Friday, April 29, 2016

High stress impacts farmers


 
Farming is recognized as one of the most stressful occupations around the world and now the Ontario Veterinary College has a project underway to analyze data that was collected in a survey of Canadian farmers.

Dr. Andria Jones-Bitton, an associate professor of epidemiology in the Department of Population Medicine at the University of Guelph, recently told reporter Bruce Cochrane that there's been little research done looking at the mental well-being of farmers in Canada.

“We know that stress can affect us physically, mentally and it impacts our thoughts and our behaviors.

“Physically it can cause headache, muscle tension, fatigue, changes in our sex drive, high blood pressure, it can increase risk of disease like heart disease, it can affect our immune systems and make us more prone to getting infectious diseases.

“Prolonged stress can cause us to be anxious, irritable, angry, sad or depressed.

“It can cause us to have difficulty concentrating.

“It may result in us turning to substances like tobacco or alcohol or drugs or overeating or other bad habits so the effects are pretty widespread.

“It affects not just us but it can also result in us treating others poorly, even the people we love so It affects us and it affects those around us, our relationships, our work and our quality of life,” she said.