The research, which was conducted by University College London and Queen Mary University of London, was published in the BMJ’s Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health. After surveying over 20,000 adults and taking age, income, health and job characteristics into account, researchers found that women who worked extra-long hours had 7.3% more depressive symptoms than those who worked 35-40 hours.

However, men who work the same hours were no more likely to show signs of depression – leading researchers to suggest that women’s mental health could be affected by having to shoulder the lion’s share of domestic chores as well as working long hours.

“This is an observational study, so although we cannot establish the exact causes, we do know many women face the additional burden of doing a larger share of domestic labour than men, leading to extensive total work hours, added time pressures and overwhelming responsibilities,” explained Gill Weston of the UCL Institute of Epidemiology and Health Care, PhD candidate and lead author of the study.

Mental health in the workplace: how working long hours puts your wellbeing at risk