According to Profmed’s 2022 Stress Index, the high cost of living, followed by unreliable electricity supply, are the leading causes of stress among professionals. While this may be an obvious outcome, Profmed CEO, Craig Comrie believes it is important to understand what is causing South African professionals the most stress, and more importantly, how these professionals choose to deal with their stress. Professionals remain the most valuable asset to improve the economy and also the unemployment problems of South Africa.
The Stress Index has been done by Profmed for the last 7 years and is compiled annually from the responses of over 1 500 of Profmed’s professional membership base – providing a barometer for stress levels in the country year on year with the latest index revealing a spike in the number of highly stressed professionals.
“Some of the results could have been anticipated,” says Comrie. “I am sure this will not come as a surprise to South Africa. The high inflation rates and cost of living crises dominate mainstream media almost daily and more than that, we are all experiencing these effects in real-time.”
Surveying a variety of professionals, the majority of respondents (36.99%) are doctors and medical specialists, while 8.06% work in the accounting industry, while 9.89% and 9.35% work in the built environment industry and legal sector, respectively. Of the total respondents, 57.32% are older than 55, and 28.42% are 25 to 45 years old.
The 2021 stress index revealed that 26,0% of professionals are highly stressed and 11.11% are extremely stressed. While the 2022 index showed that 31,90% of the sampling pool are feeling highly stressed while 12.52% are extremely stressed.
“In the last few years, there has been a significant year-on-year increase regarding how many of our members are feeling highly stressed and extremely stressed. This is leading to long-term mental health conditions with a growing proportion of members needing long-term chronic treatment,” Comrie says.
Half of the respondents (50%) indicated that stress affects them emotionally and mentally, while 32.70% said it affects them physically. “It’s also imperative to know that constant tension on your body from stress may cause critical health complications, such as heart disease, high blood pressure, and diabetes. Ongoing and untreated stress leads to mental health-related complications like depression or anxiety. If you want to win the battle against stress, know your triggers and tackle them early,” he says.
“We acknowledge that some of the stress experienced by South Africans originates from trauma caused by violence or trauma due to domestic violence. This stress can result in long-term anxieties if left untreated. Profmed’s WHISPA provides members who are affected by Gender Based Violence or other violence to have access to counselling to help deal with the trauma. Also available to members is Profmed’s Assistance programme which gives members access to counselling support when dealing with a bad diagnosis or rape on a 24-hour basis. We encourage all our members to make use of these programmes if they need support,” Comrie added.
In terms of how respondents are dealing with stress, 11% indicated that they speak to a professional, which is a significant increase from last year’s 3% which incorporated the stresses of the Covid pandemic. In terms of which professional counselling methods are used, 26.91% prefer seeing someone face-to-face, 1.84% prefer telephonic engagements with their counsellor and 3.27% prefer online counselling. The top stress coping mechanism remains physical exercise as selected by 55.12% of respondents followed by finding a hobby which was selected by 35.81%.
When asked which sporting activities help applicants de-stress, hiking and running, rose to the top with 44.05% and 24.39% respectively. While 19.17% of respondents selected biking and 12.38% selected golf.
When asked when last the respondents took a week or more off from work to relax, 32.79% answered in the last three months, 16.56% said in the last six months and 22.49% answered in the last year.
When it comes to work-life balance, 25.77% of the respondents said working from home has helped them improve their work-life balance, while an astounding 59.92% of the professionals felt this question was “not applicable” to them and probably means they are back at the office. 14.31% said their work-life balance has not improved at all.
Respondents were also asked if they were ever diagnosed with COVID-19 and are still experiencing long-term symptoms and 13.37% said yes, while 41.88% said no. On the other hand, when asked if respondents’ finances suffered as a result of the pandemic, 59.71% said yes, while 40.29% said no.
Although every person is built to handle stress differently, Comrie strongly believes that everyone should take note of their stress levels and understand that there are numerous ways to seek help if you are struggling to cope. “If stress affects your everyday routine, remember that you are not alone and can seek help from a professional. Stress is a part of our lives, and it changes with the times. That’s why we have to be aware of our stress indicators such as sleep, weight and even our relationships with our family and friends.”
