Editor’s Opinion: How Many Hours Is Too Many Hours to Work?

It’s a question I’ve been asking myself a lot lately. I probably work around 14 hours a day, Monday to Friday, and another five or six hours on both Saturday and Sunday. When you add it up, it’s a lot. Too much, if I’m honest. The strange thing is, I don’t always feel overworked.

When you’re building something you genuinely care about, work doesn’t always feel like work. It feels like progress. It feels like solving problems, protecting jobs, paying mortgages, creating opportunities and trying to build something that will hopefully matter one day.

That’s probably the danger. Because ambition has a way of disguising exhaustion. There is always one more email to answer, one more article to review, one more meeting to prepare for, one more client to support. The to-do list never reaches zero. Yet somehow, throughout all of this, I’ve still managed to be present for the things that matter most.

The school runs, homework, birthday parties, sleepovers. The everyday moments with my son that disappear far too quickly if you aren’t paying attention. Looking back, I honestly don’t know how I’ve managed it. It sometimes feels like I’ve been permanently operating at full capacity for years.

One thing I have learned about myself is that sleep is completely non-negotiable. I know people proudly talk about surviving on four or five hours a night. That’s never been me. Give me eight hours of sleep and I genuinely feel like I can tackle almost anything the next day. Take that away, and everything becomes harder.

I’ve also learned that not everything marketed as “fuel” actually helps. Around four years ago, I stopped drinking coffee completely. Partly because I realised I was spending almost £20 a day in Starbucks, which now seems ridiculous when I think about it, but mostly because I realised what it was doing to me.

I constantly felt anxious, on edge and wired. Once I stopped, I was surprised by how much calmer I became. I also noticed that a lot of the inflammation I’d been living with seemed to improve. I’m not suggesting coffee is bad for everyone, far from it, but I learned it simply wasn’t right for me.

The older I get, the more I realise that understanding your own body is one of the most valuable skills you can develop. The truth is, I don’t actually know what the “right” number of working hours is. Thirty-five? Forty? Fifty? Sixty? I suspect the answer is different for everyone.

Some people love what they do so much that long hours don’t feel like a burden. Others count the minutes until Friday afternoon, and that’s okay too. For me, I know I’m working too many hours to sustain a healthy lifestyle forever. I also know that I’m fortunate to enjoy what I do. My ambition doesn’t feel like punishment. Most days, it feels like purpose. But enjoying work doesn’t make us immune from burnout.

Sometimes the people most at risk are those who love their jobs the most, because they don’t notice the line between commitment and overcommitment until they’ve already crossed it. So, I’d genuinely love to hear your thoughts.

How many hours do you think is too many hours to work?

Is it about the number of hours? Or is it about whether those hours leave enough room for family, friends, health, hobbies and simply being present?

I’d love to know where you draw the line.

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