TED talk about Stress in the city by Mazda Adli
Talks about stress in the city as a whole, no job/work related facts.

"The WHO have declared stress as one of the
majority health challenges of the 21st century"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chmRjQP8-e0

Reflection Week 2

Shared meeting. NOTES from the meeting

Find new insights 

What is their output/input

Other views 

What are the others doing how are they look at wellbeing?

Jeremy - industrial

food desirability the experience around food, working with the science and brand new modified foods.

Animation response to the senses with be there final output

Caleb - VCD

Stress in the city 

Gender equally in the work force

Kelsie - fashion

Personally wellbeing

labour issues work and environment and wages, looking at people oversea that are getting paid under a $1 an hour and how fashion design could help make it better.

fashion revolution day

A change in one place, what does that mean for other places down the line? Jeremy. the supply chain

... Spacial

What about a house makes it a home? The different wellbeing component that can encompass that. Have only being doing research into the way some people are already doing it.

Sam - VCD

Moving house single mom moving a house

The journey map through the process

I found the shared moment very interesting, to see how the different disciplines look at wellbeing and in what direction they are taking it. Everyone was a bit shy at first and hopefully the next meeting it will be a bit more talkative 

Brainstorming

Looking at everything that can impact someones wellbeing in the city. When we did this we were trying to find a direction to go in. My partner and I keep drifting off, so here we looked at everything and talked about what is the same/different in rural areas compared to city.
Overstimulation was something we found really interesting when your in the city you have all these things coming at you weather it be people, sounds, adds, shops, it just doesn't stop.

Then we focused on a young professional before during and after his lunch break.

Research

Researchers, led by Dr Andreas Meyer-Lindenberg of the Central Institute of Mental Health in Mannheim, Germany, were trying to find out more about how the brains of different people handle stress. They discovered that city dwellers' brains, compared with people who live in the countryside, seem not to handle it so well.

"cognitive load", the wearying of a person's brain by too much stimulation, which is thought to weaken some functions such as self-control, and perhaps even contribute to higher rates of violence. In terms of its impact on public health, Adli believes that urbanisation may even be comparable to climate change.

in cities there is a much richer environment
https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2014/feb/25/city-stress-mental-health-rural-kind

_____

"The heavy tolls of stress falls not only on workers and their families, but also on businesses as they find that their staff under-perform, need more sick-leave and are less efficient. Businesses that want to help their staff lead more rewarding lives cannot fail to analyse and tackle levels of stress within their organisation," said Filippo Sarti, Asia Pacific CEO and Global COO for Regus.

Almost 80 per cent of NZ respondents identified that one way to ease the stress was through flexible working. People believed this was a key method for businesses to save on costs and to help to improve productivity, therefore enhancing job security.

Sarti added: "Giving employees tools that allow them to work from home more or from locations outside the office, or enabling more suitable hours, can be an effective way to reduce stress. It can also help people be more efficient, and a productive person feels more happy and secure in their job."

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10835104
_____

Human minds struggle to keep up with the mental over-stimulation that’s ubiquitous in most cities. This can lead to mental and emotional fatigue in city dwellers.
http://www.utne.com/science-and-technology/cities-stress-the-brain-nature-restores-the-mind.aspx
_____

This news article is about the stress in bigger cities around the world. https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2015/oct/08/where-world-most-stressful-city-urban-life-depression-anxiety?CMP=share_btn_tw
_____

Really nice descriptive reading about New York city with facts and personal experience.
"How can we function in the midst of overstimulation? Overstimulation psychologically induces anxiety and creates a response of fear within the brain, often causing us to shut down and reject whatever may be in front of us. Finding ways to disconnect or calm ourselves regularly are the only ways to maintain sanity is such an intense environment. Here are a few suggestions on how to de-stimulate, relax and recuperate to make life seem more manageable again."
http://thekarmicpress.com/2014/07/how-to-function-in-the-midst-of-overstimulation/
_____

Stimulation comes in on all sensory channels: sights, sounds, smells, vibrations, touch.
A worker may not always have the luxury of leaving an intolerable workplace…
http://highlysensitive.org/highly-sensitive-people-and-depression-overstimulation-may-lead-to-depression/

_____

The Sonic Environment of Cities.
http://search.proquest.com/openview/e5069ae062a8b8c712ccfb2d4b240032/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=1821084

_____

Working life in Wellington- 17,751 people (16.8% of workers) work more than 50 hours per week!
http://www.stats.govt.nz/

_____

Study from America

View NIOSH Report
Highlighted statistics from the report:

•40% of workers reported their job was very or extremely stressful;
•25% view their jobs as the number one stressor in their lives;
•Three fourths of employees believe that workers have more on-the-job stress than a generation ago;
•29% of workers felt quite a bit or extremely stressed at work;
•26 percent of workers said they were “often or very often burned out or stressed by their work”;
•Job stress is more strongly associated with health complaints than financial or family problems.

Attitudes in the American Workplace VII
Highlighted statistics from the report:

•80% of workers feel stress on the job, nearly half say they need help in learning how to manage stress and 42% say their coworkers need such help;
•14% of respondents had felt like striking a coworker in the past year, but didn’t;
•25% have felt like screaming or shouting because of job stress, 10% are concerned about an individual at work they fear could become violent;
•9% are aware of an assault or violent act in their workplace and 18% had experienced some sort of threat or verbal intimidation in the past year

A subsequent 2000 Integra Survey similarly reported that:

•65% of workers said that workplace stress had caused difficulties and more than 10 percent described these as having major effects;

•10% said they work in an atmosphere where physical violence has occurred because of job stress and in this group, 42% report that yelling and other verbal abuse is common;
•29% had yelled at co-workers because of workplace stress, 14% said they work where machinery or equipment has been damaged because of workplace rage and 2% admitted that they had actually personally struck someone;
•19% or almost one in five respondents had quit a previous position because of job stress and nearly one in four have been driven to tears because of workplace stress;
•62% routinely find that they end the day with work-related neck pain, 44% reported stressed-out eyes, 38% complained of hurting hands and 34% reported difficulty in sleeping because they were too stressed-out;•12% had called in sick because of job stress;
•Over half said they often spend 12-hour days on work related duties and an equal number frequently skip lunch because of the stress of job demands.http://www.stress.org/workplace-stress/

_____

Talks about the relationship between employer and employee

https://employment.govt.nz/leave-and-holidays/other-types-of-leave/stress-leave/

Asked these two questions to a couple of people that now live in London to get a bit of insight into dealing with city stress in a large area.

How or what do you do to escape from the busy stressful life of the city without actually leaving it?
What do you do to make new connections and/or feel less isolated within the city?

Melissa:I moved from a town of 35,000 in New Zealand to London. Its crazy. To escape the stress I drink wine and visit parks as they're relaxing still jam packed but having nature around me is always nice. I'm also a shift worker so sometimes I'm in central at 2am where its a bit quieter.
To feel less isolated in London I'm on a few pages on Fb to help meet people/get advice. Tinder also helped(its for everything here. I used it to find friends). Tbh Ive never felt isolated in London. I always have internet(unless I'm on the tube) so always connected to people. I hope this has helped? Lemme know if you want me to go into more detail

Megan:
London definitely is overwhelming. I like taking time out in the parks (yes the popular ones are crowded but smaller lesser known parks are great), I also like to excercise in the outdoors. Anything outdoors is great. You need to get away from buildings and technology and the rat race. I also book holidays every 6-8 weeks just so I have something to look forward to and something that makes working so hard seem worthwhile.

Week 1

This week was an introduction to the paper, getting an understanding of the three readings and deciding what direction to go in. At first I was really interested in the stress of driving as the was a clear time line of events that a person had to go through. Then after reading the 3 different topic I felt connected to the stress in the city and felt it would be interesting. 

Moving from a small town to a big city and been surrounded by all the buildings and roads was a big change and not having a clear timeline or set of events I feel will make this interested and push my ideas and skills. 

Skye Hampton 

Reflection

Week 1

Things to consider

Design to thrive not survive: In other words – everyone benefits from actions that contribute to everyday well-being, not just individuals or groups at the extremities. So designing for individuals with a (e.g.) sedentary lifestyle, or who commute is as valid as designing for individuals in a (e.g.) violent relationships. Start with ways in which you could respond, activate or enhance the following points: WINNING WAYS TO WELLBEING

CONNECT: Talk and listen, be there, feel connected; 

GIVE: Your time, your words, your presence; 

TAKE NOTICE: Remember the simple things that give you joy; 

KEEP LEARNING: Embrace new experiences, see opportunities, surprise yourself; 

BE ACTIVE: Do what you can; enjoy what you do; move your mood.