We get into our jobs post-college, and we’re grateful. The days pass, and we take on more responsibilities. The stress increases, and we don’t quit. We pick up smoking.

In the 1980s, several high-ranking Japanese businessmen—all young and healthy—died inexplicably. The one common factor in each man’s life: years of overwork. A new cause of death was born—karoshi, literally “death by overwork.”