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STRESS

‘Stop taking photos and let your children play,’ Danish stress panel urges

Children should be left to play in peace without photos being taken of them, says a Danish government panel on stress.

'Stop taking photos and let your children play,' Danish stress panel urges
The stress panel's recommendations were Published on Wednesday. Photo: Philip Davali/Ritzau Scanpix

The panel made the recommendation as one of 12 suggestions published Wednesday as part of its work to find ways of reducing stress.

Five other recommendations have also been released previously by the advisory board, including “life management” lessons at schools and colleges. Another recommendation suggested that authorities only send emails to the public during set time periods.

Re-evaluating the growing tendency to photograph everything that happens is another way to help put the brakes on and prevent stress, the panel said on Wednesday.

“Children have the right to play and go about their day in peace at daycare and in public with the constant photographic documentation of what they are doing,” the panel wrote.

That includes photographs taken at daycare centres or schools f post on digital platforms or to send to parents, according to the review.

The practice can distract from more important tasks and create unnecessary stress and concern, in the view of the panel

“The large number of shared photos can put parents who see them in a condition of stress about the child’s situation. Does the child look happy or sad? And why is the child not in more of the pictures?”, the recommendation asks.

Parents should also be able to accept that they cannot always know what their child is doing.

“Children should not be tracked, even though that may seem tempting and ‘caring’. Children also have the right to not be monitored by parents using diverse tracking apps,” the panel writes.

The panel was established last summer with the overall target of making 12 recommendations on how to reduce stress in Denmark.

The Danish Health Authority's (Sundhedsstyrelsen) most recent National Health Profile found that 1 in 4 people in Denmark have high stress levels.

Not all of the recommendations have received government support. Education minister Merete Riisager, in response to a recommendation to scrap Forældreintra, a parents’ digital communication platform linked to schools, said that she did not agree with that course of action.

Minister for health Ellen Trane Nørby welcomed the work of the panel, however.

“The recommendations make several suggestions for early prevention of stress, and these are ideal for taking forward in our ongoing work in this area,” Nørby said in a written comment.

READ ALSO: Lessons should help youngsters cope with stress, Danish panel advises

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WORKER

Stress and burn-out rises ‘dramatically’ in Swiss workplaces

Workers in Switzerland are suffering from more stress than ever. The rate of burnout in the Swiss workplace has seen a dramatic increase since 2012, with work stoppages rising by 50 percent.

Stress and burn-out rises ‘dramatically’ in Swiss workplaces
Photo: Depositphotos

The Swiss government estimates that the costs of stress and burnout are roughly CHF10 billion per annum. 

Insurers Swica and PK Rück prepared a report which has shown that six out of ten cases of work stoppages can be attributed to depression or burn-out. 

The report, published in Switzerland’s NZZ am Sonntag newspaper, said that not only is burnout increasing – but that individual examples of it are lasting longer. 

A failure to invest in employees?

Roger Ritler, one of the authors of the report, said that companies were not recognising the real stress risk and making investments to counter it. 

“Many companies are not yet investing enough in prevention and support for their at-risk employees,” he said. 

Doctors were also criticised for failing to properly allow patients to be re-integrated into work, with two out of every three cases of employee re-integration after mental health-based leave resulting in the termination of employee relationships. 

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