Working over 48 hours a week: how can I look after myself?

If you regularly work more than 48 hours a week, you are past the normal limit in Thai labour law, and you are not alone. The Labour Protection Act B.E. 2541 sets normal working time for employees at no more than 8 hours a day and 48 hours a week, with a rest period of at least 1 hour after no more than 5 hours of work. An International Labour Office study published in 2007 put Thailand third among the countries it compared, with 46.7% of people working more than 48 hours a week in 2004–05. Studies from other countries link long hours with shorter sleep and with poorer eating patterns. The practical answer is to protect three things first: 7 or more hours of sleep, meals at set times, and short breaks during the day.

This article is about long working weeks. For feeling drained in body and mind after heavy workdays, see Tired all day from work and mentally drained: what can I do? For the feeling of being emotionally worn out by work, see Burnt out at work: how is it different from tiredness? For night work, see Working night shifts and always tired: what can I do?

How many people in Thailand work more than 48 hours a week?

What the ILO study found

The International Labour Office's 2007 study, Working Time Around the World, compared working hours in more than 50 countries. Among the countries with data, Thailand ranked third for the share of people working more than 48 hours a week.

What these numbers can and cannot show

The share of people working over 48 hours is from 2004–05 and the industry hours are from 2001, so today's figures are likely to be different. They also mix very different jobs. Still, they show that long weeks have long been common in Thailand, especially among the self-employed, who set their own hours. If you run a stall, drive, sell online or do contract work, nobody sets your hours but you.

What does Thai labour law say about hours, breaks and days off?

The main limits for employees

How to use this

The point is not to argue about every hour. It is to know that a lunch break, a weekly day off and a choice about overtime are part of the normal arrangement. If your workplace has its own rules, check your contract or ask the human resources team. If you are not sure whether a rule applies to your job, the Department of Labour Protection and Welfare can advise.

How do long working hours affect sleep?

What studies have found

Reading these studies carefully

These are observational studies. They show that long hours and short sleep tend to go together; they do not prove that hours alone cause poor sleep. People who work long hours may also commute further, care for family or work late on screens. The Japanese study is small and the nurse study covers one profession, and the Whitehall II data are from 1991 to 2004 with self-reported sleep. But the pattern is consistent: when work takes more of the day, sleep is usually what gets squeezed.

How much sleep do Thai adults get?

Liangruenrom and colleagues analysed Thai time-use surveys of 167,577 adults. In 2015, only 56.4% slept within the 7 to 9 hours a day in Thailand's 24-hour movement guidelines for adults; the rest slept either less or more. Men, people in urban areas and people in Bangkok and the South were the least likely to meet the guidelines as a whole.

What happens to meals on long working weeks?

Long hours and eating patterns

Baek and colleagues studied 24,523 workers in Korea's national health and nutrition survey (2013 to 2021). Compared with people working 35 to 40 hours a week, those working 55 hours or more were less likely to have a healthy eating pattern (odds ratio 0.81) and more likely to have a low-fruit pattern (1.36). This is a Korean study and shows an association, but the everyday picture is familiar: meals get skipped, pushed late or replaced by whatever is quickest.

What the NHS suggests

The NHS suggests eating regular meals and healthy snacks every 3 to 4 hours rather than a large meal less often, and notes that sometimes you feel tired simply because you are mildly dehydrated.

Practical ways to keep meals on track

• Treat your rest period as a meal break, not as extra work time.
• Decide your meal times at the start of the week, and put a reminder in your phone.
• Keep fruit and a bottle of water at your desk or in your bag, so a late meal does not mean nothing at all.
• If you will finish late, eat a proper meal at your usual time rather than one large meal just before bed.

For ideas on putting together meals when you buy food outside, see Living alone with patchy meals: how can I cover food groups? For mornings with no time to eat, see No time for breakfast before work. What can I eat?

How can I protect rest on long working weeks?

Protect sleep first

The US CDC recommends 7 or more hours of sleep for adults aged 18 to 60, and suggests:

• going to bed and getting up at the same time every day
• turning off electronic devices at least 30 minutes before bedtime
• avoiding caffeine in the afternoon or evening
• avoiding large meals and alcohol before bedtime

On a long week, decide your latest bedtime first and plan work around it, rather than sleeping whatever is left.

Coffee: how much and until when

The US FDA cites 400 mg of caffeine a day, about two to three 12-ounce cups of coffee, as an amount not generally associated with negative effects for most adults, and lists sleep problems among the signs of too much caffeine. A 12-ounce cup of brewed coffee can contain 113 to 247 mg, and a 12-ounce energy drink 41 to 246 mg. The CDC advises avoiding caffeine in the afternoon or evening, so a late-afternoon coffee falls inside that window.

Break up long periods of sitting

Thailand's 24-hour movement guidelines include interrupting sitting every 2 hours, and the NHS advises adults to do at least 150 minutes of moderate activity a week and to break up long periods of not moving. Even a few minutes of walking to refill your water bottle counts. If long desk days also give you back ache, see Lower back aches from sitting at a desk. What can I do?

Keep at least one real day off

The Labour Protection Act sets a weekly holiday so that you get real time off. Try to keep at least one day a week with no work messages, and use annual leave rather than letting it pile up.

When is it worth talking to someone or seeing a doctor?

Talk to your workplace if

• overtime has become the normal week rather than the exception
• you regularly cannot take your rest period
• you have not had a full day off in more than a week

See a doctor if

The NHS advises seeing a doctor about tiredness if:

• you have been feeling tired for a few weeks and you are not sure why
• your tiredness affects your daily life
• you feel tired and have other symptoms, such as weight loss or mood changes

Do not drive or ride when you are too sleepy

If you feel too sleepy to drive or ride safely after a long shift, do not drive. Rest first, or use other transport.

If you take any supplements or medicines, tell your doctor or pharmacist about them.