Today is National Stress Awareness Day. And according to Mark Newey, of Winning Minds, stress is the biggest blight of our lives today, causing serious illness, he believes that stress is a killer.
I have been giving this a plug for Mark (see pic) and this morning he was busy promoting it on BBC radio, we are also anticipating excellent local media coverage too.
Let’s just hope that Britain’s bosses sit up and take note. Not surprisingly, stress is the biggest problem in the UK workplace where numbers have soared, caused by excessive workload. Yet employers have a legal duty of care to ensure their staff are not harmed by work-related stress, and it is in their interest to do so as it costs them £3.7 billion a year in time taken off work.
The TUC is also plugging it today, its General Secretary Brendan Barber wants to emphasise that people who suffer from stress aren’t wimps, he is urging bosses to make the workplace as stress-free as possible.
I accept that stress is a normal part of our daily lives that we should be able to cope with, as long as it is not excessive or constant, in fact it can be stimulating too if you are working on an exciting project. But please do not ignore the warning signs of high blood pressure, insomnia, depression, panic attacks and heart attacks.
It is hardly surprising that stress is such a major problem today when you consider how our lives have changed over the years. Mark reckons we receive more mental and visual stimulation in one day than our grandparents in 1900 did in one year. He says it is time to claim back our lives. Is that possible, I wonder, or will it be interpreted as a sign of weakness if you complain about your workload? How can one successfully balance the demands of a challenging job, while remaining stress free, and keeping the boss happy? And who cares for the stessed boss?
Your right Ellee, stress isn’t wimpish – and those that find it difficult to cope with relentless pressure are not ‘weaklings’ either.
Nevertheless, according Anglea Patmore, the author of ‘The Truth About Stress’, the stress management industry is turning stress into a self fulfilling prophecy.
Patmore points out that between 1991 and 2003 there has been a staggering 804 per cent increase in the number of accredited stress counsellors – yet we find that more and more people seem to be suffering from stress. More stress counsellors seem to equal more cases of stress.
The ‘epidemic of stress’ doesn’t make seem to make much sense, because life has actually got easier for most people.
The stress management industry seems to promote the idea we are fragile beings that constantly need help in order to survive. When really, the Brits that I know are rather the opposite – remarkably resilient – the Blitz spirit and all that.
Although Courtney has a point about the stress management indusrty, I think stress is increasing in today’s society.
To say people have it easier is as silly as saying its harder than previous generations.
But today there is more divorce, more indebtedness and more job insecurity. All these three things are the key causes of stress in peoples’ lives. These have been measured too so they are not just instincts.
It is true people do not starve in the UK anymore and fewer worry about life’s absolute basics; but we have created a high speed, high stress enviroment in the process.
The number of breakdowns I get to hear about in my former profession of teaching is mindboggling: people don’t realise it’s as competitive and cut-throat as big business. There is a lot of bullying from management, too, and there was a campaign against this some years ago. The worst thing is that people are ashamed to admit they are stressed and do not seek help soon enough. A caring management would look out for the signs and stress management should be part of any training.
Hi,
Angela Patmore has certainly raised a few eyebrows with her book and I’m sure that there’s a great deal of truth in what she says. However, it’s also a question of supply and demand. If there’s an increasing problem with stress, then it’s inevitable that there will be an increase in people helping others deal with stress.
From my own perspective, to say that life is easier now than it was in the middle of the 2nd World War with bombs dropping round us is not only twaddle it is exactly at the heart of today’s stress problems. Technically she’s right: what have we got to be stressed about compared with that? However, we are vastly more stressed even though life should be easier…and it’s not because stress therapists have bee promoting their wares!
The primary reasons for increased stress today are:
– Relaxation and exercise are no longer built into our day; 100 years ago we used to walk to work or school…now we’re stuck in traffic jams instead…so not only are we not relaxing, we’re getting more stressed.
Angela doesn’t make this point.
– We get more mental stimulation in 1 day than our grandparents did in 1 year in 1900…and it’s going to be even worse for our kids. Angela seems to have missed that point too.
– The drive for material gains and wealth at all costs, a game most of us are unwittingly playing, moves us away from what life and happiness is really about.
Let’s all ditch our mobiles and laptops and go back to real communication and live our lives at the speed we were built to live them at.
OK, maybe there’s a middle ground!! But the key is: we must build relaxation into our day…and most people today need educating as to why that’s necessary and how to do that.
That’s what the responsible Stress Management Industry is there for.
I declare my hand…I’m part of that industry!
I have found that stress has increased in the student community as well. Thirty years ago you never heard the word, but recently you hear it daily. No doubt the claim “I’m so stressed” can simply mean insufficient preparation for an exam, but on the other hand having to cope with study and hold down an evening job to pay for fees is a burden never known in my own student days.
I would find it difficult to believe that our lives could be harder than previous generations. I have to slightly disagree with Mark – things like mobiles and laptops have been a major inprovement to our modern lives.
Angela Patmore pointed out, that we all have a ‘coping mechanism’ to deal with relenting everyday problems, but the stress management industry seems unable to decrease the amount of people it treats for stress. why is that?
For a start, the stress management industry, according to Patmore, has hundreds of definitions of what stress actually is. It is this problem of defining stress that has made the entire stress management ideology seem slightly misleading – Patmore argues that this problem is a in fact a ‘dangerous deceit’.
Welshcakes, talks about ‘bullying from management’ in the teaching profession, but in reality, what Welshcake perceives as ‘bullying’ is in fact, normal everyday office politics. You could argue that I’m a office bully, and some people bully me, but isn’t that ‘just life’? Again, the problem here, is a problem of definition
Courtney, Do you think the stress figures Angela relates too are self-perpetuating? That people do in fact improve, but then others sign up for treatment, it’s constant.
Surely bullying isn’t acceptable as “office politics” if it is so stressful that it harms your health.
Jim, I think the worst part about being a student today must be the financial strain of knowing you are likely to end up with a £30,000 debt hanging around your neck before you start earing a penny.
Ellee, yes but there is a popular misconception about that: no repayment has to be made until the graduate is earning a certain amount; if they never reach that, then the debt is written off, and it’s a very low interest rate. It’s better value than a mortgage! Maybe this could be the subject of one of your topics sometime?
Jim, The chances are you didn’t face this financial burden, that you didn’t to pay tuition fees. It worries me because I have two sons who will soon be reaching that stage and I am keen for them to go to university, and I think they would like to as well. I see it as my responsibility to give them the best education possible, and these fees are not affordable to me at the moment.
I do have Cambridge Uni on my doorstep, so this is certainly a topic I could research and write about. Watch this space!
Stress certainly isn’t only a problem in Britain. Here in the US, business increasingly expects more of its employees for less. Increasing numbers of employees are experiencing a decrease in income when inflation is taken into account. We are working harder and gaining less. That’s stress-inducing for many.
Courtney. I’m sure, as with any industry, there are those less than scrupulous providers who do jump on the bandwagon, perpetuate stress in order to create business for themselves; however, there are also genuine providers (mainly therapists as opposed to consultants) who see people on a daily basis.
I really don’t think anyone can deny that there isn’t a greater need for help with stress; some of this may well be due to an increased awareness, which in my view is a god thing.
Of course, laptops and mobiles have helped us (forgive my flippant comment…it was only a joke!)in many ways. My point about them is that due to the immediacy of the communication, we spend much more time communicating, (in a shallower way) than we would have done otherwise.
My main point is that the perpetual motion of our conscious minds prevents us from relaxing, something which even 40 years ago, we did as a matter of course during the day, since there wasn’t so much to occupy us.
My Dad, is 73, retired…and stressed!!! It’s the pace of modern life that’s the problem…relentless…and instant communication is part of that problem!