Working more than 40 hours a week could lead to serious health problems for women, such as higher chances of cancer and heart diseases, a new study reveals. However, the effect on men’s health appears to be quite the opposite.

As Reuters mentions, scientists from the Ohio State University analyzed interviews provided by about 7,500 people to the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth over 32 years (in between 1978 and 2009) and the results were published in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine.

The scientists mainly analyzed their answers on average weekly working hours as well as diseases, and particularly the following: heart condition, non-skin cancer, arthritis, diabetes, chronic lung disease, asthma, chronic depression, and hypertension.

“People don’t think that much about how their early work experiences affect them down the road,” he said. “Women in their 20s, 30s and 40s are setting themselves up for problems later in life,” said Allard Dembe, professor of health services management and policy and lead author of the study.

However, it was found that men who work longer hours were more prone to mainly arthritis, while the predisposition to other types of health problems recorded to women was significantly less compared to women.

As the study claims, such a big difference between the genders may be explained by the fact that women have many different roles, since apart from pursuing career goals, they also do the housekeeping which adds up to stress.

“Women … especially women who have to juggle multiple roles …feel the effects of intensive work experiences and that can set the table for a variety of illnesses and disability,” said Dembe.