Overview
- Researchers presented an analysis at ECO 2026 in Istanbul that examined 33 OECD countries from 1990 to 2022 and found that a 1% cut in annual working hours was associated with a 0.16% drop in national obesity prevalence.
- Campaigners are urging a four-day week with full pay, citing modelling that a 20% reduction in hours could be linked to roughly half a million fewer obese people in Britain.
- The UK government says it will not mandate a four-day week for five days’ pay and points to new rules that make flexible working requests easier under the Employment Rights Act.
- Experts stress the result shows correlation rather than causation and note confounders such as income and urbanisation, with critics adding that the UK already works relatively fewer hours yet has a high obesity rate.
- Authors suggest time poverty, work stress and reliance on convenience foods as likely pathways, and prior trials of shorter weeks report lower stress, more sleep and more exercise for workers.