Is Work Good For Our Health?

Employers and employees alike understand that the occasional absence from work due to sickness is unavoidable. Recovering from an operation or an unfortunate collision with the latest 'super-bug' causes absence to be a necessity.

But what about where the condition is not entirely debilitating and contagious, and may have almost resolved: does a return to work actually hinder an individual from making a full recovery? Professor Sir Mansel Aylward, director of Cardiff University's Centre for Psychosocial and Disability Research School of Medicine, says categorically not.

In the UK it is estimated about 172 million working days are lost to sickness every year, which is estimated to cost the economy around £13 billion. Speaking at a conference of American health experts in Massachusetts, Sir Mansel said that "unfortunately many people think you must be off work to recover from illness – our challenge is therefore to uproot these misconceptions".