Work life balance

 

Work / life balance? More like Stressed, Sleep Deprived and Snappy

Kalms Annual Report reveals Britain’s stress levels peak when striving to have it all, questioning if the perfect work / life balance really exists?

•  Age 36 marks the tipping point for women, when work and home life becomes equally as stressful
• One in five of Brit’s feel stressed more than six times per week, with women more prone to daily stress than men
• Over one third cite work and home life equally stressful
• 15 million Brit’s admit to feeling stressed when striving to achieve a work / life balance
• Sleep, health and relationships are most likely to suffer when stress levels sore

 Kalms, the number one selling range of herbal stress remedies, has revealed the causes and symptoms of UK stress in the brand’s annual report.

 The survey of 2,000 Brits, aged between 25 and 50 unveils the leading stress drivers in our life – and it turns out work and life worries can be equally to blame. The report shows that an astounding one in five of us suffer stress on almost a daily basis (more than six times per week), with women fairing much worse than men as a quarter admit to suffering stress daily vs only 16% of men. Over a third (36%) attribute stress equally to work and home life pressures, with 15 million Brit’s actually citing juggling family life with work commitments the most stressful part of their working life.

Work Stress Revealed

Kalms discovered that fitting everything into the working day presents more of a challenge for women (42% vs. 31% of men) suggesting that a gender gap still exists when it comes to balancing work and home life priorities. This home life inequality may also be the reason why more women than men say they feel pressure when trying to leave work on time (20% vs. 13%).

Nikki Kerrigan, Kalms spokesperson commented: “By identifying the nation’s stress levels each year we can uncover where the pressure and stress stems from in everyday life – creating a focus on these issues is really important to help people manage the stressful areas in their life. It is also really interesting to see that men and women vary so much in their triggers to stress – although a good work / life balance still appears to be a difficult thing for everyone to achieve.”

Home Stress Revealed

Stress at home becomes a greater cause for concern as we reach our thirties, particularly for women. Sophia Davis, Life coach explained,

“In my experience, once a woman hits her mid 30’s, she has formed an idea about who she is, has created her own expectations of what she should be ‘doing’ or ‘achieving’ at that ‘stage in her life’, and will be making comparisons with the people around her, creating a self-imposed pressure, and potential anxiety if she is not in the same or similar place.”

The report reveals the self-imposed pressures relate to everything from keeping the house clean and tidy (39%) to spending quality time as a family (27%) and even completing DIY jobs (21%).

The Impact of Stress Revealed

Sleep, health and relationships are all set to suffer as a result of stress. Four in five suffer in the sleep-stakes whether it’s loss of sleep (36%), unable to nod off at all (32%) or awaking in a panicked state (12%).

Perhaps more shocking is that 22.4 million are willing to put their health on the line with 14.1 million Brit’s hitting the bottle and a further one in ten 8.3 million turning to nicotine to help release anxiety.

Despite 16% admitting that we turn to the support and love of close relations to help us through stressful times, almost a third (32%) admit to taking stress out on those closed to us.

Dealing with Stress

When it comes to dealing with stress and managing its effects, women are more proactive when it comes to stress relief. Nearly a quarter of men admit to doing nothing to relieve stressful periods (24% male vs. 16% female) and their most common approach to dealing with stress is exercise (30%).

Females also turn to exercise as stress relief (35%), relaxing baths (30%), support from family and friends (20%) and stress relieving herbal products (13%) also feature on a female’s approach to dealing with stress levels.  

This is a collaborative post.