Americans Relying on Drugs to Relieve Stress

Are you on drugs to relieve stress or to battle high blood pressure or cholesterol. If you answer "yes," you are in the majority. According to an AP article, a study shows that "more than half of all insured Americans are taking prescription medicines regularly for chronic health problems." The study was conducted last year by Medco Health Solutions Inc.

The study reveals the results of prescription records from 2001 to 2007. They reveal that medications for chronic health problems are consumed by:

• Almost two-thirds of women 20 and older.
• One in four children and teenagers.
• 52 percent of adult men.
• Three out of four people 65 or older.
• And 28 percent of women and nearly 22 percent of men who are seniors take five or more medicines regularly.

Dr. Robert Epstein, chief medical officer at Franklin Lakes, N.J.-based Medco, said the biggest jump in use of chronic medications was in the 20- to 44-year-old age group. Antidepressant use rose among teens and working-age women. The jump is attributed to stress in daily life and to family doctors being more comfortable prescribing newer antidepressants.

We can't control what doctors prescribe but we can begin to heal ourselves of stress caused by our work lives. Here are but a few of the ways known to alleviate stress:

Work Related Stress (excerpted from Healthwise)

Control. Studies show that workers who have lots of responsibility but little control are at increased risk for cardiovascular disease and other stress-related illnesses.

Increased responsibilities. If you have too much work to do and can't say no to new tasks or projects, your levels of stress are likely to rise.

Competence. Workers who are insecure regarding their performance or their job security risk high stress levels.

Clarity. If you don't know clearly what your job entails, you are at risk for stress.

Communication. Business leaders who create an environment where inability to express concerns, frustrations or other emotions risk increased stress among all employees.

Support. When we feel a lack of support from co-workers, stress increases.

Significance. A job wherein we can't find meaning or pride can be stressful.

Lowering Work Related Stress

• Communicate, communicate, communicate. Talk to your supervisor and your co-workers. Understand clearly the expectations and how those who are achieving success do so.
• Manage your time. Don't work long hours to impress your boss. Don't trade free time for more work. Work smarter, not longer. Take time and classes to learn how to be more efficient and productive.
• Unplug. Turn off the gadgets--cell phones, computers, personal assistants--when not at work.
• Know when to quit. If you don't like your job quit and find another or become an entrepreneur. Your health is more important than loyalty to a job that makes you crazy.

The above comes from Healthwise. Now, I want to share my prescription for creating positive workplace cultures and happy consumers, which comes from my most recent book for business leaders and influencers. Put people first in everything a business says and does. By doing so, I argue, profits and revenues will increase when compared against businesses that place money first. Here's why:

A business that puts people first:

• Provides services to their employees, such as in-house consultants to discuss various worker issues, gyms, flex time, and supervisor open-door policies.
• Communications is ongoing and honest. Goals, objectives and both good and bad news are shared.
• Leaders lead, not manage. The difference: Leaders show us where we need to go, set the expectations and measure success by how well we meet or exceed those expectations; managers tell us how to do our jobs and measure success by how well we follow instructions.
• Innovation and creativity are rewarded. Calculated risk-taking is encouraged.
• Employees are encouraged to and rewarded for exceeding consumer's wants and needs.
• Workers are challenged to be the best they can be.
• Personal responsibility for success is measured and workers are held accountable for how they contribute to the business's success.

This post is but a sketch of the current levels of stress and how individuals and workplaces can deal with increasing levels of stress. No blog post can tell a business how to achieve a culture of success, but we can paint pictures of what it might look like.

Comments

[Stephen Denny]

Lewis: I don't know what you think about all this, but a few thoughts come to mind --

. It's easy to get medication -- far easier than it was when we were all kids. Mom and Dad didn't need medication back then unless they were "sick."

. The culture of celebrity we're immersed in tells us every day, via our RSS feeds and CNN, that if we're not multi-billionaires by our mid 30's, we've screwed up. We're all in catch up mode, as a result. We work harder and faster and feel a sense of entitlement that we're supposed to enjoy the kind of financial success that only a fraction of 1% used to enjoy.

. Related to the culture of celebrity is the assumption that things should happen much faster and without much work for us -- fitness DVD's and home exercise equipment makers get paid for this, as do 'learn a foreign language in 30 days' and 'learn how to beat the market' self-help media. We don't work out, we get liposuction. We're too busy.

So we don't manage stress by dealing with the causes and sharpening our own saws -- we medicate and get back in the game. We'll figure out none of this works in a few years. Hopefully.

Regards.

[Lewis Green]

Stephen,

Great insights and perspective. I think the celebrity view is part of a larger cultural illness that grows out of what seems to me to be an entitlement society. Although we work hard, maybe even harder than our parents, we expect more than they did. My parents were happy to strive for the dream: they wanted a home, which came with a mortgage they could afford, and a car for transportation, instead of a Hummer or a Benz.

Today, the American Dream, which is based on hard word, seems to have been replaced by the American Entitlement—Medicare, Medicaid, welfare for millions, Social Security and perhaps federally mandated health insurance. When the entitlements become part of our income, as they have today, we strive for material wealth that, as you say, is possible for very few of us.

The result: stress. And what fixes stress—not realism or realistic goals but drugs that enable us to work harder and longer and get more stress.

I’m not arguing against hard work. In fact, my wife and I put in long hours and usually some on the weekends. But we work for ourselves, save for our retirement (no pension and we aren’t counting whatever Social Security we may get), and we don’t want health care provided for or mandated by the government. We don’t feel entitled to anything we don’t earn, and our stress levels are far lower than when we worked for others and for material wealth that featured annual raises (whether or not they are deserved), a 401k, paid health care and a pension.

Lewis