A new study has confirmed what we already knew: We work too much.

As women, we tend to have a lot of balls in the air at once - with work, relationships, health, and things at home, all competing for our attention, the juggle is real.

So this new study has unearthed what, really, as a species, we already knew: Women are getting burnt out, thanks to the long working hours on top of the unpaid, and an often disproportionate share, of domestic duties.

The study, conducted by the Australian National University, found that the healthy work limit for women is just 34 hours per week, compared to up to 47 hours per week for men - thanks to the hours women lose on domestic and care duties.

"Long work hours erode [people's] mental and physical health, because it leaves less time to eat well and look after themselves properly," writes Dr Huong Dinh, the lead researcher of the study.

"Given the extra demands placed on women, it's impossible for women to work [the] long hours often expected by employers unless they compromise their health." Here, here.

So, what's the solution? Well, experts suggest women should work shorter weeks to allow for the unpaid work they do, such as domestic chores, which is on average about 4.5 hours every day, the study found. Men, on the other hand, contribute about half this time.

In reality, most women working full-time are putting in much more than 34-hour weeks: one survey of 8000 Australian adults found that two thirds of Australia's full-time employees work more than 40 hours.

Talking to Broadly, Professor Lyndall Strazdins, one of the study's co-researchers - said the study revealed that men are operating at an advantage in the labour market, which equates to about 100 extra hours up their sleeves each year.

"But if we encourage women to try to attain those work hours, we're basically confronting women with a trade off between their health and gender equality," she added, citing an increase in the likelihood of depression and anxiety issues.

Mental health is currently the number one disease affecting women in Australia. So, Strazdin says, until we can bring men's long hours down to even the divide, we need to somehow reward women who work closer to the official 38-hour working week.

"It's going to be a slow and difficult process because it's a major social change."