Articles Tagged with ''anxiety''

Why should employers be concerned about mental health? At any one time, one in six British workers will be affected by a mental health condition or problems relating to stress. Work-related stress is the biggest occupational health problem in the UK after musculoskeletal disorders.

If you suffer from anxiety, the constant, nagging feelings of worry can be troubling and hard to control. These feelings are usually intense and out of proportion to the actual troubles and dangers in your everyday life. They can make it hard to function at home, at work, or in social situations.

Would the holidays be the same without some materialism in the mix? In today’s consumer society, what does it mean to be materialistic, and is that necessarily a bad thing? Psychologists have conducted research that has helped answer those questions and many more.

1. Forget perfection - Stop obsessing over doing it all. 2.Take a whiff of citrus - Researchers studying depression have found that certain citrus fragrances boost feelings of well-being and alleviate stress by upping levels of norepinephrine, a hormone that affects mood.

The possibility of a catastrophic incident, such as a pandemic, severe weather or a terrorist attack, creates unease for many people. Psychologists who study risk perception and people’s potential reactions to unpredictable threats say that people can prepare themselves psychologically and therefore feel more in control if such an event were to occur.

Today, more than ever, there’s a higher expectation that employers will take our health into consideration while we’re on the job. But while many organizations should be commended for protecting our physical health, there is still an unfortunate disconnect when it comes to our mental health.

For many, pending deadlines and packed schedules are not overwhelming, but instead can be a driving force that pushes them toward greater productivity. We have processes to streamline, goals to achieve, promotions to earn, debt to eliminate, exercise regimes to master, dreams to chase, and people to help and inspire.

In a hypercompetitive global economy, organizations must be “on” 24/7. Yet this scramble for perpetual performance is taking a harsh toll on employees. They relentlessly push to get ahead and stay ahead—working longer days, emailing after hours, taking fewer vacations—often with little acknowledgment for their efforts.

Europe continues to lead the U.S. in a sharp and continuing focus on workplace stress – excluding NIOSH’s research. OSHA is silent on the subject of work-related stress. Cultural differences are at play here: stress is infrequently publicly discussed in corporate corridors in the U.S., where a combination of potential disability claims and the go-it-alone John Wayne tend to silence talk about job stress. 

Conflicts between work and home — in both directions — are an important contributor to the risk of burnout, suggests a study in the April Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, official publication of the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (ACOEM).