People who work longer smoke more

People who work long hours find it harder to quit smoking and those who have given up are more at risk of starting again, according to the researchers from the Loughborough University in Britain.

"When smokers increase their hours above a typical 40-hour working week, the chances they will successfully give up smoking fall. They become progressively less likely to give up as their working hours increase," explained professor Andy Charlwood from the Loughborough University's School of Business and Economics.

Former smokers who start working longer hours are also more likely to relapse, he added.

To prove this, researchers reviewed the smoking behaviour of more than 20,000 people over a 19-year period.

It found a smoker who increases their working week from 40 to 60-plus hours is less than half as likely to quit smoking as someone who stays on a 40-hour week.

"Even if people like their jobs and choose to work long hours, we tend to experience more stress and less pleasure at work than we do when undertaking most other day-to-day activities," Charlwood added.

Because smokers experience smoking as a pleasurable and stress-relieving activity, the additional stress of working long hours is likely to increase the craving for cigarettes.

The paper appeared in the journal Social Science & Medicine.