Stress: Causes, Signs and Support
Stress is what we all feel when a situation becomes hard to handle. Adrenaline rushes through the body, increasing our heart rate and boosting alertness and we may feel sweaty, tingly and get butterflies. Our ancestors benefitted from the ‘fight or flight’ response to danger, although today’s ‘threats’ are different in that, we don’t need to fend off a tiger, they do still appear more frequntly.
Too much stress can damage your immune system and heart. It can increase your chances of serious health problems as well as reduce life-expectancy and damage relationships. Too much stress can casue mental health problems that affect 1 in 4 of us in the UK, as well as being responsbile for half of all long-term absenses from work.
About three-quarters of the people treated for depression are women but about three quarters of the people who commit suicide are men.
Causes of stress include work, unemployment, money issues, a bereavement as well as other endings including moving house, splitting up with a partner, changing job or children leaving the family home, your health and mood. The weather can impact how you feel. Partners and friends and/or their absence for example loneliness, a family breakdown, relatinships and sexuality, addictions incluidng drink and drugs and being on the receiving end of violence or abuse, online as well as in real life.
Signs of stress include eating more or less than normal, mood swings, low self-esteem, feeling tense or anxious, not sleeping properly or wanting to sleep all the time, poor memory or forgetfulness, excessive drinking and/or drug use, feeling really tired and lacking in energy withdrawing from family and friends, behaving out of character, finding it hard to concentrate and struggling at work, losing interest in things you usually enjoy, having unusual experiences, like seeing or hearing things that others don’t as well as physical signs like headaches, irritable bowel syndrome or aches and pains.
Recognising stress in yourself or someone else is a big step and talking about it can help. Within the workplace having a benefit in place like a Private Medical Insurance policy with therapies includes or a stand alone Employee Assistance Programme can help assit employees.
If you are concerend about your employees and are looking to put in place an employee benefits package that meets your businsses ethos as well as budget then speak to a knowledgeable friendly member of the BDHL team on 01892 891900 or email enquries@bdhl.co.uk.
We can also review exisitng policies.
