What was once just a way to play golf mid-week, the so called "mental health day" work excuse is rapidly becoming all too real. There is so much stress in the workplace that employees are rapidly reaching burnout, and in the process they're making themselves sick, reports USA Today.
The stress is caused by the threat of unemployment and layoffs, as well as leaner offices where fewer employees are expected to have higher productivity. While companies may be pleased that fewer people on the payroll are doing more work, there may be a bigger price those companies will have to pay. The threat to the corporate bottom line, notes USA Today, is that more workers are suffering more mental and physical health problems caused by job stress. Stressed employees chalk up larger health care bills and have the potential to get violent at work.
Stress isn't bad--unless it makes you sick. And that appears to be happening more frequently than ever before. Workplace communications firm The Marlin Co. conducted a survey in May 2003 and determined that nearly 35 percent of workers have seen an increase in anxiety and stress-related physical ailments in their offices in the past year, while 27 percent report a jump in emotional problems such as insomnia and depression.
Sickness caused by stress can be more than just a cold or a headache. In a study conducted by James Dwyer of the University of California Keck School of Medicine, it was determined that employees who are physically active on their jobs actually have a far greater risk for heart disease than sedentary colleagues. Why? Job stress. Writing in the American Journal of Medicine, the research team concluded that arteriosclerosis--the build-up of fatty material along the inner lining of the artery walls--progresses significantly faster in people who are physically active on their jobs and have greater job stress. Arteriosclerosis can cause a heart attack or stroke and is responsible for one of every two deaths in the United States.
Stress has become a worldwide health problem and must be taken seriously, reports the Irish Examiner. The Mental Health Association of Ireland determined that fully one-third of the Irish people said stress had a negative impact on their health. Experts predict that five of the top 10 medical problems worldwide will be stress-related by 2020.
Signs of stress from The Irish Examiner:
- Atypical behavior that is impulsive, aggressive, or irritable without apparent cause
- Tearfulness
- An inability to concentrate
- Developing a variety of unexplained illnesses
- Loss of interest in various aspects of work and home life
- Feeling weary, lethargic, or apathetic
Stress-busters from the Stress Management Newsletter:
- Make a conscious choice not to become angry or upset.
- Breathe slowly and deeply.
- Speak more slowly so you can think more clearly and react more reasonably.
- Work on a time management strategy.
- Go outside.
- Drink water and eat small, nutritious snacks.
- Sit up straight to ease sore muscles.
- Give yourself a reward at the end of the day. Ideas: a hot bath or a good book.
