Susie Masterson says switching to a four-day work week helped her lose 10kg, scale back burnout and enhance her total well being and wellbeing
The draining way of life impacted each her bodily and psychological wellbeing (Picture: FreshSplash by way of Getty Photographs)
A psychotherapist who moved to a four-day working week says the change utterly revolutionised her well being, enabling her to shed kilos, acquire energy and at last bounce again from years of burnout. Contemporary analysis offered on the European Congress on Weight problems in Istanbul signifies that prolonged working hours could also be linked to elevated weight problems ranges, with specialists cautioning that stress, inadequate train and dependence on comfort meals can all hurt well being. The research revealed that each one per cent lower in working hours was linked to a 0.16 per cent drop in weight problems charges.
Now, 51-year-old Manchester-based psychotherapist and coach Susie Masterson says slicing her workload supplied her with the time and vitality to focus on her wellbeing in methods beforehand not possible. Previous to retraining as a therapist, Susie spent 20 years within the tech trade, ceaselessly accumulating gruelling 60-hour weeks. Chatting with The i, she mentioned: “I skilled a number of situations of burnout in that position. There have been such highs and lows, and the strain was fixed.”
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The pressure of gruelling lengthy hours additionally took a toll on her consuming habits (Picture: Getty)
The draining way of life impacted each her bodily and psychological wellbeing, leading to migraines, digestive points and pores and skin flare-ups she now suspects had been stress-induced. Regardless of forking out for remedy and private coaching, she discovered it more and more troublesome to maintain up wholesome habits owing to her relentless schedule. “I felt like I used to be investing in myself as a result of I used to be paying for a private coach and remedy, however I wasn’t truly managing to remain on prime of all of it,” she defined.
The pressure of gruelling lengthy hours additionally took a toll on her consuming habits. Susie recalled surviving on processed meals, caffeine and hasty snacks, whereas ceaselessly forgetting to eat totally when absorbed in her work. “I used to have what I jokingly known as the ‘breakfast of champions’, which was a Weight-reduction plan Coke and a Mars bar,” she mentioned.
After departing the tech trade and organising on her personal as a psychotherapist a decade in the past, issues initially took a flip for the higher. But steadily, the emotional weight of supporting purchasers started to put on her down as soon as extra.
“It is a very intense, isolating job,” she mentioned. Approaching her late forties, Susie began experiencing signs she attributed to perimenopause, amongst them weight acquire, anxiousness and the reemergence of migraines. Whereas hormone alternative remedy provided some reduction, she got here to recognise that one thing extra profound was amiss.
“I used to be but once more burnt out,” she mentioned. Resolute in her willpower to interrupt the cycle, she selected to trial a four-day working week two years in the past, earlier than making the association everlasting in January 2026 — at the price of a portion of her wage. What took her without warning most was how she utilised her extra day away from the workplace. “At first, I believed Wednesday could be a artistic day for me, the place I may write my e-book,” she defined. “However I rapidly realised having that point meant I used to be gravitating in the direction of exercising first, doing issues like meal prep and batch cooking.”
The mid-week respite quickly advanced into what she now calls her “Whole Well being Day”. She began incorporating transient durations of motion all through Wednesdays, progressively working as much as prolonged strength-training periods. These habits subsequently carried over into weekends as effectively.
The outcomes have been hanging. “I’ve not solely misplaced 10kg, I’ve additionally misplaced hidden, visceral fats round my organs, and elevated my ratio of muscle to fats,” she mentioned.
Susie added that she now feels bodily stronger and extra versatile than earlier than, with long-standing hip ache disappearing totally. She mentioned: “I used to have loads of joint ache in my hip and puzzled if it was arthritis. However now, I’ve no ache in any respect.”
She additionally credit the heightened emphasis on wellbeing with enhancing her skilled output and artistic pondering. “Specializing in eating regimen and train on that time off has truly given me extra capability to do the artistic work I initially thought I might do on my non-working day,” she mentioned.
“I genuinely do consider that working simply 4 days per week has given me extra capability to know my well being and the well being of others. It is actually modified what I do with my physique.”
Her expertise displays broader findings rising from four-day working week trials. Final yr, a Scottish Authorities-backed pilot involving two public sector organisations — South of Scotland Enterprise and Accountant in Chapter — discovered workers reported main enhancements in psychological well being, work-life steadiness and stress ranges after shifting to a four-day sample.
Analysis carried out by the Autonomy Institute revealed that staff had been overwhelmingly in favour of the change, with many describing the influence as “life-changing”.
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