Latest developments in stress for the week ending 22 April 2005
Looking to improve your counselling skills?
CSG is offering a special 20% discount on its forthcoming two-day public training programme – ‘Developing Workplace Counselling Skills’ – to be held in Central London on 21&22 June. The course is designed for Managers, Supervisors, Personnel Managers, Occupational Health Advisors, and all those who have employee responsibility or are required to use counselling skills as part of their job function. It will enable you to use these skills as a vital stress management intervention, recognise individuals with concerns which may be impairing their effectiveness at work, and effectively utilise counselling as a vital interpersonal skill and problem solving resource. Click for details, or email info@carolespiersgroup.com to reserve your place ...
Flexible working reduces 'sickies'...
The British workforce is throwing fewer ‘sickies’ because of the growth in flexible working, according to a new report – ‘In Sickness And In Health’ - by the Working Families charity and the employee benefits company Accor. It says that flexibility - allowing employees to choose which hours in the day they work and whether to work from home - reduces absence levels because people are better able to run their personal lives alongside paid employment. 176 million days a year are lost through absence in the workplace (25 million of them through ‘sickies’), costing employers £11.6 billion (or an average of £476 per employee). According to the report, almost half of the respondents said absence rates had fallen in the last 12 months, while a quarter had remained static. Flexible working options were seen by respondents as the ‘most effective tool’ to deal with absenteeism.
... but sick leave crisis hits social services
20,000 local authority social services staff were signed off sick for two months or more last year, according to a new survey of English councils. The figure, which represents around 9% of the total number of staff in social services departments, highlights the crisis plaguing these departments - many of which struggle to find employees to fill posts. Staff complain of large workloads and high stress levels, which public sector union Unison said were major causes of sickness absence. The figures also reveal that social services staff take significantly more sick leave than other areas of both the public and private sectors.
Obese or overweight?
Doctors may have to rethink the definition of the ‘ideal weight’ after researchers from the US Centre for Disease Control and National Cancer Institute found that the risks of weight gain do not become evident until people are extremely obese, and that being underweight is linked with a higher death rate. The results suggest that current advice to maintain a normal weight may have to be rethought. Obesity has tripled in Britain since 1980 and now affects 22% of the adult population; and more than half of British adults - 24 million people - are defined as overweight. David Haslam, chairman of the UK National Obesity Forum said: “The findings should certainly set us thinking. Even though we are getting fatter, in a society that is putting more emphasis on a healthier lifestyle, the impact may be lessened. And it does raise the possibility that we will have to change the criteria for what we regard as overweight.” The net result may be a population that is, paradoxically, “more obese, diabetic, arthritic, disabled and medicated but with lower overall cardiovascular disease risk,” the authors say.
Some stress good for the immune system?
New research in mice suggests that a brief bout of stress can give the immune system a beneficial boost – but only under certain conditions. Laboratory results showed that acute stress temporarily mobilised all major types of immune cells (or ‘leukocytes’), and in certain situations, this may be advantageous, as leukocytes fight infections and other diseases. “Acute stress could help increase immune protection,” said Firdaus Dhabhar, the study's lead author and an associate professor of oral biology and molecular virology, immunology and medical genetics at Ohio State University. “An increase in leukocyte activity and availability may enhance the immune system's ability to protect the body during surgery, vaccination or during an infection.” But there is also a downside, as ushering increased numbers of immune cells to sites of potential immune reaction could worsen pre-existing inflammatory illnesses such as cardiovascular disease or gingivitis, and autoimmune disorders such as arthritis, multiple sclerosis or psoriasis. “Understanding mechanisms that mobilise leukocytes to potential battle stations during stress could help us figure out ways to boost the immune response when it could be most helpful to do so, such as during surgery, vaccination or infection,” Dhabhar said. “And it could also help us tone down the immune response during inflammatory diseases.”
As stress increases, self-control decreases
During times of stress, we're less able to hold ourselves back from unhealthy temptations, according to a new study. Australian researchers found that during exam periods, students smoked more cigarettes, drank more high-caffeine drinks, ate less healthy foods, kept up with fewer household chores, neglected commitments, and monitored their spending less. “These findings have practical importance because they illustrate that at times of stress we are particularly vulnerable to breakdowns in self-control,” says lead author Megan Oaten of Macquarie University in Sydney. “Therefore, we should not ask too much of ourselves during such a period.” She also points out that handling stress itself takes self-control. “The work required to cope with stress consumes a lot of our self-control strength, and leaves us less able to control our behaviour,” she says.
Time for a siesta?
Staff are least productive between 3pm and 4pm and believe a siesta would help them to recover from post-lunch sluggishness. These are the findings of a survey by employment law firm Peninsula, according to which nine out of ten workers yearn for an afternoon nap, and 81% put their tiredness down to ‘overwork’. Mornings are the most productive time with 10am-11am cited by 71% as their best period for work.
New EU “Stop that Noise” campaign
According to the European Agency for Safety and Health, more than a third
of Europe's workforce - around 60 million people - is exposed to noisy
conditions for more than a quarter of their working time. And more than 13 million workers, not only in heavy industry, but also in sectors such as services, education and entertainment, are thought to have suffered impaired hearing at work. New EU rules will therefore set a new, lower limit of 87 decibels for workers' daily exposure to noise. “Noise goes beyond hearing problems. It can cause accidents at work and increase stress levels,” said Vladimír Špidla, European Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities. “It is a growing concern all over Europe, in workplaces from factories and farms to schools and call centres. The new EU directive, to be implemented in all Member States by February 2006, reduces the levels of noise to which workers can be exposed and requires employers to eliminate or reduce to a minimum the risks.”
Women fake family history of cancer
Women are faking family histories of breast cancer in order to get treatment, in what specialists say is a version of Munchausen's syndrome. Professor Gareth Evans, a consultant in medical genetics at St Mary's Hospital in Manchester, said at least 1% of 'high risk' breast cancer cases are discovered to be false, based on research by clinicians in Britain and Canada. In the UK, this amounts to 30 cases a year. Some patients have had preventive surgery to remove their breasts, only for doctors to find out later that the women faced no extra risk of developing the disease. The situation was difficult for doctors because they required the patient's consent before they could investigate other cases of breast cancer in the family. If the patient claimed family members had died of breast cancer, doctors hit a 'clinical brick wall'. In some cases the false information was even passed on to unsuspecting relatives who sought treatment because of their fictitious family history.
CSG is offering a special 20% discount on its forthcoming two-day public training programme – ‘Developing Workplace Counselling Skills’ – to be held in Central London on 21&22 June. The course is designed for Managers, Supervisors, Personnel Managers, Occupational Health Advisors, and all those who have employee responsibility or are required to use counselling skills as part of their job function. It will enable you to use these skills as a vital stress management intervention, recognise individuals with concerns which may be impairing their effectiveness at work, and effectively utilise counselling as a vital interpersonal skill and problem solving resource. Click for details, or email info@carolespiersgroup.com to reserve your place ...
Flexible working reduces 'sickies'...
The British workforce is throwing fewer ‘sickies’ because of the growth in flexible working, according to a new report – ‘In Sickness And In Health’ - by the Working Families charity and the employee benefits company Accor. It says that flexibility - allowing employees to choose which hours in the day they work and whether to work from home - reduces absence levels because people are better able to run their personal lives alongside paid employment. 176 million days a year are lost through absence in the workplace (25 million of them through ‘sickies’), costing employers £11.6 billion (or an average of £476 per employee). According to the report, almost half of the respondents said absence rates had fallen in the last 12 months, while a quarter had remained static. Flexible working options were seen by respondents as the ‘most effective tool’ to deal with absenteeism.
... but sick leave crisis hits social services
20,000 local authority social services staff were signed off sick for two months or more last year, according to a new survey of English councils. The figure, which represents around 9% of the total number of staff in social services departments, highlights the crisis plaguing these departments - many of which struggle to find employees to fill posts. Staff complain of large workloads and high stress levels, which public sector union Unison said were major causes of sickness absence. The figures also reveal that social services staff take significantly more sick leave than other areas of both the public and private sectors.
Obese or overweight?
Doctors may have to rethink the definition of the ‘ideal weight’ after researchers from the US Centre for Disease Control and National Cancer Institute found that the risks of weight gain do not become evident until people are extremely obese, and that being underweight is linked with a higher death rate. The results suggest that current advice to maintain a normal weight may have to be rethought. Obesity has tripled in Britain since 1980 and now affects 22% of the adult population; and more than half of British adults - 24 million people - are defined as overweight. David Haslam, chairman of the UK National Obesity Forum said: “The findings should certainly set us thinking. Even though we are getting fatter, in a society that is putting more emphasis on a healthier lifestyle, the impact may be lessened. And it does raise the possibility that we will have to change the criteria for what we regard as overweight.” The net result may be a population that is, paradoxically, “more obese, diabetic, arthritic, disabled and medicated but with lower overall cardiovascular disease risk,” the authors say.
Some stress good for the immune system?
New research in mice suggests that a brief bout of stress can give the immune system a beneficial boost – but only under certain conditions. Laboratory results showed that acute stress temporarily mobilised all major types of immune cells (or ‘leukocytes’), and in certain situations, this may be advantageous, as leukocytes fight infections and other diseases. “Acute stress could help increase immune protection,” said Firdaus Dhabhar, the study's lead author and an associate professor of oral biology and molecular virology, immunology and medical genetics at Ohio State University. “An increase in leukocyte activity and availability may enhance the immune system's ability to protect the body during surgery, vaccination or during an infection.” But there is also a downside, as ushering increased numbers of immune cells to sites of potential immune reaction could worsen pre-existing inflammatory illnesses such as cardiovascular disease or gingivitis, and autoimmune disorders such as arthritis, multiple sclerosis or psoriasis. “Understanding mechanisms that mobilise leukocytes to potential battle stations during stress could help us figure out ways to boost the immune response when it could be most helpful to do so, such as during surgery, vaccination or infection,” Dhabhar said. “And it could also help us tone down the immune response during inflammatory diseases.”
As stress increases, self-control decreases
During times of stress, we're less able to hold ourselves back from unhealthy temptations, according to a new study. Australian researchers found that during exam periods, students smoked more cigarettes, drank more high-caffeine drinks, ate less healthy foods, kept up with fewer household chores, neglected commitments, and monitored their spending less. “These findings have practical importance because they illustrate that at times of stress we are particularly vulnerable to breakdowns in self-control,” says lead author Megan Oaten of Macquarie University in Sydney. “Therefore, we should not ask too much of ourselves during such a period.” She also points out that handling stress itself takes self-control. “The work required to cope with stress consumes a lot of our self-control strength, and leaves us less able to control our behaviour,” she says.
Time for a siesta?
Staff are least productive between 3pm and 4pm and believe a siesta would help them to recover from post-lunch sluggishness. These are the findings of a survey by employment law firm Peninsula, according to which nine out of ten workers yearn for an afternoon nap, and 81% put their tiredness down to ‘overwork’. Mornings are the most productive time with 10am-11am cited by 71% as their best period for work.
New EU “Stop that Noise” campaign
According to the European Agency for Safety and Health, more than a third
of Europe's workforce - around 60 million people - is exposed to noisy
conditions for more than a quarter of their working time. And more than 13 million workers, not only in heavy industry, but also in sectors such as services, education and entertainment, are thought to have suffered impaired hearing at work. New EU rules will therefore set a new, lower limit of 87 decibels for workers' daily exposure to noise. “Noise goes beyond hearing problems. It can cause accidents at work and increase stress levels,” said Vladimír Špidla, European Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities. “It is a growing concern all over Europe, in workplaces from factories and farms to schools and call centres. The new EU directive, to be implemented in all Member States by February 2006, reduces the levels of noise to which workers can be exposed and requires employers to eliminate or reduce to a minimum the risks.”
Women fake family history of cancer
Women are faking family histories of breast cancer in order to get treatment, in what specialists say is a version of Munchausen's syndrome. Professor Gareth Evans, a consultant in medical genetics at St Mary's Hospital in Manchester, said at least 1% of 'high risk' breast cancer cases are discovered to be false, based on research by clinicians in Britain and Canada. In the UK, this amounts to 30 cases a year. Some patients have had preventive surgery to remove their breasts, only for doctors to find out later that the women faced no extra risk of developing the disease. The situation was difficult for doctors because they required the patient's consent before they could investigate other cases of breast cancer in the family. If the patient claimed family members had died of breast cancer, doctors hit a 'clinical brick wall'. In some cases the false information was even passed on to unsuspecting relatives who sought treatment because of their fictitious family history.
posted by Carole Spiers @ Tuesday, April 26, 2005
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