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According to a DAK study, doping in the workplace is increasing significantly
More and more people feel that they no longer live up to the daily demands of working life. Stress, overburdening and pressure are the consequences. In North Rhine-Westphalia alone, around 223,000 employees regularly dope with medicines, according to a study. In Hesse there are over 56,000 people.
According to the DAK Gesundheit, around three million employees are using performance-enhancing or mood-enhancing medicines. According to the results of the DAK Health Report 2015, doping in the job has risen dramatically in the past six years, with "mainly employees with simple jobs or insecure jobs being among the Risk Groups for Drug Abuse ". According to the DAK, 56,000 employees regularly use prescription drugs in Hesse alone in order to be more efficient at work or reduce stress. For Michael Hübner, head of the DAK Health Hesse, the numbers are an "alarm".
In view of the high demands in the world of work, many working people regularly reach the limits of their capabilities. In our modern service society, it is not so much physical but mental performance that is crucial, reports the head of the DAK. "Capturing new things quickly, working in a highly concentrated manner, expressing positive feelings towards strangers - many people would like a miracle cure to make the job easier to handle," Hübner continues. The so-called brain doping with the help of prescription medicines is correspondingly widespread. Its addictive dangers and side effects, however, are not to be underestimated according to the experts.
Hundreds of thousands with doping experience in the job
In total, the absenteeism of 289,300 employed DAK members in Hesse was evaluated by the IGES Institute for the study. In addition, the drug data of the health insurance fund was analyzed and surveyed nationwide more than 5,000 employees aged 20 to 50 years, reports the DAK. The analysis has shown that 6.9 percent of the working population in Hesse and the neighboring states have already doped once. In addition, there is a considerable number of unreported cases, so that in fact even up to 12.3 percent of employees could have already used brain doping. That would mean extrapolated for Hesse that up to 408,000 people have ever taken performance-enhancing or mood-enhancing drugs. According to the DAK, around 56,000 workers in Hesse regularly use brain doping. "Although doping in the job is not yet a mass phenomenon, these results are an alarm signal," warns Michael Hübner.
Performance pressure and stress as the cause of brain doping
According to Hübner, "brain doping has now reached the average consumer" and "the cliché of doping top managers is off the table." Contrary to popular belief, it is not primarily executives or creatives who are trying to push themselves to the limit with medication, reports the DAK. Instead, especially workers with simple jobs are at risk. Even employees with an insecure workplace would have an increased risk of doping. Trigger for the grip on the pill are usually high performance pressure and stress and overload. Men would rather resort to performance-enhancing means, women more often take mood-enhancing drugs, according to the statement of the health insurance.
Significant increase in mental illness
The DAK study also shows the development of absenteeism in mental illness. These have increased in the past year by twelve percent and mental illness were thus the second leading cause of absenteeism, according to the DAK. Since the year 2000, the DAK report shows an increase in mental illness by 112 percent. Overall, the sick leave in Hesse in 2014 at 4.1 percent was slightly above the national average of 3.9 percent. An employee was absent in Hesse on average for a total of 15 days in the job. Almost a quarter of these lost days (23 percent) were due to diseases of the musculoskeletal system such as back pain, reports the DAK. The mental illnesses such as depression and anxiety ranked second with 15.7 percent of the failures. "The sectors with the highest sick leave in 2014 were the health sector with 4.7 percent and the public sector with 4.5 percent," according to the statement of the health insurance. The lowest sick leave was reported by banks and insurance companies at 3.2 percent. (Fp)
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