, a raise, etc, because they really liked me. I told them I probably can find someone willing to hire a dev in this huge city.

By the end of the day I had a part time offer and a raise. The market is in our favour at least for now.

Interestingly, after 6 months I dialed back to 4 days a week. I felt too disconnected with the projects and the people, and procrastinated too much in the 4-day weekend. I found 4 days to be my personal sweet point.

Nice one. I guess the point is to have the flexibility to try what works for you. Some people like to work 7 days a week which is also fine...

I somehow doubt this, especially over the long term. And this is coming from exeperience.

Let's say you have about 84 truly free hours in a week without work. Do you really have 84 hours of free time stuff you want to do or are you going to be staring at your phone swiping refresh on reddit bored out of your mind half way into the first week?

Certain people have hobbies that will eat almost unlimited time, let's say fishing or woodworking, but if you don't all this free time can be a nightmare.

That being said I'd love something like 4, 4-6 hour days a week.

This sounds about right to me.

I would settle for 2 four-hour days, I think.

I would settle for 2 eight hour days, with the rest being as-wanted (I actually/thankfully like what I do but damn the grind is hard!)

Anyone interested in the 996 workweek? Supposedly, it builds great discipline.

I personally am not, but only because I have a secondary thing I have to devote a lot of time to.

A whole day off? Thats slacking.

So does prison, but I wouldn't recommend that either.

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