It’s one of the top health complaints from workers but now the GAA and HSE are teaming up to tackle stress. A large-scale pilot initiative called Stress Control is launching today that will roll out across Cork to help people deal with stress in a practical way.
Dr Jennifer Hayes, Principal Psychologist for the HSE South spoke with Breakfast to give some insight into the “stress control” methods they’ll be implementing on the course, and just what’s so unique about them.
The program essentially teaches practical ways of dealing with stress, and can be broken into 6 sections in a lecture format from: What is stress, thoughts, actions and the body, What causes stress, What keeps stress going, self help etc…..
It starts Wednesday evenings from January 29th to March 5th 2014
For more information, contact corkbeatsstress@hse.ie and the phone number is 086 787 1016
In the meantime, here are some good points to remember:
Stress may affect the heart by;
- Increasing blood pressure
- Increasing bad cholesterol
- Affecting the blood clotting system by making blood clot and thicken easier
- Increasing the levels of stress hormones in the body (cortisol & adrenalin)
- Higher obesity levels
Not only does stress affect the body but in addition it can also affect behaviour. For instance some people may:
- Smoke or increase their smoking
- Change their dietary habits
- Become physically inactive
- Increase their alcohol intake
- Increase their coffee intake
- Sleep less
Work related stress
There is evidence to show that stress at work can contribute to heart disease in some
individuals. Research has shown that those in high demand situations with low
control are much more likely to suffer from stress
Equally if an individual’s abilities and skills do not match the job or if there is a mismatch between environmental demands such as noise or shift work, stress can occur. In addition, lack of reward or recognition of effort invested by the worker may lead to repeated and continuous dissatisfaction, feelings of unfairness and stress
Economic burden of stress in the EU
Work related stress is the biggest occupational health problem in the EU 15 , second
to back pain. 28% of employees in the EU report they are affected by stress. Stress
is estimated to cost the EU at least €20 billion per annum in lost time and health
costs. Over 50% of absenteeism is thought to be due to stress.
Women report the highest levels of stress, but it is a problem for both sexes at all
levels in an organisation. An estimated 16% of male and 22% of female
cardiovascular diseases in the EU are due to stress
