by Audrey Kerchner

Created on: April 21, 2007   Last Updated: April 30, 2007

I'm never caught up at work. Every time I accomplish something there's 10 minutes of joy, just a moment to celebrate then I have to get right back to doing "it". It's always about the doing and getting it done to get ahead. Nothing else matters today just getting the work done, tomorrow I will worry about my wife, my children my life but today I need to get ahead. It's for them right? It needs to be perfect, my boss has to see that I am great and that I deserve that promotion and this one thing will make or break me so I have to throw everything I have into to otherwise: "I am ruined"!

Does this internal monolog sound familiar? Does that one day turn into a week or the week turns into a month or a year? For those of you who are reading this and asking," what's so bad about wanting to get ahead all the time?" Ask your significant other, your family and your doctor that same question to find your answers.

Workaholics, those who spend an obsessive amount of time doing work, and thinking about work tend to have hire stress levels, worse eating habits and exercise habits than the normal working man. The consequences of working at a break neck level all the time can be the leading cause of martial and family issues. How you work and your work level can have devastating health risks too.

Increases stress levels are known to cause male adults to have anxiety disorders and put them at higher risks for drug and alcohol dependency. Stress also increases your chances of heart attack and stroke, which men are already at greater risk for anyway.

Sciences has also shown that bad diets and no exercise increase risk of certain diseases such as diabetes, obesity, heart disease, many types of cancer. The list goes on; Google "poor diet" or "lack of exercise" and you will get 10,000 different sources of diseases related to poor diet and exercise. The bottom line; workaholics have a shorter life expectancy then those who have a healthy work life balance.

Extra time at work is time away from your family. With half of all marriages ending in divorce and a good portion of the other half in therapy, it begs the question of how much of your working to get ahead and not being at home is affecting your life. Do you live with your family or does your family live around you? What do you and your spouse fight about? Even if it is not about your work hours, it could be about things that are caused by your lack of participation in your home life and simply not being there.

We as humans have the

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