TESTIMONIALS

STRESS FACTS

Time magazine's June 6, 1983 cover story called stress "The Epidemic of the Eighties" and referred to it as our leading health problem; there can be little doubt that the situation has progressively worsened since then. Numerous surveys confirm that adult Americans perceive they are under much more stress than a decade or two ago.  A 1996 Prevention magazine survey found that almost 75% feel they have "great stress" one day a week with one out of three indicating they feel this way more than twice a week. In the same 1983 survey only 55% said they felt under great stress on a weekly basis. It has been estimated that 75 - 90 percent of all visits to primary care physicians are for stress related problems. Job Stress is far and away the leading source of stress for adults but stress levels have also escalated in children, teenagers, college students and the elderly for other reasons, including:  increased crime, violence and other threats to personal safety; pernicious peer pressures that lead to substance abuse and other unhealthy life style habits; social isolation and loneliness; the erosion of family and religious values and ties; the loss of other strong sources of social support that are powerful stress busters.

               Numerous surveys and studies confirm that occupational pressures and fears are far and away the leading source of stress for American adults and that these have steadily increased over the past few decades.  While there are tons of statistics to support these allegations, how significant they are depends on such things as how the information was obtained (self-report vs. answers to carefully worded questions), the size and demographics of the targeted group, how participants were selected and who sponsored the study.  Some self-serving polls claiming that a particular occupation is "the most stressful" are conducted by unions or organizations in a attempt to get higher wages or better benefits for their members.  Others may be conducted to promote a product, such as the "Stress In the Nineties" survey by the maker of a deodorant that found housewives were under more stress than the CEO's of major corporations.  Such a conclusion might be anticipated from telephone calls to residential phones conducted in the afternoon. It is crucial to keep all these caveats in mind when evaluating job stress statistics.

	The NIOSH report on the left is an excellent resource that cites the following:
	40% of workers reported their job was very or extremely stressful;
	25% view their jobs as the number one stressor in their lives;
	Three fourths of employees believe that workers have more on-the-job stress than a generation ago;
	29% of workers felt quite a bit or extremely stressed at work;
	26 percent of workers said they were "often or very often burned out or stressed by their work";
	Job stress is more strongly associated with health complaints than financial or family problems.

       

                   More recently, the 2000 annual "Attitudes In The American Workplace VI" Gallup Poll sponsored by the Marlin Company found that:

*	80% of workers feel stress on the job, nearly half say they need help in learning how to manage stress and 42% say their coworkers need such help;
*	14% of respondents had felt like striking a coworker in the past year, but didn't;
*	25% have felt like screaming or shouting because of job stress, 10% are concerned about an individual at work they fear could become violent;
*	9% are aware of an assault or violent act in their workplace and 18% had experienced some sort of threat or verbal intimidation in the past year.

                   A subsequent 2000 Integra Survey similarly reported that:

*	65% of workers said that workplace stress had caused difficulties and more than 10 percent described these as having major effects;
*	10% said they work in an atmosphere where physical violence has occurred because of job stress and in this group, 42% report that yelling and other verbal abuse is common;
*	29% had yelled at co-workers because of workplace stress, 14% said they work where machinery or equipment has been damaged because of workplace rage and 2% admitted that they had actually personally struck someone;
*	19% or almost one in five respondents had quit a previous position because of job stress and nearly one in four have been driven to tears because of workplace stress;
*	62% routinely find that they end the day with work-related neck pain, 44% reported stressed-out eyes, 38% complained of hurting hands and 34% reported difficulty in sleeping because they were too stressed-out;
*	12% had called in sick because of job stress;
*	Over half said they often spend 12-hour days on work related duties and an equal number frequently skip lunch because of the stress of job demands.

                         These findings are supported by other studies that put their significance in perspective.

                           Nor is the problem limited to the U.S.  A 1992 United Nations Report labeled job stress "The 20th Century Disease" and a few years later the World Health Organization said it had become a "World Wide Epidemic."  A 1998 study reported that rapid changes in the workforce had resulted in a staggering unemployment rate of 10% in the European Union and higher rates of job stress complaints.  Japan had a similar problem as a result of a major and prolonged recession.  A subsequent European Commission survey found that:

*	more than half of the 147 million workers in the European Union complained of having to work at a very high speed and under tight deadlines;
*	approximately half reported having monotonous or short, repetitive tasks and no opportunity to rotate tasks.

Occupational pressures are believed responsible for:

*	30% of workers suffering from back pain;
*	28% complaining of "stress";
*	20% feeling fatigued;
*	17% having muscular pains;
*	13% with headaches.

                      Job stress is also very costly with the price tag for U.S. industry estimated at over $300 billion annually as a result of:

accidents
absenteeism
employee turnover
diminished productivity
direct medical, legal, and insurance costs
Workers' compensation awards as well as tort and FELA judgments

Consider the following statistics:

*	40% of job turnover is due to stress.
*	Xerox estimated that it cost them $1 to $1.5 million to replace a top executive and that was two decades ago.
*	Replacing an average employee today costs between $3,000 and $13,000.
*	60 to 80% of accidents on the job are stress related and some, like the Three Mile Island and Exxon Valdez disasters, can affect untold thousands many miles away.
*	In California, the number of Workers' compensation claims for mental stress increased by almost 700 percent over eight years and ninety percent were successful with an average award of $15,000 compared to a national average of $3,420.
*	In 1987, California shelled out almost $1,000,000,000 for medical and legal fees alone, which is more than most states spend on actual awards.
*	Double digit increases in Workers' compensation premiums every year as a result of mental stress claims threaten to bankrupt the system in several states.
*	A jury in New York awarded nearly $6 million in 1996 to three women for repetitive stress injury allegedly due to faulty computer keyboards.
*	Repetitive musculoskeletal injuries like carpal tunnel syndrome have become the nation's leading workplace health cost and account for almost a third of all Workers' compensation awards.
*	Studies show that keyboard entry operators who are under stress (because they are uncertain as to whether their activities are being monitored for performance evaluation), have a significantly higher incidence of such complaints and injuries.

                         Stress is a highly personalized phenomenon and can vary widely even in identical situations for different reasons.  One survey showed that having to complete paper work was more stressful for many police officers than the dangers associated with pursuing criminals.   The severity of job stress depends on the magnitude of the demands that are being made and the individual's sense of control or decision-making latitude he or she has in dealing with them.  Scientific studies based on this model confirm that workers who perceive they are subjected to high demands but have little control are at increased risk for cardiovascular disease.

Topics Covered in the e-Book and e-Zine:

(The topics without links are available only on the eBook 10 Days to Stress Free Life)

understanding stress | what is stress? |  When does stress occur? | stress and performance | are you under stress? | recognising your stress | types of stress | stress facts | stress and diseases | how does our body react to stress? | General Adaptation Syndrome | stress response | measure your stress level | your annual stress level | Do I need Stress Management?| generalized anxiety disorder | major depressive episode | your life stress score | principles of stress management | relaxation techniques | physiology of relaxation | managing special stressors | instruction on using  MP3 relaxation audio | start your relaxation session! | life change events and stress management | time management for stress relief | time management assessment | daily relaxation session | manage personality to reduce stress | assertiveness assessment for stress relief | assert yourself and relieve tension  | don't say yes when you want to say no! | anxiety management for stress free living | anger management to relieve tension | work related stress | relieve tension  in married life |  marital bliss and stress management | body care for stress relief | nutrition and stress | less stress through exercise  | stress in work places | stress in lovers | stress in children | young people and stress | stress and human relations | middle age crisis | stress in old age | self hypnosis | autosuggestion therapy for less stress  | meditation for stress management | yoga and stress management | breath and relax | breathing exercises for relaxation | other modalities of stress management | financial management for stress free living | take stock of your finances to relieve tension | guidelines to prepare a balanced portfolio | make money in bull market | make money in bear market | make money in sleeping market | stress free option trading | home based business model | setting up a home based internet business | creating multiple streams of income | google adsense | google cash | google adwords | selling your own products on the net | income potential of affiliate programs | relax without money worry | final stress relieving tips | reframing life | review of the stress management program  | faq on stress management | disclaimer | financial disclaimer | script for self recording sessions | self recorded audio relaxation sessions | advanced MP3 audio relaxation sessions | relaxation for idle people | stress management for dummies |

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