Working Makes People Miserable and Unhappy Next to Illness: Study

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A new study, The Economic Journal, revealed that working makes British people unhappy.

If one works for eight hours a day, then, at least, one-third of his waking hours are spent on work. How about the time he uses to prepare himself and the time he drives or commutes to get to the office? This scenario shows how demanding work can be, which perhaps contributed to the not-so-good feeling whenever employees are in their workplace.

According to a new study, the people in Britain are unhappiest when they are at work. The misery in the workplace comes second to illness, MicroFinance Monitor reported.

The Independent has learned that being sick reduces the person's level of happiness by around 20 percent and being at work reduces it by up to eight percent. Individuals who worked on anti-social hours -- before 6 p.m., after 6 p.m. or on weekends -- were even less happy.

Meanwhile, the study revealed that people in Britain were happiest during sex or intimacy. When they do these activities, their level of happiness increases by 14 percent. Other activities that they find pleasure doing are gardening, singing and socializing. However, being active on social media, browsing the Internet and smoking only raises the level of happiness by one percent.

The researchers from the University of Sussex and the London School of Economics examined over one million responses that were uploaded to the phone app, Mappiness. Mappiness asks users at random times of the day about their emotional state, where they are and what they are doing. The researchers mapped happiness based on the answers collected.

Per Dr. George MacKerron, an economist who created the app, it quizzed the people about their feeling before they had "a chance to reach for their rose-tinted glasses."

"Although we may be positive about our jobs when reflecting on the meaning and purpose they give us, and the money they provide, actually engaging in paid work comes at a significant psychological cost," MacKerron said.

MacKerron and co-author Alex Bryson explained that the possible reason work had an adverse effect on the well-being was the anxiety and stress it gave to people

"It appears that work per se is negatively associated with hedonic well-being, such that we would rather be doing other things. That is to say, work really is disutility," the authors added.

The researchers noted that the respondents were generally wealthier, younger, and more likely to be employed or in full-time education than the U.K. population as a whole. So, the results should not be generalized.