Dr. Maletic, a researcher in the physiology of brain function recently reported on a significant study underway at Duke University. This research project has identified a number of genes in the brain that, when damaged, set the person up for depression. Of special interest to business managers is the additional finding that just because the genes in question are vulnerable that does not mean the person will become depressed. It appears that it is only with the right degree of environmental triggers that a person will become depressed. The number one environmental trigger? Stress!
What are the three top symptom of depression? They are trouble sleeping, loss of appetite and low energy. So: by reducing stress in the workplace the manager heads off having depressed employees who are tired and low on energy. And if that isn't enough good news, here is more: Since persons who experience increased occurrences of depression are 50% more likely to have heart trouble and diabetes, when you manage stress in the workplace you are helping to prevent two of the nation's top health problems! Make that three of the nation's top health problems: stress promotes cancer!
There are other ways of contributing to good health and preventing health problems in the workplace, and they, too, fall within the scope of good management. These include the everyday common sense management of environmental factors. Clean eating areas and clean bathrooms, clean floors and hygienic workplaces are important to good health. Clean air and no drafts are others. Encouraging everyone to wash their hands thoroughly with soap and to cover their faces when coughing and sneezing are yet more ways to prevent illness.
Managers, by working to help employees prevent, reduce and manage stress, also perform an important mental health function: suicide prevention. Surprising as it may seem, the highest rates of suicides occur during the months of Spring. This is because persons who are experiencing clinical depression may seem not so different from everyone else during the winter months when all of us get a little droopy. But when Spring rolls around everyone gets out there, active and perky - except the truly depressed. These persons feel isolated and more hopeless as the anguish increases. Increased stress, for many who are depressed, becomes the last straw in the burden of hopelessness. Suicide begins to look like a way out, the only way out.
Business managers play a far more important role in the lives of those whose work they lead and manage than might appear at first glance!
___________
Are you a business manager? Do you take your influence seriously above and beyond the mechanics of scheduling and supervising? Dr. Larry and Ted Knight have teamed up to offer 2-day open trainings for those who view managing as leadership. Their Executive Leadership training covers many dimensions, including stress management. Sign upo now for one of their public seminars (Michigan, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Minnesota, Las Vegas) or talk to us about arranging your own training on site with these two gifted leaders and trainers of leaders.
del.icio.us · digg this · spurl · reddit · furl this
