Research reveals downsides of top

After 17 years, leaving Virgin was a wrench, but three years ago Salway quit to set up her own alcohol-free bar, Redemption, in Notting Hill. Photo / Getty Images

Ten years ago, Catherine Salway was brand director at Virgin, jetting between LA, New York and London, earning a six-figure salary, checking out property ads and considering buying a larger London home.

By most corporate executive standards, she was living the dream: a high-flying career at a successful company, accompanied by a jet-set lifestyle of copious champagne, canapes and transatlantic flights.

But it didn't feel that good. "I was ... overweight, I drank far too much, and my moods oscillated between stressed and depressed," she says. "I was cash-rich but time-poor, rarely seeing my family and friends, eating and drinking far too much."

After 17 years as Richard Branson's "brand guru", leaving Virgin was a wrench, but three years ago Salway quit to set up her own alcohol-free bar, Redemption, in Notting Hill.

"Some people think they have a book in them; I felt I had a brand in me," she says. This sidestep transformed her health. "I had been propelled by ambition and didn't realise just how bad the lifestyle was, until I popped out the other end.

"I haven't had a manicure for three years, but I'm down to a healthy size 12, I book yoga into my schedule three times a week and I see my dad twice a month, instead of a few times a year.

"At 42, I look and feel so much better than I did 10 years ago."

Some of our most deeply held notions are that the executive lifestyle is something to aspire to; that 75-hour working weeks are the key to success; that success equals happiness; and that money may not buy happiness, but it certainly helps.

But there is mounting evidence the executive lifestyle is not all it is cracked up to be. Last week, a major study showed that employees who work more than 55 hours a week have a 33 per cent increased risk of stroke, compared with co-workers who clock up 35-40 hours.

"Sudden death from overwork is often caused by stroke and is believed to result from a repetitive triggering of the stress response," wrote researchers from University College London, in the Lancet.

Although they cannot state categorically that long hours can cause strokes, their study shows a clear link - one that gets stronger as the hours people put in get longer.

Bad news not just for employees at Amazon, whose round-the-clock culture was the subject of a New York Times expose last week, but for everyone else in the corporate world who shrugged in recognition, rather than outrage, at revelations of the pressures of fuelling the demands of our 24/7 service culture.

And researchers at the University of Surrey and Linnaeus University in Sweden say a jet-set lifestyle puts frequent flyers at risk from serious physiological, psychological, emotional and social damage. While we're all familiar with the short-term consequences of jetlag, it seems it may also "switch off" genes linked to the immune system, raising the risk of heart attack or stroke.

"And the amount of booze and food you consume really affects you, making you depressed and overweight," says Salway.

The researchers added that feelings of loneliness and isolation were also common among people who worked long hours and travelled often.

"The frequent-flyer lifestyle isn't at all conducive to relationships," agrees Salway. It was after her marriage ended that she realised "freedom was my greatest asset", and mustered the strength to leave Virgin.

Research into the pressures on British women found four in 10 "are on the brink of burnout", with nearly half of the 5000 respondents feeling "moderately or extremely stressed".

But women are better at getting help. Working men suffer higher rates of alcoholism, drug and anger issues.

British statistics show the number of men taking their own lives is at its highest in more than a decade, triple the number of women, with those aged 45 to 59 most at risk.