Working long hours may be associated with an increased risk of having a heart attack, a new study shows.

The study, which was published in the Annals of Internal Medicine on April 5, has added long working hours to the list of traditional risk factors for coronary heart disease. The purpose of the study was to determine whether long working hours contribute to risk assessment of cardiovascular disease, the abstract of the study showed.

“”I’m not sure that there’s any data that says working long hours is bad for your health,”” said Dr. Gordon A. Ewy, the director of the Sarver Heart Center. “”If so, I’d be dead.””

The Framingham Heart Study, which was a research project conducted in 1948, was meant to identify the common risk factors of heart disease, Ewy said. The findings of that study are the most important things to look out for, he said.

Controlling high blood pressure, controlling cholesterol and not smoking are ways to avoid heart disease, Ewy said.

“”Those three things have really made the big difference,”” he said.

Aisha Abedi, a public health and pre-physiology sophomore, said she goes to the gym six days a week and it is a good way to work off her stress. Classes are stressful and other students can add to that stress, she said.

“”Someone next to you is always doing more than you,”” Abedi said.

Abedi said she has a friend who works two jobs and is stressed out when it comes to finding time to study. Students are definitely overworked so it is good for them to be active in other things and be social, she said.

Ewy said in the 1970s, 40 percent of people died of cardiovascular disease, and in 1980, 38 percent. By 2000, the number was still as high as 34 percent.

Dieting can also be important for heart health, but not for everyone, Ewy said.

“”The reason diet doesn’t work for everyone is because the average cholesterol in the diet is 300 milligrams and the liver puts out 900 milligrams in the bile,”” he said. “”If you decrease your cholesterol intake way down, you can only lower your cholesterol by about 10 percent.””

If someone’s cholesterol is mildly elevated, diet can help, he said. Exercise is also good for the health and those who exercise more seem to live longer, Ewy said. However, exercise has also been associated with sudden death in a number of people.

“”That’s why they say ‘Well, if you are going to go out and exercise at an older age, maybe you ought to get a treadmill test first to make sure that that’s OK,'”” he said.

While Ewy hasn’t examined the data from the Annals of Internal Medicine cohort study, he said “”The question is, ‘Did they control these people for all of the other risk factors?'””

For example, for those who worked the longest, determining their heart attack risk also depends on how much they smoked, ate and exercised, he said.

“”If you’re working long hours, you better really pay attention to all of your other risk factors,”” Ewy said. “”Of course, the most important risk factor is family history. And if you’ve got a family history of cardiovascular disease, you’ve inherited those genes.””

He said people should pay attention to the classic risk factors of heart disease. Decreasing stress, exercising, not smoking and controlling cholesterol intake are important. It’s hard to say whether someone working 11 hours a day is under more stress than other people, Ewy said.

Ryan Mangiafico, an undeclared freshman, said differently. Mangiafico exercises on the week days and is not stressed, he said. He said he doesn’t think students are overworked and they are able to find a balance between work, school and exercise, he said.

A heart attack is a blockage of the coronary arteries from atherosclerosis. It takes decades for it to develop, so age is a big factor. Most college students have normal coronary arteries, work a lot and hardly get any sleep, Ewy said.

“”It may be difficult on their psyche but it’s not going to cause a heart attack,”” he said.