A psychotherapist who switched to a four-day working week says the decision completely transformed her health, helping her lose weight, build strength and finally recover from years of burnout.
New findings presented at the European Congress on Obesity in Istanbul suggest long working hours may be linked to higher obesity rates, with researchers warning that stress, lack of exercise and reliance on convenience food can all take a toll on health. The research found that every one per cent reduction in working hours was associated with a 0.16 per cent fall in obesity rates.
Now, 51-year-old Manchester-based psychotherapist and coach Susie Masterson says reducing her workload gave her the time and energy to focus on her wellbeing in a way she never could before.
Before retraining as a therapist, Susie spent two decades working in tech, often clocking up punishing 60-hour weeks. Speaking to The i, she said: “I experienced multiple instances of burnout in that role. There were such highs and lows, and the pressure was constant.”
The demanding lifestyle affected both her physical and mental health, leading to migraines, digestive problems and skin flare-ups she now believes were stress-related.
Despite paying for therapy and personal training, she struggled to maintain healthy routines because of how busy she was. “I felt like I was investing in myself because I was paying for a personal trainer and therapy, but I wasn't actually managing to stay on top of it all,” she explained.
The pressure of long hours also disrupted her eating habits. Susie described surviving on processed food, caffeine and quick snacks while regularly forgetting to eat altogether when immersed in projects. “I used to have what I jokingly called the ‘breakfast of champions’, which was a Diet Coke and a Mars bar,” she said.
After leaving the tech industry and becoming self-employed as a psychotherapist a decade ago, things initially improved. But over time, the emotional demands of supporting clients began to drain her again.
“It's a very intense, isolating job,” she said. By her late forties, Susie noticed symptoms she believed were linked to perimenopause, including weight gain, anxiety and the return of migraines. Although hormone replacement therapy helped, she realised something deeper was wrong.
“I was yet again burnt out,” she said. Determined not to repeat the cycle, she decided to trial a four-day week two years ago before making it permanent in January 2026, sacrificing part of her salary in the process.
What surprised her most was how she used her extra day away from work. “At first, I thought Wednesday would be a creative day for me, where I could write my book,” she explained. “But I quickly realised having that time meant I was gravitating towards exercising first, doing things like meal prep and batch cooking.”
The midweek break soon became what she describes as her “Total Health Day”. She began doing short bursts of movement throughout Wednesdays, gradually building up to longer strength-training sessions. Those routines later expanded into weekends too.
The results have been dramatic. “I've not only lost 10kg, I've also lost hidden, visceral fat around my organs, and increased my ratio of muscle to fat,” she said.
Susie added that she now feels physically stronger and more flexible than before, with long-standing hip pain disappearing entirely. She said: “I used to have a lot of joint pain in my hip and wondered if it was arthritis. But now, I have no pain at all.”
She also believes the additional focus on health has improved her professional life and creativity. “Focusing on diet and exercise on that day off has actually given me more capacity to do the creative work I originally thought I'd do on my non-working day,” she said.
“I genuinely do believe that working just four days a week has given me more capacity to understand my health and the health of others. It's really changed what I do with my body.”
Her experience mirrors wider findings from trials of reduced working weeks. Last year, a Scottish Government-backed pilot involving two public sector organisations — South of Scotland Enterprise and Accountant in Bankruptcy — found staff reported major improvements in mental health, work-life balance and stress levels after moving to a four-day pattern.
Research by the Autonomy Institute found employees overwhelmingly supported the change, with many describing the impact as “life-changing”.
