Stress In The Workplace

Written by Lisa Branigan


According torepparttar Australian Council of Trade Unions’ (A.C.T.U.) 1997 survey, fifty per cent of workers had suffered some form of stress at work in a 12-month period. The statistics in care professions were even higher, withrepparttar 115209 Department of Education and Training in Western Australia reporting in its 2002 Attitudes To Teaching Survey that seventy per cent of teachers identified workplace stress as a cause for concern in their teaching positions.

Stress inrepparttar 115210 workplace is becoming a major concern for employers, managers and government agencies, owing torepparttar 115211 Occupational Health and Safety legislations requiring employers to practice ‘duty of care’ by providing employees with safe working environments which also coverrepparttar 115212 psychological wellbeing of their staff.

One ofrepparttar 115213 costs, for employers, of work place stress is absenteeism, withrepparttar 115214 A.C.T.U. reporting that owing to stress, nearly fifty per cent of employees surveyed had taken time off work. Other negative effects were reductions in productivity, reduced profits, accidents, high rates of sickness, increased workers’ compensation claims and high staff turnover, requiring recruiting and training of replacement staff.

While a certain amount of stress is needed to motivate individuals into action, prolonged stress can have a huge impact on overall health. More than two-thirds of visits to doctors’ surgeries are for stress-related illnesses. Stress has been linked to headaches, backaches, insomnia, anger, cramps, elevated blood pressure, chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia and lowered resistance to infection. For women, stress is a key factor in hormonal imbalances resulting in menstrual irregularities, PMS, fibroids, endometriosis and fertility problems. Stress can also be a factor inrepparttar 115215 development of almost all disease states including cancer and heart disease.

Each profession has its own unique factors that may cause stress; below are some causes of stress that cross many professions:

· Increased workload · Organizational changes · Lack of recognition · High demands · Lack of support · Personal and family issues · Poor work organization · Lack of training · Long or difficult hours · Inadequate staff numbers and resources · Poor management communication · Lack of control or input

So what can be done to effectively manage workplace stress?

Organizations can:

· Educate their employees to recogniserepparttar 115216 signs of stress. · Where possible, give their employeesrepparttar 115217 chance to be involved in decisions and actions that affect their jobs. · Improve employer-employee communications. · Provide employees with opportunities to socialise together. · Be understanding of employees’ personal and family responsibilities. · Ensure employee workloads suit their capabilities and resources (provide more training and resources if not). · Provide support (internally or externally) for employees who have complex stress issues.

Vitamin C -- The Most Famous of Vitamins!

Written by David Leonhardt


Vitamin C -- The Most Famous of Vitamins! By David Leonhardt

We call Vitamin C, also known as ascorbic acid, "the most famous of vitamins" because it really isrepparttar best known. It isrepparttar 115208 first one schoolchildren learn. It isrepparttar 115209 most cited cure forrepparttar 115210 common cold. Most people can rhyme off at least a few foods that contain vitamin C. And vitamin C isrepparttar 115211 single most searched nutrient onrepparttar 115212 Internet.

HISTORY: Nobel Prize winning biochemist Dr. Albert Szent-Gyorgyi first isolated vitamin C in 1928. (As someone of Hungarian descent, I find this a touch exciting.)

Vitamin C first got its reputation for beatingrepparttar 115213 common cold in 1970, when fellow Nobel Prize winner Linus Pauling published his bestselling book "Vitamin C andrepparttar 115214 Common Cold". In it, he suggested that taking vitamin C at levels well aboverepparttar 115215 USA RDA (now 60 milligrams per day) could strengthenrepparttar 115216 immune system and help ward offrepparttar 115217 common cold.

BENEFITS: Vitamin C helps form collagen, a glue-like fibrous protein in bone, cartilage, tendons and other connective tissue. Vitamin C helps give structure and maintain such body parts as bones, cartilage, muscle, veins, capillaries and teeth.

But recent studies have also linked "adequate dosages" of vitamin C to preventing a number of common cancers, of helping boostrepparttar 115218 nervous system, of prolonging life, of reducingrepparttar 115219 risk of heart disease, of softeningrepparttar 115220 symptoms of respiratory diseases such as asthma and cystic fibrosis, and of keeping skin and glands healthy.

SOURCES: Most animals manufacture their own vitamin C. Primates, such as humans, gorillas, and monkeys, have somehow lost this ability.

Which is why we need to get our vitamin C from our diets.

It is well known that citrus fruits, such as oranges, lemons, grapefruits, tangerines, limes, mandarins and others contain vitamin C.

In fact, vitamin C comes almost exclusively from fruits and vegetables. Other good sources are tomatoes, strawberries, raspberries, broccoli, asparagus, brussels sprouts, cauliflower, cabbage, peas, rutabagas, cantaloupe, kiwi, papayas, potatoes and watermelon.

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