ALMOST two-thirds of Australians are losing sleep over work and money worries, a poll shows.
Lifeline’s annual stress poll found 62 per cent of Australians have reported trouble sleeping in the past 12 months because of stress, primarily because of work and financial issues.
For women, the figure is 70 per cent, compared with 50 per cent for men, possibly because women are more likely to recognise why they are stressed.
“We find women are better at self-identifying these problems; a lot of (men) don’t like to assign a lack of sleep to issues such as mental health,” Lifeline spokesman John Mendel said.
Stress levels of Australians have increased over the past six years of the survey, he said.
Work and financial stress factors have both increased, evidence that there is an issue with a work-life balance.
Mr Mendel said people were finding it very difficult to deal with cost-of-living pressures, and mental health awareness in Australia has not improved.
“Someone who breaks an arm never (has) a problem presenting to an emergency room to seek treatment, but when it comes to mental health or wellbeing issues, people don’t,” he said.
“Mental unwellness should be treated exactly the same way as a physical illness or injury.”
Mr Mendel said people often ignore mental illness, hoping it will go away, which worsens the problem, and combined with an unmanageable amount of stress, people can reach crisis point, such as contemplating suicide.
Lifeline used Newspoll’s national survey to measure the extent to which 1201 people aged over 18 across Australia experience stress due to work, finance, health, personal relationships and thoughts about the future.
Source: news.com.au