British workers spend a staggering 1,798 days, or 4.9 years of their lives, feeling stressed, according to a new study. *

And it’s the so-called ‘snowflake’ generation of millennials who are feeling it the most, buckling under pressure 25 per cent more than the rest of the working population.

Across the UK, British adults find themselves getting stressed in the workplace almost six times a day, feeling the heat on average every one hour and 12 minutes.

According to the research by Privilege Insurance, our stressful moments are not just a flash in the pan either, with a typical episode lasting on average, 20 minutes for most.

At work, as well as having too much to do, the stress we face is most likely to be caused by lazy colleagues (31 per cent), office politics (24 per cent), technology issues (24 per cent), and too many deadlines (23 per cent).

This all contributes to 1.11pm on a Monday being the most stressful time of the week, perhaps due to the pressures that have not only hit us over the weekend, but the thoughts of what catching up is needed too.

At home, although we feel the strain five times a day on average, one in 10 have it twice as bad, knowing to feel ‘under the cosh’ up to 10 times a day.

The Privilege Insurance study found that relaxation is the last thing on our minds though, as running late for things like gym classes, hair and nail appointments or even the doctor causes angst for a fifth of us (20 per cent).

It’s money, however, which tops the list for the main concerns outside of work though, as one in three cite this as their constant worry (35 per cent).

The stress of sitting in traffic closely follows (29 per cent), with the roads in Cardiff being the worst (40 per cent) followed by Bristol (37 per cent) and London (34 per cent).

Other home hardships such as cleaning the house (23 per cent), deciding what to cook (13 per cent) and even just getting out the door on time (19 per cent) are not helping with our stress levels, only increasing them for us.

The people most likely to cause us stress in and out of work are our work colleagues, a source of aggravation for over a quarter of us (27 per cent), who narrowly beat partners (24 per cent), children (20 per cent) and parents (12 per cent) – and it’s well known that there’s no getting away from these stresses.

Over a quarter (28 per cent) of millennials struggle with authority, naming their boss as the person causing them the most stress, compared to just 14 per cent of the rest of the working population.

Away from the office, they even get more stressed by their mates than the rest of us, and they’re three times as anxious as the rest of the country when it comes to deciding what to wear (18 per cent vs 6 per cent).

This makes sense given that their pressure points also include not getting enough social media likes and worrying about what other people are posting (1.5 times the national average).

Kids though are the unifier, stressing both men and women equally. Parents of 7-10-year olds seem to have it the worst, experiencing at least seven stressful moments per day, and over half (56 per cent) of parents of children aged 4-6 say their children are the biggest stresses in their lives. 

Thankfully, there’s a lot we can do to keep stress at bay, with four in ten (40 per cent) turning to music to lighten their mood.

Going from one extreme to the other, a quarter (24 per cent) of us are using exercise to keep their endorphins up, whilst one in seven (17 per cent) prefer to seek solace in a glass of wine.

Meanwhile, millennials prefer a more tech-driven approach to stress relief, with over one in ten (12 per cent) taking themselves off social media to help keep tensions at bay.

Commenting on the research, Christian Mendes, Head of Privilege Home Insurance said: “It’s worrying to see that we can potentially spend so much of our lives feeling stressed, with the constant pressures of workloads, kids, traffic, social media and even politics adding to the problem.

“Whether at work or at home, we encourage people to take a few minutes for themselves and not let the stressful moments get the better of them. Whether we choose music or mindfulness, reading or having a glass of wine, we all need to discover what works for us to find our moments of calm.”

Most Stressful Work Situations

1.     Having too much to do – 46%

2.     Colleagues not pulling their weight – 31%

3.     Office politics – 24%

4.     Technological problems – 24%

5.     Having too many deadlines – 23%

Most Stressful Home / Leisure Situations

1.     Money worries / bills – 35%

2.     Traffic – 29%

3.     Technology not working – 25%

4.     Cleaning the house – 23%

5.     Missing appointments due to being late – 20%

6.     Queuing – 19%

7.     Getting out of the house on time – 19%

8.     Political issues – 17%

9.     The weather – 13%

10.  Deciding what to cook – 13%

 

Top 10 Stress Relievers

1.     Listen to music - 40 %

2.     Watching TV - 35 %

3.     Reading a book - 28 %

4.     Exercise - 24 %

5.     A glass of wine -17 %

6.     Watching Netflix - 3 %

7.     Counting to 10 - 2 %

8.     Shut myself in the bathroom/toilet to escape -11 %

9.     Meditation - 10 %

10.  Keeping off social media - 7 %

ENDS

For more information, please contact: Georgie Bruer at Richmond & Towers: 

[email protected] / 020 3179 0720

Notes to editors:

Research carried out amongst a nationally representative sample of 2005 UK adults by Opinium Research between 18^th and 21^st May 2019.

* Assumes an average working life of 49 years (16-65 years old), and a life expectancy of 81 years (source: World Bank)

Privilege

Privilege Insurance specialises in home insurance for homeowners and landlords. It also offers car insurance and breakdown cover by phone or on-line.

Privilege general insurance policies are underwritten by U K Insurance Limited, Registered office: The Wharf, Neville Street, Leeds LS1 4AZ. Registered in England and Wales No 1179980. U K Insurance Limited is authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority.

Privilege and UK Insurance Limited are both part of Direct Line Insurance Group plc.  

Customers can find out more about Privilege’s products or get a quote by calling

0345 246 0515 or visiting www.privilege.co.uk