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

One of costs, for employers, of work place stress is absenteeism, with 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 in 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:

We call Vitamin C, also known as ascorbic acid, "the most famous of vitamins" because it really is best known. It is first one schoolchildren learn. It is most cited cure for common cold. Most people can rhyme off at least a few foods that contain vitamin C. And vitamin C is single most searched nutrient on 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 beating common cold in 1970, when fellow Nobel Prize winner Linus Pauling published his bestselling book "Vitamin C and Common Cold". In it, he suggested that taking vitamin C at levels well above USA RDA (now 60 milligrams per day) could strengthen immune system and help ward off 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 boost nervous system, of prolonging life, of reducing risk of heart disease, of softening 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.