Can working fewer hours lead to improved health and increased productivity? A new bill in the US Congress reopens the debate about the ideal work week, proposing to gradually reduce it from 40 to 32 hours. This step comes in light of studies linking long working hours to a higher risk of stroke and heart disease, as well as a decline in productivity after exceeding 50 hours per week.
A report published by The Independent newspaper reviews the number of working hours that may achieve the best balance between health and professional performance, and what studies say about the optimal duration.
The 32-Hour Workweek Act, introduced by Vermont Democratic Senator Bernie Sanders and California Representative Mark Takano, would gradually reduce work hours over four years. It also allows employees to receive additional pay for any hours worked that exceed eight hours per day. But is 32 hours a week the ideal amount of time to work?
Study: 37 hours a week may be the optimal period
Economists at Duke University have found that the optimal workweek is closer to 37 hours, if the goal is to improve employee well-being. However, the results showed that reducing working hours to 32 hours may also achieve an improvement in their level of well-being.
In 2025, the researchers wrote, the size of the expected gains depends, in particular, on how the new policy affects employees who report currently working very long hours.
The results of the study were based on survey data that included workers in Germany, where the usual weekly working hours, as is the case for Americans, often exceed 40 hours.
But workers in the United States spend more time at work than their European counterparts. Research conducted by Arizona State University in 2016 showed that Americans work approximately 25 percent longer than Europeans.
According to a report issued by Gallup in 2025, the average working hours of a full-time American employee will reach about 43 hours per week in 2024.
Forty hours a week became an official standard in the United States in 1940, after the Fair Labor Standards Act was amended.
Long working hours increase the risk of stroke and heart disease
The effects of long working hours are not limited to fatigue or a loss of balance between professional and personal life, but may also affect health, according to experts.
Studies indicate that working long hours is associated with a higher risk of serious health problems, including stroke and cardiovascular disease.
A government study conducted in France in 2019 found that people who work, on average, one ten-hour day per week have a third higher risk of stroke, compared to those who do not regularly work long hours.
The increase in infection risk was most pronounced among workers under 50 years of age.
Productivity declines after 50 hours of work per week
The potential damage does not stop at the health aspect, as employee productivity can also decline as working hours increase.
According to a study conducted by Stanford University in 2013, productivity begins to decline after exceeding 50 hours of work per week.
Last year, Dr. Adam Borland, a psychologist at the Cleveland Clinic, likened the human ability to work for long periods of time to the performance of a car, explaining that “the car does not operate at its best efficiency when the fuel tank is empty.”
This metaphor reflects the importance of rest and recovery in maintaining professional performance. Increasing working hours does not necessarily mean achieving higher productivity, and may lead, beyond a certain limit, to adverse results.
Madame Tussauds Dubai Museum unveiled a wax statue by the Egyptian artist Ahmed Helmy, and Helmy celebrated the unveiling of his statue, which embodies his wax “twin,” in a step that represents a new addition to his artistic career, and highlights his presence in Arab cinema.
His wife, the artist Mona Zaki, mentioned in a fun video on Instagram that she did not differentiate between Helmy and the wax version of him at the beginning of the video.
Helmy described his feeling towards the statue as “strange and new,” according to his talk to the media during the celebration of the statue.
The event coincides with Helmy’s return to the screen with the movie “History,” which is scheduled to be released in Egyptian and Arab theaters on November 11, 2026. It is his first film since “One More” in 2022.
It takes four to seven months to make each statue, according to previous statements by the museum director, Sanaz Kulsrud, to Reuters news agency.
Second: The most prominent Arab celebrities in the museum
The Dubai branch opened its doors in October 2021 on Bluewaters Island, and included about 60 statues, including 16 new statues of figures from the Middle East. Among the most prominent Arabs mentioned are:
• Balqis Fathi: The first Arab artist whose statue was unveiled in the Dubai branch.
• Nancy Ajram and Mia Diab: Reports mentioned them among the new statues in the area.
• Muhammad Assaf: His statue was unveiled before the opening in September 2021.
• Hassan Al-Shafi’i: Egyptian composer and composer, and his statue appeared in Reuters’ coverage of the museum’s opening.
• Ahmed Fahmy: Actor and presenter of the “Arab Idol” program, and one of the first Egyptians in the Dubai branch.
• Amna Al Haddad: Emirati Olympic weightlifter, who cut the opening ribbon with Chris Fade.
• Chris Fade (Australian-Lebanese) and Bin Baz: one of the most prominent faces of media and digital content in the region.
• Mohamed Salah (Egypt): His statue is in the London branch. He is the first Arab player to have a statue made for him in the museum in London, and the third football player after David Beckham and Cristiano Ronaldo.
Third: The most prominent foreign celebrities
The museum includes thousands of models globally, and in the Dubai branch there are six areas that include world cinema, Bollywood, sports, music, fashion, and referees. Among the celebrities there are:
• Music: Taylor Swift (a new model in Dubai according to the tag “Gulf”), and Kylie Jenner.
• Cinema: Amitabh Bachchan from Bollywood, and Marvel characters, such as Captain America, Black Panther, and Spider-Man.
• Politicians and leaders: Barack Obama and Xi Jinping, according to pre-opening reports in Gulf News.
• Sports: David Beckham, Cristiano Ronaldo, Jose Mourinho, Muhammad Ali Clay, and Usain Bolt (London branch), in addition to Kylian Mbappe in London.
• The British Royal Family: A new statue of Kate Middleton next to King Charles III and Queen Camilla in London.
• Other branches: In Istanbul, Messi, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, Johnny Depp, and Lady Gaga (55 statues at opening), and in Berlin, a statue of Joshua Kimmich.
The museum's main and oldest headquarters was founded in London in 1835 by the French sculptor Marie Tussaud, and today it has transformed into an international entertainment chain that owns more than 20 branches spread over 4 continents, and in the Arab region its version is in Dubai, which opened in October 2021, with an area of about 21,000 square feet on Bluewaters Island next to Ain Dubai.
The museum displays, in each version, high-accuracy three-dimensional statues of celebrities in art, sports, politics, and historical figures in life size.
French writer Philippe Guenada defended his "playful", "ironic" and very limited use of artificial intelligence in his novel, which won this year's prestigious Goncourt literary prize, in his words.
Yesterday (Friday), Jainada said in a statement carried by Agence France-Presse through the Flammarion publishing house he owns, in which he explained how he uses this technology, “It is completely ridiculous to think, even for half a second, that I used generative artificial intelligence to write anything in this book.”
He added: “Using artificial intelligence in a fun or sarcastic way (...) while fully acknowledging that above all (...) was actually part of my plan even before I started writing.”
Jaenada - who was announced on Tuesday as the winner of the 2026 Goncourt Prize for his novel “The Unknown Woman on the Javel Pier” - admitted that he used artificial intelligence three times during the writing process.
His comments came amid a wave of negative reactions globally against academics and authors who were excluded from literary competitions due to allegations that they used this technology in their writings.
Jaenada reiterated that he used artificial intelligence only three times in his novel, which deals with the mysterious and unsolved murder of a woman from the Brittany region in the late 1940s.
Initially, the author asked the AI chatbots a question, and stated that he received “ridiculously accurate answers,” which he considered made them “stupid and contradictory.” Then use AI in a more traditional way, which is to conduct research. Finally, he said that he deliberately “hid a sentence generated by artificial intelligence within the text.” He pointed out that the sentence consists of only 10 words, and since the book was published, he has received dozens of guesses from readers. The writer said that he decided to reveal the sentence in response to “stupidity, betrayal, and bad faith.”
Last month, a Canadian publishing house confirmed that it had severed its relationship with Haitian-Canadian writer Thélison Orléans, who was one of the most likely candidates for the Goncourt Award, after his novel was withdrawn from the final list for the award after speculation spread that he used artificial intelligence to write it.
