About 7.4 million German citizens suffer from sleep disorders. This ailment is the result of constant workload at work and is not as harmless as it might seem at first glance. The members of the German Society of Somnology (DGSM) discussed methods of dealing with this phenomenon at the annual meeting on Friday in Wiesbaden.
Experts build a logical chain in the following way – people get tired at work, because of this they sleep poorly, and the next day, already in a stressful state, they are forced to experience everything anew. In this way, problems accumulate like a snowball, and depression can begin, which has long been called the “German national disease.”
“Sleep disturbances also have serious consequences for the economy,” says Hans-Güter Wees, a member of the public. According to him, a person who has trouble sleeping is often absent from work. The negative impact in this case is experienced primarily by small businesses.
“When disorders of this kind are aggravated and a person is one step away from more serious mental illnesses, doctors often prescribe antidepressants, which however do not always help to solve the problem and make the patient dependent,” said meeting organizer Richard Schulz. He considers sessions with psychologists and various trainings as the best medicine against sleep disorders.
According to statistics, over the past 4 years the number of Germans went to the doctor because of depression increased by 50%. The consumption of antidepressants increased by the same amount. The main reasons are the same – excessive workload and constant stress at work. Other conditions include irregular working hours and long trips to and from service. As a result, Germans are increasingly forced to take sick leave and be absent from the workplace for weeks.
This problem has an inverse process – people in a difficult psychological state can easily become a weak link in the work team, fail tasks or provoke conflicts. According to statistics over the past year, about 70 thousand people annually retire early in the whole Germany due to mental problems and exposure to stress.
German Health Minister Daniel Bar admitted that stress from work has become a real disaster of “enormous proportions.” He called on enterprises to develop a schedule that was less harmful to health and promised to organize an information campaign on this topic.
In addition, German experts warn that if you spend more than 40 hours a week on work (an eight-hour working day), you can also face serious health and mental problems. According to the representative of the Federal Agency for the Protection of Workers and Occupational Medicine, Frank Brencheidt, those who still work more should take time off at their own expense for their own benefit.