Health
Your brain physically changes when you work too much, scientists warn
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New research has found that being overworked can physically alter the brain.
Researchers in South Korea set out to understand how working long hours impact the cognitive and emotional health of employees.
The study, published in the journal Occupational & Environmental Medicine, assessed the brain volume of 110 healthcare workers who were classified by the categories of overworked – working greater than or equal to 52 hours per week – and non-overworked.
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The results revealed that overworked individuals exhibited “significant changes” in brain regions that are associated with executive function and emotional regulation.
Study co-author Wanhyung Lee, M.D., Ph.D., assistant professor at Chung-Ang University College of Medicine in Seoul, told Fox News Digital that this is one of the first studies to examine the relationship between prolonged working hours and structural brain changes.
New research has shown that overworked individuals exhibited “significant changes” in key brain regions. (iStock)
“We initially had no clear expectations regarding what we might discover,” he revealed. “Therefore, we found the results particularly intriguing.”
The researcher noted that increased brain volume associated with cognitive and emotional functions was an “unexpected and fascinating” observation of the study.
“These findings open new questions and underscore the complexity of how chronic occupational stress might affect brain health, highlighting the need for further detailed investigations,” he said.
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The increased brain volume as observed was found in regions associated with executive functions, Lee said, such as memory, decision-making and attention — as well as emotional regulation, such as stress management and emotional stability.
While these changes may initially reflect a need to manage “ongoing occupational stress,” according to Lee, there could be potential risks of prolonged or chronic alterations.
This could include neural strain, inflammation or maladaptive reorganization.
Working long hours could potentially have a long-term impact on brain function, a study co-author and professor (not pictured) has suggested. (iStock)
“Although our current study cannot conclusively determine the long-term impacts, ongoing exposure without sufficient recovery may negatively affect cognitive and emotional health,” he said.
Lee urged employees who work excessive hours to recognize that chronic stress can lead to physical brain changes, not just psychological complications. This emphasizes the need to manage workload, prioritize rest and maintain emotional balance.
“At the same time, individual efforts alone are not sufficient; organizational support and proactive management by companies to create healthy working conditions are essential to protect employees’ brain health,” he said.
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“With the rapid advancement of smartphones and digital technology, work increasingly extends beyond traditional office hours into personal time, making chronic overwork more common and less visible,” Lee went on. “Employers and policymakers must also acknowledge and address these evolving work patterns to support sustainable working environments.”
The researcher recognized the progressive move toward becoming an “overwork society.” He urged employees to “actively set boundaries, ensure regular rest and recovery, practice stress management, and advocate for workplace policies that clearly define and respect healthy work-hour limits.”
There’s “no question” too much mental stress can alter the brain, said a neurosurgeon. (iStock)
Dr. Paul Saphier, a neurosurgeon and founder of Coaxial Neurosurgical Specialists in New Jersey, was not involved in the study but commented on the findings in an interview with Fox News Digital.
Saphier considered the study interesting, yet not “overly surprising.”
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“There is no question that mental stress and fatigue, either with sleep deprivation, anxiety, long periods of intense concentration, etc., lead to alteration of neurotransmitter release and additional physiological changes,” he said. “This may ultimately lead to anatomical changes within the brain.”
Experts have known that professions that require “crisp cognitive awareness” with “zero room for error” — such as airline pilots and medical professionals — benefit from “limited consecutive work hours to reduce errors,” said the neurosurgeon.
“Caring for your mental health and well-being is essential if you want to be a productive employee,” one career expert said. (iStock)
Kyle Elliott, a California-based tech career coach and mental health expert, also weighed in during a separate interview with Fox News Digital.
“Caring for your mental health and well-being is essential if you want to be a productive employee,” he said.
“Neglecting your mental health can not only affect your ability to work effectively but also negatively impact your physical health and longevity.”
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Elliot encouraged employees to advocate for their needs.
“Don’t be afraid to speak up [at work or to employers] if you need to take a break or time off to protect your mental or physical health,” he said. “Your mind and body will thank you in the long run.”
The expert suggested taking smaller steps to preserve mental health and prevent burnout, such as taking allocated breaks throughout the workday, connecting with people who are safe to share your frustration with and limiting time on social media.
Health
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Health
4 anti-aging approaches revealed in 2025 that may help Americans live longer
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On average, Americans want to live to be 91 years old, according to a recent Pew Research survey — a goal that has driven a focus on longevity-boosting practices.
Over 60% of U.S. adults use supplements and most prioritize long-term health and wellness behaviors as part of an anti-aging approach, research has shown.
In 2025, researchers revealed the following anti-aging discoveries that may help you live a longer life.
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1. Vitamin D could slow the aging process
A study by researchers at Mass General Brigham and the Medical College of Georgia discovered that taking vitamin D supplements may protect against biological aging.
Research published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition in May 2025 found that supplementing with daily vitamin D3 can reduce biological wear and tear equivalent to nearly three years of aging.
Vitamin D3 supplementation can reduce biological wear and tear equivalent to nearly three years of aging, research has shown. (iStock)
Three months later, researchers at Harvard confirmed this correlation with their own study published in the same journal.
Daily vitamin D3 supplementation was found to prevent the shortening of telomeres, the protective ends on chromosome strands, which is a hallmark of aging.
2. Meditation practices may boost longevity
An April 2025 study by Maharishi International University (MIU), the University of Siegen, and the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences found that transcendental meditation can significantly alleviate stress and slow down aging.
The long-term meditation practice involves silently repeating a mantra in your head to achieve deep relaxation.
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The study, published in the journal Biomolecules, found that participants who practiced transcendental meditation had lower expression of the genes associated with inflammation and aging.
“These results support other studies indicating that the transcendental meditation technique can reverse or remove long-lasting effects of stress,” co-author Kenneth Walton, a senior researcher at MIU, previously told Fox News Digital. “Lasting effects of stress are now recognized as causing or contributing to all diseases and disorders.”
Those who practiced transcendental mediation had a lower expression of genes associated with aging. (iStock)
3. GLP-1s are linked to reduction in mortality
A September 2025 study discovered that GLP-1 drugs, which are designed for diabetes and weight loss, could significantly reduce mortality for Americans.
Researchers at Swiss Re, a reinsurance company in Zurich, Switzerland, estimated that GLP-1 drugs could lead to a 6.4% reduction in all-cause mortality in the U.S. by 2045. In the U.K., more than a 5% reduction in mortality was projected over the same 20 years.
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Obesity is one factor that has “stalled progress in life expectancy,” as it is linked to 70% of the leading causes of death in high-income countries, according to the researchers.
4. Creativity and socialization could extend lifespan
In October 2025, various research investigated the impact of social engagement on longevity.
A study published in the journal Brain, Behavior and Immunity found that social relationships can slow cellular aging.
A September 2025 study discovered that GLP-1 drugs could significantly reduce mortality for Americans. (iStock)
Researchers at Cornell University explored the long-term benefits of social connections on biological aging.
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“We found that strong social ties can literally slow down the biological aging process,” lead study author Anthony Ong previously said in an interview with Fox News Digital. “Strong social ties appear to work in the background over many years, building a more resilient body by reducing the chronic, low-grade inflammation that is a key driver of accelerated aging.”
Social connection is a major player in extending longevity, research has shown. (iStock)
A similar study was published the same month, revealing that creative activities such as music, dance, painting and even certain video games may help keep the brain biologically younger.
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Researchers from 13 countries — including teams at Trinity College Dublin in Ireland and SWPS University in Poland — analyzed brain data from more than 1,400 adults of all ages worldwide. Those who regularly pursued creative hobbies had brain patterns that appeared younger than their actual age.
Even short bursts of creative activity, such as a few weeks of strategy-based video gaming, had noticeable benefits.
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Fox News Digital’s Deirdre Bardolf and Melissa Rudy contributed reporting.
Health
Hidden factor in cancer treatment timing may affect survival, researchers say
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The time of day patients receive cancer treatments could have an impact on the outcome, a new study suggests.
New research published in Cancer, the official journal of the American Cancer Society, found that patients who received standard immunochemotherapy for extensive-stage small cell lung cancer (ES-SCLC) earlier in the day saw “significantly greater benefit” compared to those who got the same treatment later in the afternoon.
In the study, researchers from the Affiliated Cancer Hospital of Xiangya School of Medicine at Central South University, China, analyzed data from nearly 400 patients who were treated between May 2019 and October 2023.
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All patients had ES-SCLC and received first-line immunotherapy (atezolizumab or durvalumab) along with chemotherapy, according to a press release.
“Our study found that patients who received immunochemotherapy before 3:00 PM had substantially longer progression-free survival and overall survival,” lead study author Dr. Yongchang Zhang, medical oncologist and chief director at the Hunan Cancer Hospital in Changsha, China, told Fox News Digital.
The time of day patients receive cancer treatments could have an impact on the outcome, a new study suggests. (iStock)
“After adjusting for multiple confounding factors, earlier administration was associated with a 52% lower risk of cancer progression and a 63% lower risk of death.”
“It was quite surprising that simply changing the infusion time could lead to such substantial survival benefits for patients,” he added.
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The findings align with the idea of chronotherapy, which suggests that the body’s natural daily rhythms affect how the immune system works and how drugs act in the body.
This means cancer treatments may be more effective at certain times of day, likely because immune activity and drug processing change over the 24-hour cycle, the study suggests.
“This study should not prompt patients to delay treatment or panic about appointment times.”
Based on the findings, Zhang recommends scheduling immunotherapy infusions in the early part of the day.
“Research across multiple cancer types has shown that patients receiving immunotherapy earlier in the day experience longer survival,” he noted. “Our findings in non-small cell lung cancer, supported by both multicenter retrospective studies and prospective clinical trials, confirm this pattern.”
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Gilberto Lopes, M.D., chief of medical oncology at the Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, noted that previous, similar studies in non-small cell lung cancer have shown better outcomes when immunotherapy is administered earlier in the day, reinforcing the idea that the immune system follows circadian rhythms that influence treatment response.
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“In that sense, the results are biologically plausible and consistent with a growing body of evidence across cancers,” Lopes, who was not involved in the study, told Fox News Digital. “What is striking is that this signal now appears in small cell lung cancer, a disease where outcomes have been notoriously difficult to improve.”
All patients had ES-SCLC and received first-line immunotherapy (atezolizumab or durvalumab) along with chemotherapy. (iStock)
The study did have some limitations, as detailed in the published study. Most notably, the study was retrospective and observational, meaning it could not prove a cause-and-effect relationship between timing of treatments and outcomes.
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With this type of study, Lopes said, “investigators start with an idea and go back and review patient records.” In this case, other factors can have an impact on the outcome, according to the oncologist.
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“For instance, did patients who come early in the day have a better quality of life, performance status and socioeconomic status and that is what made the difference?” he asked. “Or something else we don’t know? These results need to be confirmed prospectively to eliminate known and unknown sources of bias.”
“The next step is prospective testing, but until then, this research invites us to rethink something medicine usually ignores: timing itself,” an oncologist said. (iStock)
Zhang also pointed out that this was a single-center study including only Chinese patients. “To obtain more definitive evidence, prospective clinical trials conducted across multiple countries and diverse populations are needed,” he told Fox News Digital.
Looking ahead, the researchers plan to conduct randomized trials to confirm these preliminary findings and pinpoint optimal treatment windows based on individual patients’ chronotypes (internal body clocks).
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“This study should not prompt patients to delay treatment or panic about appointment times,” Lopes cautioned. “But it raises an important, low-cost question for oncology systems: If scheduling flexibility exists, should earlier infusion times be preferred?”
“The next step is prospective testing, but until then, this research invites us to rethink something medicine usually ignores: timing itself.”
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