Causes of Stress in the Modern Life - Essay Example

Causes of Stress in the Modern Life Stress is becoming increasingly common in the modern life since current life whether private or public is full ofbruises. Regardless of age brackets or institutional affiliations i.e. education, business or family, statistics has shown that stress levels are on the upward trend. At the same time stress has been identified as being a major contributory factor behind a wide range of health complications. Lifestyle diseases, unemployment, health issues are causing stress for many people today. Research has found that over 50% of people today are keep awake due worries over issues such as terrorism, identity thefts and health. 3% of adults in the UK do not get the recommended amount of sleep mainly because of stress. 17% of the UK citizens “have been to see a doctor about their stress levels.” (BBC News, 2006). Research by OECD has also revealed that stress among school going children in France is higher than any other country. 43.6% of France students are suffering from at least one symptom of depression i.e. the feeling of sadness, low confidence or suicidal thoughts. On suicidal thoughts, the government in relation to stress responded to “public outcry over the France Telecom suicides” (Johnson, 2013). While this is the case, the question that remains is, is modern life really stressful? What are the causes of stress in the modern life? To start with, it is true that modern life is stressful just as explained in the introduction and one of the major causes of this stress is unemployment. With higher levels of inflation and increased scarcity of resources many people survive on salaries. Failure to enter into the world work therefore results into increased stress among many people. Unemployment has very adverse impacts such on both physical & mental health as well the social welfare especially among college graduates. At the same time people coming from backgrounds that are already disadvantaged, those having low educational levels and those without any social support are particularly vulnerable to the negative impact of unemployment. Consequences of unemployment include social exclusion, lack of finances and criminal tendencies. This increases the chance of undesirable behaviour and further places pressure on the individuals’ mental situation (Waddell & Kim, 2005). There is no doubt, unemployment adversely impacts on people’s behaviour in a manner that is particularly significant. Lack of financial resources for instance encourages behaviours such as alcoholism and drugs as a coping strategy to avert stress. But this leads to more problems of health both mentally, psychologically and physically. Stress as a result of unemployment also encourages careless behaviour increasing people’s risk of contracting communicable diseases such as HIV AIDS and TB. Another adverse effect of unemployment has to do with the mental well-being of individuals. As a result of stress the mental stability of individuals is affected negatively causing psychological distress and even psychiatric morbidity. Unemployment individuals are at a higher risk for poor health behaviours such as unhealthy eating habits, poor personal hygiene, and lack of enough sleep, alcoholism and use of drugs, smoking and poor physical activities (Waddell & Kim, 2005). Unemployment in the UK became severe in the 1970s as a result of the energy crisis and growth in inflation standing at 1.1 unemployed people. Unemployment rose further in the 1980s to stand a 12.5%. The trend reversed in the 1990s with the official unemployment figures standing at 1.397 as at the year 2005. This was interrupted by the 2008 economic crisis that saw unemployment rise again to 1.79 million individuals. As at 2010 unemployment had gone up to over 2.5 million with the highest figures of 2.57 being reached in 2011 and 2.65 in the year 2012 representing. The situation in France has not been different; unemployment has been on the rise for the past three decades picking at 10% currently. The youth are the most affected in France with a whopping 23% of people in the age bracket of 18-24 out employment (Waddell & Kim, 2005). The statistics show that unemployment has been on the rise over the last three decades in the two countries forcing many people to survive on social welfare. This has a direct association with the rising levels of stress with adverse health implications. Many people are worried of getting a job; many others are worried of the security of their jobs and as such are getting un-recommended amounts of sleep with the resultant rise in stress levels. This stress affects people’s health mentally, psychologically and physically. It also has adverse social implications n the society. With the increased feeling of rejection, people resort to alcoholism, drugs and criminal activities. At the same time poor socio-economic status comes with poor behaviours in terms dietary intake and healthcare access. It increases the chances of getting diseases such as due to the careless life that stress confers. Waddell & Kim (2005) in their research proves that there is a strong correlation between unemployment and “increased rates of overall mortality, mortality from cardiovascular disease, lung cancer and suicide” (Waddell & Kim, 2005 pg. 11). Apart from unemployment, stress in modern life is also as a result of poor health conditions, which is a major characteristic of the modern life. Severe illnesses affecting individuals are their significant others is an important source of stress. Another negative event associated with causing stress is death; with many illnesses such HIV and the rise of lifestyle conditions such as cardiovascular diseases death rate has increase. Negative socio-economic circumstances are responsible for the most stress that is being witnessed in modern life. Lack of financial resources for instance affects health and educational standards as well as unemployment and quality of life. Poverty is associated with disease, crime and negative standards of life which increases stress levels. At the same time the rise in population has been accompanied with a rise in natural disaster, wars and even accidents. There is also a rise in relationship problems and deviant behaviours such as alcoholism and crime. This places a significant stress pressure on people in modern life and affects the quality of life adversely (Waddell & Kim, 2005). The different life experiences differ in terms of the amount of stress they cause on individuals. One of the tools that helps in measuring this is the social readjustment rating scale, which very important tool for monitoring stress among individuals although it doesn’t consider the divergences among individuals. The scale takes the assumption that every stressor event has the same effect on all people. This may not exactly true; for some individuals stress for instance be severely stressing while for others it may just be the much needed relief. The end result of some illnesses, which is death also may affect different people differently depending on their associations or relationships with the dead person. There is thus need for the development of a better scale that takes into account the factors influencing how different stressors affect people uniquely (Waddell & Kim, 2005). Apart from poor health and unemployment, a significant amount of stress in modern life is also a result of overwork. Scientific research has shown many Britons are suffering alarming rates of stress and depression largely because work overloads. “The highest levels of stress in the legal profession and banking and finance” (BBC 2006). This is particularly with the modern global economy, jobs increasingly becoming unsecure. As such individuals are working more than recommended hours and at the same time are being closely micromanaged. This increases levels stress among individuals as a result of the demanding modern life. People have to worry about their job security, completion of tasks and pressure from the management. To make the matter worse many men particularly do not face the situation head on and instead resort to alcoholism as a coping mechanisms. This only serves to postponed and increase the negative effects of work related stress. International labour standards stipulate that people should only work a maximum of 8 eight hours on a daily basis and five days in a week. Anything more than that is therefore overwork and whether compensated or not has a negative impact on health. Statistically one out of every three men turns alcoholism so as to switch their minds from the job while 17% are actually seeing doctors. Overwork related stress is particularly high in the legal and banking professions. Over 25% of men surveyed are in fact suffering exhaustion due to work stress, 22% of reached depression levels and one in every five is experiencing severe stress outbursts. Illnesses associated with stress such as heart diseases, mental health conditions and immune problems are on the rise and the trend is particularly worrying in men. Work related pressure is responsible for 35% of sleeping problems in Britain and 40% of the people find it difficult to switch off from their jobs. Today 15% of men in Britain are suffering low sex drive and 5% have actually reached impotence specifically because of work related stress. Things are not better in France either despite the five week vacations. The period between 2009/2009 saw 35 employees of the France Telecom commit suicide attributed to work stress. Psychologists and psychiatrists reported an increase in burnout among patients in the 2011 as result of overwork and even recommended work stoppage (Johnson 2013). With such statistics it is very overt that burnout is on the increase with modern life and this is causing a lot of stress among people. As a result of stress people suffering exhaustion, low sex drive and even impotence and these are direct results of overwork stress. With people worried about job security and pressure by managers, they are accumulating a lot of stress that negatively effects on their health. Cardiovascular diseases, psychiatric conditions and even cases of suicide as a result work related stress are also increasing. This requires that countries come up with measures to address the problem as it is likely to escalate if not checked. With the worry of losing jobs being a major cause of stress employers could be forced to consider the health of their employees when setting performance targets and reviews (Samuel Melamed et al, 2006). A lot of research has shown that rising stress levels in modern life have a direct association with cardiovascular disease. One unique and affective response in which we respond to stress is through burnout, which is “a multidimensional construct consisting of emotional exhaustion, physical fatigue, and cognitive weariness” (Melamed et al. 2006 pg. 327). This encompasses exhaustion emotionally, cognitive wear out and physical fatigue. Burnout results from continued exposure to prolonged stress especially at work. Features in the work place such as chronic job related stress that results from overwork is important in the causation of burnout and eventually cardiovascular disease. Research that is centred on work fatigue and exhaustion has found that the two have an association with heart disease. Stress is therefore a very important behind the increasing cases of cardiovascular disease not only in the UK but the world over (Melamed et al. 2006). Type A Coronary Behaviour Pattern is directly related with development of coronary heart disease. Individuals with such behaviour are characteristically aggressive. The individuals will typically try to achieve a lot in a very short time span even when their objectives are overtly unrealistic. The behaviour is a risk factor for coronary heart disease. The type A’s are also high in terms of risk factors such as smoking of cigarettes, cholesterol and hypertension. This is another evidence of the relationship between stress & emotions and heart diseases. Overwork and emotional imbalance that results from the stress of work as well as worry of job security are therefore important factors in the causation of heart diseases (Melamed et al. 2006). Stress is much more a risk for heart disease as compared to cholesterol. While for a long time the belief has been that higher blood cholesterol clogs coronary arteries obstructing blood flow and eventually causing heart disease, there is not enough scientific proof. Not even a single clinical trial has found any association between lowering cholesterol and improvement in cardiovascular disease patients. On the other hand stressful events such as Type A behaviour and emotional issues such as depression, anxiety and others have been linked to increase risk for heart disease. Stress has been found to cause spasm and constriction in coronary arteries as well as increasing stickiness in platelets hence promoting formation of clots. Stress is also associated with atrial fibrillation which is a very important risk factor in stroke. There is therefore no doubt stress is a very important factor in causation of heart disease and therefore with overwork that is characteristic of modern life incidences of the disease are on the rise (Schnall et al. 2000). Cardiovascular disease is on the rise in the modern society and this is particularly because of the many stressors that people have to deal with. Inflation is high, property prices are on the increases, resources are continuously diminishing yet unemployment is on the rise. People are worried about their jobs, their security their health as well as negative life events and this add up to increase stress levels. At the same time employers are demanding a lot, micromanaging employees and tightening performance targets. This causes chronic work related stress that in turn causes exhaustion and cognitive weariness which in turn result into burnout. Burnout is directly associated with cardiovascular disease as a risk factor. The rise in incidents of cardiovascular diseases in the modern society is therefore a result of the increased stress levels. Wilkinson & Marmot (2003) explains that having a little control of one’s work is particularly strongly related to an increased risk of low back pain, sick absence and cardiovascular disease” (Wilkinson & Marmot 2003 pg. 18). In conclusion, one of the characteristics of the modern life is stress. An investigation of the causation factors of this stress reveals various causes such as unemployment, work overload, poor health and other causes. Eventually, this stress leads to other things such as cardiovascular disease, which is one of the problems affecting people in the modern world. With such knowledge, the government and concerned parties need to consider these factors and start from this level in order to create a healthy nation. Bibliography 1. Waddell, G, Kim, B (2005), “Is work good for your health and well-being?” Cardiff University: Centre for Health and Social Care Research. Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/214326/hwwb-is-work-good-for-you.pdf 2. BBC News (2006), Stress at work makes men ill. BBC. Available at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/5059278.stm 3. Johnson, MW (2013), “Burnout is everywhere: here is what countries are doing to fix it.” The Huffington Post. Available at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/30/worker-burnout-worldwide-governments_n_3678460.html 4. Melamed et al (2006), “Burnout and risk of cardiovascular disease: evidence, possible causal paths and promising research directions.” Psychological Bulletin; Vol. 132, NO. 3, 327-353. 5. Schnall, P, Belkic, K, Landsbergis, P & Baker, D (2000). “Why the workplace and cardiovascular disease?” Available at: http://www.workhealth.org/OMSTAR/omstar%20chapter%201.html 6. Wilkinson, RG, & Marmot, MG (2003), Social determinants of health: the solid facts. World Health Organization. Read More