Granted, it’s only the findings of one inconclusive study, but working as little as ten hours a day on a regular basis can increase one’s risk of heart disease by nearly two-thirds. The study was based on 6,000 British civil servants, a significant pool I wouldn’t quickly dismiss.

Most people I know work overtime on a regular basis; it’s fully accepted as a necessary evil to get all of the day’s work done in many sectors of Singaporean business. And as an article in the Straits Times [subscription required] today noted, wages are unfairly skewed towards what would be expected of a Third World economy, although the cost of living is firmly First World. I recall Chicago was named as a city with a lower cost of living than Singapore.

If there’s any truth at all to this study, the path we’re on is going to cost us dearly someday.