How Entering the Workforce Affects Young Adults

Young adults who start working experience a significant increase in their daily physical activity initially, followed by a decline over the next few years, while their sleep quality decreases. The increase in physical activity was primarily observed in people who worked in ordinary professions like waiting or cleaning, semi-routine activities like driving a bus or doing hair, or technical ones. Individuals entering professional or managerial roles showed minimal improvement.

Those who work from home recorded the biggest decline in physical activity, even though their sleep patterns remained unchanged.

Health Challenges and Lifestyle Changes in Young Adulthood

Young adulthood, which spans the ages of 16 to 30, is a critical period for health. It is also when several risk factors for chronic illnesses like cancer, heart disease, and type 2 diabetes start to emerge, even though our physical health is usually at its best.

Young adults should sleep seven to nine hours every night, participate in 150 minutes or more of moderate physical activity each week, and eat at least five servings of fruits and vegetables each day.

Young adulthood is also the time when most people start work, which changes their daily routines and activities, resources such as time and money, and social and physical environments – all of which affect health behaviours and health in later life.

To quantify the impact that starting work has on health-related behaviours, a team led by researchers at the Medical Research Council (MRC) Epidemiology Unit at the University of Cambridge examined repeated data taken over time from more than 3,000 participants in the UK Household Longitudinal Study. All the participants were aged 16–30 years and started work for the first time between 2015 and 2023.

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The results are published today in the International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity (1^✔ ✔Trusted Source
New job, new habits? A multilevel interrupted time series analysis of changes in diet, physical activity and sleep among young adults starting work for the first time

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Dr Eleanor Winpenny, who was based at the University of Cambridge when she carried out the work, but is now at Imperial College London, said: “We know about physical activity and sleep patterns among young people while they’re at school, but very little about what happens when they start work. Given the impact that work can have on our lives – and the lasting impacts this can have on our health – it’s important to try and understand what happens at this transition.”

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Effect of Work on Physical Activity, Sleep, and Health

The analysis showed that when people started work, their physical activity increased by an amount equivalent to around 28 min of moderate activity (such as cycling) per day on average – but then decreased each year after starting work by around 7 min per day.

The biggest increase was among males – up by an equivalent of around 45 min of moderate activity per day compared to an increase of around 16 min for females. People who did not have a university degree also showed a greater increase in physical activity compared to those with a university degree – equivalent to around a 42-minute increase of moderate physical activity per day compared to 15 min per day.

Working from home, however, appeared to be associated with an initial decrease in physical activity, equivalent to around 32 min of moderate activity per day.

When young adults started work, the amount of time they slept per night dropped immediately by almost 10 minutes and remained stable at this level over time; however, people without a degree showed a continuing decrease of about 3 minutes of sleep per night each year after starting work, while those with a degree slowly increased back to their pre-work sleep levels.

There was little change in the amount of fruit and vegetables consumed after starting work.

Alena Oxenham, from the MRC Epidemiology Unit, said: “Beginning work can have a profound impact on our lifestyles and on behaviours that might make a difference to our health, if not immediately then later in life.

“Although we found that people tend to do more physical activity when they begin work, which is good news, these are averages, and some people – particularly those who work from home and, to a lesser degree, those with office-based jobs – may do less.

“If we want to stay healthy throughout our lives, we need to remember that keeping active is an important way of helping us achieve this goal. Those working at home might want to consider incorporating physical activity into their day, for example by going for a walk before or after work, or during a lunch break.”

Dr Winpenny added: “Workplaces provide an opportunity to create environments and cultures that support healthier diets, more physical activity and better sleep for young adults. This could result in healthier employees and fewer sick days in the immediate term, but also have long-term benefits, helping prevent health issues in later life.”

Reference:

1. New job, new habits? A multilevel interrupted time series analysis of changes in diet, physical activity and sleep among young adults starting work for the first time - (https://ijbnpa.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12966-024-01682-8)

Source-Eurekalert