Monday, November 9, 2009 at 5:03PM Positive recession effect--people live longer!
Yeap, I bet you weren't expecting this kind of recession news--that they actually have at least one favorable effect on people's lives--quite literally!
Well, apparently, they do. It's reported that with every 1% increase in unemployment, the mortality rate in the U.S.--as well as 23 other OECD countries--declines 0.5%. Now that's pretty amazing, really for two reasons! Let's briefly explore each.
First, it is thought that people live longer during recessions simply because they adopt a more health-conscious lifestyle. They eat better [presumably consuming less junk food], they exercise more, they sleep more; they also drive less, smoke less, end up weighing less, and generally exhibit less stress--all of which is a positive thing! Nobody knows for sure, but that's the informed opinion of people who've thought about it more than I have. In effect, this is the way it appears to work: The economy gets sick and people get healthier!
Who would have thought that this happens? All of which leads to the second point--the reason this is a pretty amazing reality: Why do we have to have bad times to lead us to do the right things?!!!! For businesses, this means that it would appear that a more balanced workplace might lead to a healthier set of employees...less stress, more time to workout, less time out of work, etc. Why does management need to have an adverse environment to health-related work decisions [i.e., during prosperous times], when fewer hours [i.e., less overtime] have been shown to actually lead to more productivity? What if all of this leads to the conclusion that a more balanced, stress-reduced, healthier workforce actually cut costly healthcare expenditures?!
At a personal, individual level, what if the positive recession effects were most pronounced for those who were laid-off, or who had their hours cut back. Does that mean that those of us who are still "in the saddle"--and "working hard" may not reap any favorable impact from a weak economic conditions? If this were the case, that means that the health and mortality benefits are doubly true for everybody but us!
In effect, the positive recession news has a strong, implied message for those who don't typically participate in economic down turns--but which has profound, life-threatening implications. It raises this question: Why don't we take the positive recession effects for ourselves to heart--all the time. If we took them seriously, we'd make sure--all the time--to cultivate less stress in our lives, eat more simply, and workout more.
Check out Geoff Colvin's FORTUNE article on exactly this issue which lead with the quote: "A lesson for companies is that it's possible to make employees work so hard that it's bad for the business."
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