From full inboxes and bleeping blackberries to lengthy commutes and automated messages, modern technology in the 21st Century doesn’t always make life easier. We’re working longer hours, sleeping less than ever and with global markets creating competition beyond our borders, pressure at work has never been so stark.

With so much on our plate, it’s hardly surprising that stress levels are rising. The number of working days lost due to stress in 2006-07 is estimated to be 13.7 million according to the latest statistics from the Health and Safety Executive. That’s a significant rise on last year so what are we getting so wrong?

Wednesday 7th November is National Stress Awareness Day and in a working world that never sleeps, it’s important to ensure we don’t neglect ourselves.

A recent study conducted by Philip Stein TESLAR, in association with the International Stress Management Association and Goldsmiths the jeweller, examined 25 stressed out entrepreneurs eager to reduce the stress in their lives. The participants took part in a Heart Rate Variability (HRV) test with Dr. Nyjon Eccles, BSc PhD MBBS MRCP, at his Harley Street practice. Each participant was given a Philip Stein TESLAR watch – a watch that contains a special de-stressing technology. After 5 weeks of wearing the watch, the participants received a second HRV test to discover the effects.

Benefits of wearing the watch include a more restful night time sleep, a reduction in stress and jet lag, improved concentration, increased levels of energy and an overall improvement of wellbeing.

Joining us online to discuss the findings is participant, Andy Henderson, a Derivatives Trainer, RFU Referee and Actor, Dermot Dennehy, UK MD of Philip Stein TESLAR and Jane Thomas, Chair of the International Stress Management Association, who will also be offering some top tips on how to manage our stress levels.

Dermot Dennehy, Andy Henderson and Jane Thomas join us on Wednesday 7th November at 9:00am to help us unwind with some top stress-busting tips.

H: Glen Tomset, host
J: Jane Thomas, Interenational Stess Management Association
A: Andy Henderson, city worker
D: Dermot Dennehy, UK Managing Director Philip Stein Teslar

H: Hello and welcome to the Business Show, I’m Glen Tomset and today is National Stress Awareness Day. Now to help us discuss National Stress Awareness Day we’ve got three people that are expert in that field, but firstly with the world of buzzing Blackberries, emails, inboxes overflowing, you’d think life would be easier in the 21st century. It’s actually harder. We’re under more stress today than ever before, 13.5 million working days were lost last year alone through stress, which is an incredible finding. Three people to help discuss the whole stress factor today, Jane Thomas, now Jane is the International Stress Management Association Chair. We’ve also got Andy Henderson, now Andy is a worker from the city, he’s got a high powered job there, he’s also an actor and also a rugby union referee, and also we have with us Dermot Dennehy, Dermot is the managing director of - the UK Managing Director of Philip Stein Teslar, now they in fact have come up with some rather ingenious inventions, a rather ingenious device that lowers your stress level. We’ll start with you Dermot if we may

D: Sure

H: The findings that you’ve come up with, you’ve been involved with these findings

D: Yes

H: About stress, phenomenal stress levels we’ve all got

D: Yes

H: Why is that today?

D: Well the stress levels we have are basically based around our lives. What we do is we did a study with a Harley street doctor which confirmed for us once again that people who wear this watch have a massive reduction in their stress level. We saw significant trends that the reduction within the group we did 25 entrepreneurs, people who had stressful lives like Andy, that reduction went from 7.5 which was the median of the group, down to 4 which is almost like a 50% reduction in their stress level. What was also very interesting for us was that a lot of these guys started to sleep a lot better, so they were reporting to us that they actually fell asleep 50% faster than what they would normally do, and those that did actually were getting an extra half an hour’s sleep, so I was thrilled with those results, it proves once again that the technology within the Philp Stein Teslar watch works, but to be honest I wasn’t terribly surprised and the reason I wasn’t surprised is because we carried out a very similar study two years ago with the same Harley street doctor but with 26 MPs at the Houses of Parliament, and once again we had clear and significant trends to show a reduction in their stress level

H: Ok we’ll check out the technology and see how they work a little bit later on

D: Sure

H: But of course this is a live show, if you do want to get in touch with us of course you know what to do, there’s a little box underneath the screen on your computer, just fill that question in, put your question in that box, hit the submit button, and of course that question comes straight through to me here in the studio and I’ll put your questions to the relevant guest. Jane Thomas who’s the chair of the International Stress Management Association, thanks for joining us today. Why are we all so stressed in this day of Blackberries, we’ve got mobile phones, we’ve got all the technology to make life supposedly much easier for us – why are we more stressed today than ever before?

J: I think that what tends to happen is that we feel that we’ve got to be very competitive in the, in our culture today, in our world today, so we all need all these gadgets, we believe that these gadgets are actually going to help us, when really what we need to start looking at is how we manage our lives, and they’ve become something that we I suppose a bit of a crutch really, that we use and we think that they’re going to get rid of all that stress for us, when in fact what happens is often they create the stress for us

H: Exactly, if your Blackberry doesn’t work or if your emails are down –

J: Yes, yes

H: You know you get frustrated, you get angry, and you know that stress level as you say rises phenomenally. So what should people do to get de-stressed then, what’s the answer here?

J: I mean really they need to be aware of coping strategies, and I think that we forget the very basic coping strategies that we need to think about every day. I mean as Dermot said, effective sleep patterns, if we’re not sleeping effectively then we wake up feeling very irritable, and that’s not necessarily about the amount of time that we sleep, it’s the quality of sleep that we’re very much looking for here. We need to get people to do the basic things that we all know about exercise and about relaxation. When we’re stressed we stop doing all of those sorts of things, we haven’t got time to do that, and I think because of that the negative pressures build up in us and then what actually happens is we lose the inability for a balance, a good sort of work / life balance

H: Ok, it’s finding that fine balance isn’t it?

J: It’s finding that balance in those situations

H: Let’s bring in Andy Henderson now, Andy you’re – got a number of different jobs, you’re an actor which is pretty high pressured on the stage

A: Yes

H: You work in the city which needless to say everybody knows is very high pressured, and you also a rugby union referee. How were you stressed and how has this technology helped you?

A: Well I was actually listening to just what Jane was saying and for me it’s very much each of those three jobs, and they run concurrently, and I consult in days or months depending on which is which, but in each case you walk into an environment where you’re expected to perform, and very publicly, and it’s about finding whatever things you can, whatever routes you can to take the stress away, or to find the balance after you’ve had a tremendous exertion of stress

H: How did you know you were stressed though?

A: Well I think when you walk on stage for the first night and the lights go up and you think what on earth am I supposed to say now – helps or if you walk into the middle of a rugby pitch and you’ve got, you know 1000 people around you, as a referee you’re not always made to feel absolutely welcome – you generally are – but you have to perform, you have to deliver and get it right for people, so there is a tremendous pressure to get it right, and whatever you can use I think, whatever works for you, whether it’s in acting we train in breathing techniques, in this particular case I was part of Dermot’s study and I was, I would say, fairly sceptical, I said I would go and try this, but I’m you know I’m a great believer in let’s go out, have a walk, get some fresh air, do some exercise and that will help you sleep well, and all of these things help. In my city job, I go and I train people in the statistical models associated with derivative pricing. Sounds daft. But what really did it for me was, not only did I feel that I was sleeping actually more thoroughly through the night, I wasn’t waking sort of at 5am as I used to, I’d go through to when I wanted to wake up – when I was wearing a watch, but also I could go in and I just – it just felt that time that you had a – it just was a more grounded, you’d wake up and you’d be ready to go

D: That’s very very true, that’s what I find, I – excuse me – I’ve been wearing the watch for the last 3 ½ years and I’m exactly the same, I’ve got more energy, I sleep a lot better, but the most important thing for me is that I’m calmer

J: Yes

D: I don’t react to things like I used to react, so I don’t road rage any more, I don’t get wound up if I get an email or if I get bad post on a Friday. I don’t get wound up, I don’t – for me that’s quite significant as a businessman

H: Righty ho. Questions coming in, thanks very much for your questions. Sam wants to know “have you noticed a stark increase in the amount of people taking time off work due to stress-related illnesses?”

J: Yes I mean the statistics are huge, as I say we know that we lose millions and millions of days and this is, there is a pattern here within organisations that I actually run my own stress management training company so I go in and I actually help organisations to tackle stess and the key thing here often is about prevention, because when somebody goes off sick with stress, how the organisation manages that is key to how we can get them back into the work environment, but the big area that we really need to focus on is very much about the prevention side of things, so we want to stop people from actually going off sick with stress, because once they do, we know from the information from the health and safety executive that they take round about 29 days off, and that’s about three weeks, and that has an impact then not only on the individual, but also on the team members and that’s something that we really are encouraging organisations to look at prevention in stress

H: Ok, what are companies doing to counteract this stress in their workforce, because a lot of people feel they must do a working lunch, they go out and get a sandwich they bring it back, they sit in front of the computer, and literally they’ll carry on doing their work, and in fact Katie says this here, she says – thanks for getting in touch Katie – “I do think my job is causing more stress than it should, however I’m reluctant to phone into the office sick stating stress as the main issue. It’s such a taboo thing in our office and suggests defeat. Is there anything you can suggest that could turn company culture around?” She appreciates that this is a big ask but thanks Katie for getting in touch with us.

J: Yes Katie I mean there are, the Health and Safety Executive have worked with organisations and they have six what they call management standards, and those management standards are there as a tool kit for organisations to try and help them manage stress effectively, and they’re all about helping the employee and the employer to look at demands, control, role, relationship, change and support, and there are tool kits that organisations can download from the Health and Safety Executive website, what I tend to do is I go in and I need to speak to the top managers the people who are at the top of the organisation, and if we can engage those particular people to put a business case, be part of a business case, and to bring in people like myself to run training courses for managers so that managers can understand what the early warning signs are, and they can then actually help, in turn, their employees. On the what we call the sort of tertiary end of it, which is sort of where - the start of it is primary which is as I say those key senior people in organisations, we have a secondary level which is about the training whether that’s for managers or employees, and employees we’re looking more at well-being, trying to get them to also take responsibility to look after themselves and their health, and then we have what we call the tertiary level which would be the counselling services, the support networks that are available for individuals, some organisations are doing fantastic things, absolutely fantastic, I think that other organisations are frightened. They’re frightened of opening up this can of worms basically, but unfortunately the can of worms has been opened and it’s been open for a long period of time, and now what we’ve got to do is we’ve got to help and support organisations to manage stress effectively

H: Ok

J: So there are good tool kits out there that can be used

H: It’s National Stress Awareness Day today and you’re watching the Business Show, I’m Glen Tomset with our guests today we have of course Andy Henderson, Dermot Dennehy and Jane Thomas. Your questions coming in, thanks very much for these. By the way still fill in that little box underneath the screen on your computer and hit the submit button, your questions come through to us. One from Fran in Dundee, she wants to know “it takes me up to two hours each night to get to sleep due to my mind working overtime and is there anything else I can do to help the situation?” I know a lot of people personally, this might have happened to you as well Andy, waking up in the middle of the night, 2, 3 o’clock, suddenly thinking of something so trivial, you just can’t get back to sleep, and I guess that’s all stress-related as well isn’t it?

J: I think there are very simp0le things you can do to help regarding the sort of the waking up, the worry in the mind, the anxiety, and that’s you know just keep a notebook by the side of your bed and write things down, because often it’s that worry that we won’t remember it, or it’s that worry that I’ve got to do something that’s related to that problem and I’ll forget it, and if I forget it, that’ll have a knock-on effect within the work environment, so write things down, I don’t know what you did Andy, did those sorts of things happen to you?

A: Ironically yes, make lists which –

H: Does that help though?

J: Yes

A: Something came – my parents of all things, but they said write it down, once it’s down you know the list is there, if you remember something – I remember things randomly through the day because we’re balancing so many different things at the same time, if something comes to you, write it down, then you know it’s there, you can go back, you can find it, you can say ‘oh yes, I forget I had to do that, that that’ – if you know it’s there it’s a tool and as Jane says we have a series of tools and it’s whatever you find the things in terms of sleep, whether it’s fresh air, whether as Dermot says the pulses from the watch, whatever you find – anything at all that you can find that works for you, and that’s certainly something that I’ve used and works well

H: For you Andy what were the first signs that you thought you were stressed? Was it lack of sleep, was it just getting really het up at the silliest things? What were the first signs?

A: It was very obvious. And I – it was out of choice in a way, I chose to put myself in stressful situations because I choose to be a professional actor, so then you step out and you’re paid to deliver a very good evening’s professional performance to these people. Similarly rugby, you step out, you owe a duty of care to manage the health and safety of the people in the pitch, and provide an entertainment, so I acknowledge that it’s my responsibility, I put myself in the situations, I then think I have a responsibility to myself to find ways to manage it, and that’s exploring different tools that work, be it using technology, be it using breathing techniques. I’m very lucky in that the people I work for do support and recognise stress levels, we get very good training from London, the London Society of Referees, the RFU give us training on how we cope, we talk about visualisation, you’re going to walk into that environment, what to expect, what to eat, how to train and this kind of thing

H: Does diet help as well then?

A: Certainly well we’re given you know, things you eat the night before and things you eat the morning you eat so many hours ahead so that you can sleep well, these are things to aid your or let your body relax and help you sleep and then also help you recover, because when you’ve had that massive stress, bursts and dose of it, I find afterwards you do the game for instance or you do the show, the performance, you come out, you’re then taught either with coaches and players if it’s rugby or if it’s the city we’ll – the people that I’ve been interacting with there, if it’s the stage with a cast or whatever afterwards, and then I find I crash, but then having – if I crash then early evening then how do you sleep properly through the night afterwards and it’s finding the tools we’ve talked about to deal with that

H: Ok. More questions coming in, thanks very much, they’re piling in here, Phil wants to know “isn’t stress just a by-product of modern society, something we have just got to deal with these days?” Has he got a point there do you think?

J: I think perhaps he has really, I mean it’s quite interesting, my grandma, she was 95 when she passed away and I know that – my background is actually in cardiology, I trained as a specialist cardiac nurse, and she was very proud of me when I was a cardiac nurse, but when I actually told her that I was going to go into the field of stress management her answer to that was my goodness me darling, I lived through two world wars, you know that’s stress, what on earth have people got to be stressed about in this day and age? But I think it is, I mean that is the problem, but I think what we do have to be aware of is that we do, we can control a lot of it, I mean as you were saying when we look at stress you often find that your own personality trait, you know if you’re a perfectionist, if you expect very high expectations of yourself you can create a lot of stress for yourself, and this is why when we look at how organisations help people, it’s very important that yes the organisation looks after, under the health and safety as you’ve obviously said Andy around stress, but also the individual’s got to take responsibility as well

H: Absolutely

J: And that’s actually the key, so I think individuals that have – yes stress is out there, it’s something that we’ve got to cope with, it’s the modern day buzzword at the moment

H: Yes, yes

J: But actually we’ve got to start thinking ok well what responsibility can I take as well to manage it more effectively

H: Ok so those Blackberries, those mobile phones, those inboxes overflowing with information, technology that we need supposedly to make our lives a lot easier and a lot more helpful, if they crash and burn then it makes you more stressful, but there are other technologies out there that help with stress

D: Sure

H: And of course Dermot Dennehy is the UK MD of Philip Stein Teslar – these watches that in fact Andy is swearing by, how do they actually work, what’s the –

D: Well what it does is the technology was developed by energy scientists in the States 20 years ago, and it works with a part in the watch, namely the coil which creates a magnetic field and a battery which creates an electrical field, and the third part of the signal is the technology, and it pulses into your wrist through an acupuncture point. Wearers of the watch are experiencing that they sleep deeper, they’ve got more energy and they’re calmer in stressful situations and that is how it works, very simple

H: So what’s the duration of time then, you put this watch on

D: Yes

H: How quick are you going to be de-stressed?

D: That’s a very very common question, and it really does depend on you. It depends on your circumstances, where you live, why you live there, are you happy are you sad, are you healthy are you unhealthy, do you work hard, do you not? So it really does depend on you. For me it took a couple of weeks and it wasn’t I who noticed it, it was my wife who noticed it and that’s also quite a common thing as well

H: Were you sort of making more cups of tea or –

D: Well I think she just found I was –

H: Preparing more meals?

D: Probably a nicer guy to be around at the time, I was told I wasn’t shouting at the kids as what I used to, and I’ve noticed that, I mean I’ve noticed quite a lot of things but for me it’s the fact that I’m a lot calmer

H: Vicki who’s been in touch with us here Dermot, she wants to know “does the watch actually work like a magnetic bracelet?”

D: No it’s completely different, the magnetic therapy is a great therapy, it does what it does and there are magnetic bracelets out there which you can buy in various places for various prices, and you know we say that they do what they do. Ours is completely different, the main difference is that that is a passive technology, in other words once you put it on your wrist it just works with your body over a period of time, ours is an oscillating technology, it’s an active technology, so the signal that we send into your body goes in between 7 and 9 times a second, so it can be 7.1, 8, 8.6, up and down up and down, so your body won’t actually get used to it

H: Ok well there’s technology for you, hopefully that will help you if you do suffer from stress. Time is against us, Jessica in Glasgow, final question from Jessica, she wants to know “is it not true that bringing up a family is the most stressful thing one person can do? Women have been doing this since time in memorial. Why all the fuss now, why re we so bad now in this 21st century?” Jane?

J: I have two children, I have a daughter whose 13 and a son who’ll be 12 now in January, and I think that a lot of it is about your expectation as a parent, and I think a lot of the things is the children know a lot more, the children can go and Google and come up with all these different things and questions and want to know different answers for different solutions, and I think again it’s their sort of expectation in life, if they’ve got a friend whose got the latest Wii as my son tells me or the latest pony or the latest clothes or whatever, I think as a parent it’s how you manage that, and I think that that wasn’t there 20, 30 odd years ago, certainly when I was a child, so again I think it’s about the expectations of life, and I think all of that then makes it far harder in this day and age to bring up a family. I think as a female, I’m married, I’ve got a home, I’ve got children, I’ve got a business and perhaps when do I make time for myself? And that can often be difficult I think as a women in this day and age because you’ve got so many different commitments coming from so many angles, and just very simple things like at the end of the day, if possible, you know just go and have a bath, just have some “me” time which is not going to get rid of perhaps all of those stresses that are coming from your children or the other angles -

H: People start feeling guilty with me time don’t they?

J: Of course they do, of course they do

H: If anybody is feeling really stressed, is there a website they can go to for more information?

J: They can, we have a website which is www.nationalstressawarenessday.co.uk or a shortened version of that is www.nsad.co.uk, we have a helpline today from 8am to 8pm, I believe that the number will be coming up on the screen. And anybody that wants any further advice we’ve got experts, all of them who are members of the International Stress Management Association manning those phones

H: Ok, Andy Henderson, also Dermot Dennehy, Jane Thomas, thanks very much for joining us today

J: Thank you

H: National Stress Awareness Day, don’t get stressed, just chill out. Thanks for joining us, we’ll see you next time, bye bye

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