Psyche

If you do this, the chance of becoming depressed is 250 percent higher

By Tessa Heinhuis | #!31Wed, 09 Jul 2025 05:00:14 +0200+02:001431#31Wed, 09 Jul 2025 05:00:14 +0200+02:00-5Europe/Amsterdam3131Europe/Amsterdam202531 09am31am-31Wed, 09 Jul 2025 05:00:14 +0200+02:005Europe/Amsterdam3131Europe/Amsterdam2025312025Wed, 09 Jul 2025 05:00:14 +0200005007amWednesday=9#!31Wed, 09 Jul 2025 05:00:14 +0200+02:00Europe/Amsterdam7#07-09-2025#!31Wed, 09 Jul 2025 05:00:14 +0200+02:001431#/31Wed, 09 Jul 2025 05:00:14 +0200+02:00-5Europe/Amsterdam3131Europe/Amsterdam202531#!31Wed, 09 Jul 2025 05:00:14 +0200+02:00Europe/Amsterdam7#

‘Even the richest on earth cannot buy back their past with all the money in the world,’ I read recently. And now you probably think just like I did back then: yes, damn, that is true.

Because money is just money: time is your most valuable possession. Of course, money is nice. Nice when you don't have to worry about it. But ‘the new rich’ refers to people who have a lot of free time, not that fat savings account with six zeros. You can't get time back. How you allocate your time in life is up to you. And some do it a bit more skillfully than others. Happiness doesn't lie in successes, wealth, or luxury vacations. I mean: okay, I also get pretty happy with a glass of sangria in my hand on a beach in Spain, but yes, it's not your life's happiness. You get that from every ordinary day in the rain, your mindset, what you do each week, and especially with whom you spend your time. Because time always passes again: today is tomorrow's yesterday. You can't get it back, no matter how clever and smart you are. So make the best of it.

What psychologists mainly recommend is not to work too much. In the book ‘The Cambridge Happiness Profiler’ by Patrick van Hees, happiness expert, it is simply described. Anyone who systematically and thus regularly works eleven hours or more in one day has a 250 percent higher chance of becoming depressed. And we're not talking about one long day of overtime, but just making a few long days each week and repeatedly filling your evenings with a meeting, your laptop, and a Zoom call. Working makes you happy as a person, certainly, because it gives you satisfaction. It gives you a purpose, a calling, a rhythm. But if you do it too much, then it's not good for you and you can mentally break down. Overworking is therefore detrimental to your happiness, research shows. Keep it really to those eight hours a day and then do something else. Drink wine with friends, go out with your partner, or, well, go exercise.

In the Netherlands, almost twenty percent of adults between the ages of 16 and 64 will experience depression at some point. And now you know what an important factor this can be: work. Having passion for your job is incredibly beautiful and enjoy everything you do, but do it in moderation. Think about that time: the only thing you can't train, arrange, make, meet, organize, submit, or buy.