Torbjorn Zetterlund

Sat 03 2008
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Allergies: Suffer the Sneezing Worker

by bernt & torsten

Ah May: the leaves are opening, flowers blooming, your eyes are a watery haze and your nose is running like a faucet. The allergy season is here!

In its Spring edition, Allergic Living magazine looks at the hidden toll of spring allergies and finds a lot more than cases of the sniffles. In fact, there is widespread “presenteeism” on the job – in which allergic employees show up but are too irritable, congested and sleep-deprived to do a proper day’s work. And the costs? One study puts it at a staggering $593 per employee a year – ahead of high stress.

Speaking of stress, Allergic Living for Spring also reveals the growing level of anxiety among children with food allergies. The problem, according to experts, starts with well-meaning parents who talk too openly with young children about the risk of death from anaphylaxis. Rather than preparing their children to manage the condition, the kids become scared, and by the school, age is mistrustful and anxious.

For excerpts from the issue, see www.allergicliving.com

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