Nottingham:

Dogs have lived alongside humans for thousands of years. They have been used to hunt, guard, herd and perform many other tasks, but today they mainly act as companions. While their lives today may seem easy compared with their ancestors, they still face many stresses – including visits to the vet.

A couple of years ago, researchers in France showed that how a dog owner behaves at the vet affects their pet’s stress levels. The study showed that negative owner behaviour, such as scolding, increased dog anxiety during a veterinary examination.

But before our recent research at Queen’s University Belfast, no one had investigated the effect of owner stress on their dogs in a controlled environment. Our study differs from the research above, as it looks specifically at the effect of owner stress, measured through heart rate changes, on the stress experienced by their dog when at a vet.

Twenty-eight owners and their dogs took part in our experiment. Both owners and dogs wore heart-rate monitors throughout the experiment so that we could monitor and record their heart rate and heart-rate variability – to measure stress levels.

We then exposed the owners to either a stressful or a stress-relieving intervention and monitored the effect it had on them as well as on their dogs. The stressful intervention consisted of a digital stress test, which required owners to perform a mental arithmetic task, as well as a verbal presentation task. The stress-relieving intervention was a five-minute guided breathing meditation video.

We found that dogs’ heart rates decreased as they got used to the veterinary clinic environment. This suggests that vets should give dogs time to get used to the clinic before examining them. Not only will this reduce their stress, it may also improve the validity of any examinations or tests performed, as measures such as heart and respiratory rates can be elevated as a result of heightened stress.

Emotional contagion

We also found that changes in the owner’s heart rate from before the experiment to during the experiment could predict the heart rate changes of their dog. If the owner’s heart rate increased or decreased during the experiment, their dog’s heart rate was also likely to increase or decrease in tandem.

These results suggest that dogs may recognise stress in their owners, and this could influence their own stress levels, through the process of “emotional contagion”. This is a phenomenon where people, and other animals, may “catch” or mimic the emotions and behaviour of those around them, either consciously or unconsciously.

It may also indicate that dogs look to their owners to inform their response to new environments. Owners were asked not to interact with their dogs for the duration of the experiment. So any assessment of owner stress made by their dogs was done without direct communication between owner and pet.

So what does this mean for the average dog owner? If our stress has the potential to influence our dogs, then this should be considered when we visit the vet. If vets help owners feel more calm while attending the clinic, it could help their dogs feel more at ease, too.

A holistic approach to veterinary care, where the animal, their owner and the environment are all taken into consideration, is likely to result in the best welfare outcomes.

While our research primarily focused on the bond between dogs and their owners, a recent study investigating canine behaviour found that the smell of sweat from a stressed human, who was unfamiliar to the dog, affected the learning and cognition of that dog during a cognitive bias test. The test measures whether an animal is in a positive or negative emotional state, and whether they are likely to make decisions with an optimistic or pessimistic outlook. This shows that dogs may be affected by the stress of strangers, as well as that of their owners.

What is clear from our latest research is that dogs are perceptive animals that are influenced by the world and the people around them. People caring for or working with dogs should bear in mind that their own stress may affect that of their dogs.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

“No one was fired”, YesMadam, a platform offering at-home beauty and spa services, has clarified after it was reported that several employees who flagged work stress were laid off by the Noida-based startup.

Dismissing all social media posts producing such claims, the company assured in a three-page long statement it would never take such an “inhuman step.”

“Our team is like family, and their dedication, hard work, and passion are the foundation of all our successes,” the statement read.

Yesterday, an internal email from YesMadam sparked controversy online. According to the email, allegedly sent by Ashu Arora Jha, HR Manager at YesMadam, the company recently conducted a survey to understand employees’ feelings about stress at work.

Basis the survey result, the company took the “difficult decision to part ways with employees who indicated significant stress.”

The screenshot of the email was shared on LinkedIn by Shitiz Dogra, IndiGo’s Associate Director of Digital Marketing.

However, according to YesMadam, the social media posts were a “planned effort to highlight the serious issue of workplace stress”. The company thanked people for voicing their strong opinions and sharing angry comments.

“When people speak up, it shows they care and care is at the heart of our business,” it said.

“The employees weren’t fired. Instead, they were given a break to reset; encouraged to release their stress; offered a chance to relax; and urged to rest and recharge,” the company claimed.

With this, YesMadam took the lead in introducing India’s first de-stress policy offering:

• Six de-stress paid leaves annually to take time for mental health and rejuvenation
• Complimentary YesMadam spa session at home

Calling corporates to “make employee well-being the new norm”, YesMadam urged to create businesses that thrive on “care, collaboration and compassion”.

“We firmly believe that the backbone of any great organization is not built on stressed shoulders but on happy minds,” it said while signing off.

A young Chinese woman, Li, from Henan province, suffered a severe psychological breakdown after being scolded by her supervisor at work. According to South China Morning Post, Li became catatonic and stopped eating, drinking, moving, or engaging in conversation. This disturbing incident began a month prior when her team leader reprimanded her, leaving her unhappy and ultimately leading to a complete emotional and physical shutdown.

As Li’s condition continued to deteriorate, her physical abilities also severely declined. Her family reported that if they removed the pillow from beneath her head, it would hang limply in mid-air, unable to support itself. Furthermore, she lost control over basic bodily functions, requiring constant assistance from her loved ones to remind her to use the toilet.

Dr. Jia Dehuan, Li’s physician at Zhengzhou Eighth People’s Hospital, described her condition as resembling a “wooden” figure, devoid of movement or responsiveness. According to Dr. Jia, Li was suffering from a catatonic stupor, a severe symptom of depression characterized by immobilisation, unresponsiveness, loss of motor control, and withdrawal from reality. This rare and extreme manifestation of depression is often triggered by intense emotional trauma or stress.

The doctor noted that Li had an introverted personality and struggled to open up to those around her, which ultimately contributed to her more severe condition. Under Dr. Jia’s care, Li received the necessary treatment and support to recover from this critical condition. 

The disturbing incident has sparked widespread concern and debate on mainland Chinese social media. Users expressed shock and sympathy for Li’s ordeal and outrage over workplace bullying and stress. One user wrote, ”If your job is too demanding, it’s better to leave rather than suffer in silence.”

Another commented, ”She had been torturing herself due to her boss’s actions.”

A recent survey by the Chinese Psychological Society shed light on the alarming state of workplace mental health in China. The findings revealed that 4.8% of employees experienced workplace depression, while 80% reported feelings of agitation at work. Additionally, 60% of respondents cited anxiety, and nearly 40% exhibited symptoms of depression, according to Shangguan News (2023). 

The survey’s results highlight the pressing issue of workplace mental health in China, where high work demands, limited job security, poor work-life balance, and inadequate communication contribute to the problem.

New Delhi:

An HDFC bank employee in Lucknow died under mysterious circumstances while working, police said. The 45-year-old fell off her chair and died instantly, according to reports.

“Additional Deputy VP of HDFC Bank in Vibhutikhand, Sadaf Fatima (45), dies under suspicious circumstances while working. The panchnama (record of observation) of her body has been filled, and it has been sent for postmortem. The cause of death will be clear after the postmortem,” Vibhutikhand Assistant Commissioner of Police Radharaman Singh told news agency ANI.

According to a report in Dainik Bhaskar, her colleagues claimed that Sadaf was under work pressure. The incident comes amid a nationwide debate over workplace pressure after an Ernst and Young worker allegedly died of suicide due to “overwork”.

Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav termed the incident “extremely worrying” and a reflection of the country’s current economic stress. He emphasized that this tragedy highlights the need for companies and government departments to reassess their priorities and working conditions.

“All companies and government departments will have to think seriously in this regard. This is an irreparable loss of the country’s human resources. Such sudden deaths bring the working conditions under question.” he said in the post on X (formerly Twitter).  

“The real measure of the progress of any country is not the increase in the figures of services or products but how mentally free, healthy and happy a person is,” he added.

लखनऊ में काम के दबाव और तनाव के कारण एचडीएफ़सी की एक महिलाकर्मी की ऑफिस में ही, कुर्सी से गिरकर, मृत्यु का समाचार बेहद चिंतनीय है।

ऐसे समाचार देश में वर्तमान अर्थव्यवस्था के दबाव के प्रतीक हैं। इस संदर्भ में सभी कंपनियों और सरकारी विभागों तक को गंभीरता से सोचना होगा। ये देश के… pic.twitter.com/Xj49E01MSs

— Akhilesh Yadav (@yadavakhilesh) September 24, 2024

Anna Sebastian, who worked at EY’s Pune office for around four months, died in July. Earlier this month, her mother Anita Augustine wrote to EY India Chairman Rajiv Memani and flagged the “glorification” of overwork at the consulting firm.

Her father claimed that the 26-year-old raised concerns over work pressure with her seniors.