Resolutions for 2012 Less stress and more time

Good intentions for 2012: less stress and more time for the family

12/29/2011

As in the previous year, the Forsa company conducted a survey for the German Employees' Health Insurance Fund (DAK) on the good intentions for next year. The trend, which was already apparent in 2010, is continuing: the Germans want less stress. While nearly two thirds of men also want more time for family and friends, 55 percent of women surveyed said they would like to have more time for themselves.

More and more people are stressed
Whether women or men - all want less stress. This resulted in the current DAK health barometer „Good intentions 2012“. In the survey period from November 11 to December 1, 2011, the representative population survey conducted by Forsa interviewed 3,010 citizens, of whom at least 100 lived in Bremen and in the Saarland and 200 each in the other federal states.

60 percent of the respondents consider themselves as good intentions for the coming year, to slow down their lives. 56 percent want more time for family and friends. The survey also found that the 30- to 44-year-olds are particularly stressed. 64 percent of them said that the time pressure in the job was particularly difficult to manage. Furthermore, every second person admitted to having problems, to reconcile work and family.

The euro crisis and growing pressure on performance will remain stress factors in the future
Since it can not be assumed that external stress factors, such as the euro crisis and increasing pressure to perform, will improve significantly, people are looking for ways to slow down their stressful everyday life.

DAK psychologist Frank Meiners reports: „ Because we often have to live with stress, it is important that we find a reasonable balance between stress on the one hand and relaxation on the other. The intention to spend more time with family and friends, is already a good approach.“ Meiners further explains that purposeful relaxation and exercise „Switch off“ help. It is important to recharge your batteries. Tai Chi, Qi Gong and Yoga are suitable exercise systems that can result in this effect. A recent study from Taiwan shows that 15 minutes of exercise per day is enough to significantly reduce the risk of illness and extend life expectancy by about three years.

Women are more worried than men
The DAK health barometer „Good intentions 2012“ also revealed that women care more than men. Above all, women make disagreements and annoyances in the family (50 to 40 percent), everyday stress and hecticness (46 to 41 percent) and health problems (48 to 36 percent). For men, time pressure and job stress predominate (55 to 47 percent).

The good intentions for 2012
Among the top ten good intentions for the coming year, in addition to the classics, such as more exercise and sports (55 percent), a healthier diet (45 percent) and more frugality (30 percent), first and foremost avoid stress and reduce it to 60 Percent. More time for family and friends in 2012 56 percent and more time for themselves 51 percent of Germans plan. 33 percent have the good intention to lose weight and 18 percent want to watch less television. After all, 13 percent of the population plans to drink less alcohol in the coming year, while 12 percent want to quit smoking.

In 2011, half of Germans expressed their good intentions for several months
Of the more than 3,000 respondents, half said they had kept their good intentions for several months in 2011. Hamburgers were particularly successful with 59 percent and the population of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (64 percent). In Thuringia, 58 percent of citizens managed to comply with their plans. Bottom light in keeping good intentions was 2011 Baden-Württemberg. Only 37 percent held out for a few months. At least 46 percent of the people from Bremen made it. Bavaria is second to last nationwide (45 percent).

No big changes to last year
Overall, the good intentions for the year 2012 compared to the year 2011 hardly changed. Last year many respondents also wanted to expose themselves to less stress. 59 percent last year, 60 percent this year. Since neither an end to the economic problems in Germany or Europe nor a serious easing of the labor market is in sight, the trend could continue in the coming year. (Ag)

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Image: Hildegard Endner