Working long hours has a greater negative impact on women than men because it makes them more likely to smoke, drink coffee and eat unhealthy food.

Both sexes consume less alcohol if they spend more time working, researchers said, buttoilingextra hours makes women crave¹ unhealthy snacks.

"Women who work long hours eat more high-fat and high-sugar snacks, exercise less, drink more caffeine and, if smokers², smoke more than their male colleagues," said Dr. Daryl O'Connor, a researcher at Britain's Leeds University.

"For men, working longer hours has no negative impact on exercise, caffeine intake³ or smoking," O'Connor said in a statement released by the Economic and Social Research Council, which funded his study.

O'Connor's team of scientists were studying the impact of stress on eating habits. They looked at what causes stress at home and at work and how people react to it.

The results show that stressful events such as making a presentation, a meeting with the boss or missing a deadline were linked to eating more between-meal snacks and fewer or smaller portions of fruits and vegetables.

"Stress disrupts people's normal eating habits," he said.

The people who were most vulnerable were so-called emotional eaters.

"These individuals have higher levels of vulnerability and tend to turn to food as an escape from self-awareness," O'Connor said.

"When they feel anxious or emotionally aroused or negative about themselves, they try to avoid these negative feelings by turning their attention to food."

工作时间过长对于女性的消极影响要比男性大，因为这会导致女性吸烟、喝咖啡以及吃不健康的食品。

据研究人员介绍，男性和女性工作的时间越长，饮酒就会越少，而长时间的工作则会让女性很想吃那些不健康的零食。

英国利兹大学的研究人员达里尔·欧·科诺博士说：“长时间工作的女性会吃更多高脂肪、高糖量的零食，同时，她们锻炼身体的机会减少，会喝更多含咖啡因的饮料，而且，如果她们抽烟，长时间工作会使她们的吸烟量比男同事还要多。”

欧·科诺博士在经济和社会研究理事会发表的一份声明中说：“对于男性来说，工作时间长则不会在锻炼身体、咖啡因摄入及吸烟方面产生不良影响。”

欧·科诺博士及研究小组的科学家们研究了压力对饮食习惯造成的影响。他们对家庭和工作中造成压力的因素及人们有何反应做了调查研究。

结果表明，一些能给人造成压力的事件，如，做演讲、见老板或错过了某事的最后期限，会导致人们在非正餐时间吃更多的零食，而水果和蔬菜却吃得较少。

他说：“压力会打乱人们正常的饮食习惯。”

最易受此影响的人被称为“情绪化食者”。

欧科诺博士说：“这些人的心理比较脆弱，往往会用吃东西的方法来分散自己的注意力。”

“当他们感到焦急、情绪激动或对自己没有信心时，他们就会把注意力转移到食物上去，以此来克服消极情绪。”