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Stressed Britons face burnout as unable to 'switch-off'
Last updated at 16:07pm on 08.09.06
The breakneck pace of modern life is the biggest health worry among Britons with many facing burnout as a result, a new survey has found.
The poll suggests people are far more worried about not getting enough sleep and the stresses of everyday living than smoking, drinking or having a bad diet.
Public health experts say the findings reflect the increasing pressures of the 24-hour society we now live in.
They have long been warning that the strains of modern living - where employees work increasingly longer hours and spend less time with their family and friends- could be costing the health of millions.
The advent of mobile phones, the internet and email devices such as Blackberries have also made it harder for people to 'switch off' and find proper time to relax.
The survey, commissioned by Legal and General, questioned more than 5,000 men and women on their biggest worries over the past three months.
Nearly half of the respondents said that lack of exercise was their number one health concern. Lack of sleep followed at 42 per cent while 34 per cent cited general fatigue as a major worry.
More than a quarter blamed stress as a cause of anxiety while almost the same number said they worried about feeling depressed.
Passive smoking, however, was mentioned by 15 per cent of people and drinking by just 12 per cent.
Only 14 per cent said they worried about not having time to follow a healthy diet and only a fifth said they were worried about food additives such as salt, colouring and preservatives.
Chris Rolland, director of healthcare at Legal and General said: "It is becoming clear that people are far more worried about the way we live our lives, the lack of sleep and stress than smoking and drinking.
"There are few things more important in life than our health; so it is vital that people look at the causes of a poor lifestyle to ensure their health is not compromised and hopefully prevent burn-out."
Nearly a third of the respondents said they were worried about not being able to see an NHS dentist.
Cleanliness of hospitals and having to wait to see a specialist were also among their top ten health concerns.
Angela Mawle, chief executive of the UK Public Health Association said: "This research shows that the 24/7 society is getting to us.
"Blackberries and mobile phones mean that we are always on call. It is hard to slow down and people struggle to find the time to relax. This has obvious health implications."
Earlier this year researchers warned that blackberry email devices can be as damaging to mental health as taking drugs.
The gadget - nicknamed the 'crackberry' because it is so addictive - allows workers to stay in touch with colleagues whenever they are out of the office.
But researchers from the Rutgers University Business School in New Jersey said this risked putting too much stress on staff who need to escape the pressure of working life, especially when at home.
The gadgets, they claim, are harmful in extreme cases and heavy users often neglect their friends and family in favour of using them.
Stress-related illness has become the number one cause of absenteeism in the workplace in Britain and is believed to cost £3.7billion a year in lost productivity healthcare costs.
The number of employees citing work-related anxiety and depression has doubled in a decade to more than a million.
Reader views (4)
Here's a sample of the latest views published.
There is a stark difference between burnout and a 'normal' illness such as influenza or bronchitis due to the time taken to recover once that point has been reached, particularly when caused by the workplace as return to it is harder to manage for those without sympathetic employers. That an employer has not noticed an employee heading towards burnout if most often indicative of unsupportive working conditions so that employee not only ends up not being able to work, many end up out of work as a result finding it harder still to pick up the pieces and move on once their health is recovered because of the damage of the blank in their resume. The alternative for many is to end up taking SSRI medication (prozac, zoloft etc) which can be highly addictive in some cases. It is a sad state of affairs that we have millions taking these medications where the route cause lies not in the individual but more often in lifestyles which we are often bound to follow without choice.
- Mark, Dusseldorf, Germany
I really liked Valerie Watts comment there. It was bang on. Right OK, everybody knows this but nothing is changing. Everybody is under the thumb. People of the UK. You don't have to follow every rule but you do because you believe in them. Sad.
- Polo Mint, UK
Great looking article, shame I'm too busy getting a report ready for work tomorrow to read all of it.
- Mike, Leeds
Hate to be a bore and mention Tony Blair, I know we're all sick off hearing about him and his departure, however I can't help noticing that anxiety and depression has doubled in the period of his premiership! But I don't think the problem is Tony Blair in particular, it is politicians and governments. They make the rules which decide how we live, how much we will be paid, how long we'll work, what rights we have (or don't!) and how they spend OUR hard earned cash.
They are part of the problem, the other part is capitalism and shareholders. As long as businesses operate to make incredibly large profits which are creamed off and given to a bunch of shareholders, mankind will not move forward. Imagine if pharmaceutical companies were run for the benefit of mankind not shareholders. Imagine if we developed the drugs which could help the most needy people not the ones which will make most profit.
Sorry, I'm digressing a bit, meant to just say I feel the same way as the majority of respondents in the survey. Living in Britain is awful or should I say existing because that's all that most ordinary working people in the UK do. We live like hamsters on a wheel, Gordon Brown takes most of the money we earn (one way or another), we pay the highest prices in the world for everything and our services are pathetic. To top it all off, we are disenpowered, we can't protest, nothing changes no matter how we vote and if you don't comply with their endless rules you're fined or jailed.
- Valerie Watt, Kelso, Scotland
