The head aches, the nose runs and the body feels a little heavy. But you don’t feel that you are sick enough to be worth staying at home, so you go to work or study anyway. Does it sound familiar? Several research projects show that many people go to work, even though they really should have stayed at home. High workload, understaffing, time pressure and fear of losing their job are some of the reasons why they show up. But when are you really sick enough to be at home? Sick enough? FHI’s general infection advice says: Nevertheless, many people go to work. – It is a very good idea to stay home a little early, says specialist in community medicine, Kai Brynjar Hagen. He says that it is in the first phase of, for example, influenza that you are most contagious. In addition, it is in this phase that you can do the most to fight the disease. Specialist in community medicine, Kai Brynjar Hagen, believes it is a good idea to stay at home early in the course of the illness. Photo: Ole Dalen / news – It is important not to do other things that stress the immune system during this important phase. Researchers from Ireland published a study this year in the Journal of Occupational Health Psychology. It showed that in the long run it is not a good idea to go to work even if you are sick. It can have a kind of domino effect on work even after the day you braved the illness and went to work. During the Christmas party season, it’s also about alcohol, says Hagen. – Alcohol can dampen one’s own ability to fight an infection quickly. Photo: Kelsey Chance – Must set a lower threshold Psychologist Sidsel Fjelltun from Nordland explains that the phenomenon in Norwegian is called sick attendance. That is, when you go to work even if you are sick. – It is not always so easy to decide when we are too ill to go to work. Especially when there are work tasks that await. People defy symptoms to get rid of them, says Fjelltun. Psychologist Sidsel Fjelltun believes it may be a sign of health that sickness absence in Norway is higher than in many other countries. Photo: Privat When we are ill, we are drained of mental energy. It requires a greater effort to concentrate, and we are unable to regain that concentration until the next day, according to the Irish researchers. Thus, you will be walking and hanging for longer. – Many also find it difficult to go home when you are too unwell. Some people feel pressured to show up, especially if there is a lot of understaffing, the psychologist believes. The psychologist is calling for better guidelines for what is correct sick leave. She believes that workplaces can be clearer that there is a plan if people are ill. – We should talk more about when you should be at home. It is quite complex for people to evaluate. There can be many different causes of cold symptoms, for example rhinovirus, influenza, RS and coronavirus. Norway has twice as much sickness absence as comparable countries. This is shown by new figures from Statistics Norway. Fjelltun therefore believes that the debate on sickness absence should be nuanced, and painted with a slightly broader brush. – It may be that the high sickness absence is healthier than in other countries. Office landscape makes you more vulnerable Hans Magne Gravseth, senior physician in the National Monitoring of the Working Environment and Health at the Norwegian Institute of Work, says that sickness absence is on average highest in the first months of the year. – Would sickness absence be lower if we all stayed at home when we are actually sick? – We do not have data on this. But we have several publications that see a connection between office solutions and sickness absence. Several studies from the Norwegian Working Environment Institute (STAMI) show that there is a higher risk of being called in sick for those who sit in an open office landscape. Photo: Shridhar Gupta / Unsplash If you work in an office environment, you are more susceptible to infection than if you have your own office. If you share an office, you have an 18 percent higher risk of calling in sick, their research shows. – Contagion of respiratory infections in the workplace can have an impact on sick leave. In that sense, the answer to the question is probably yes. But the superintendent points out that it is only speculation to estimate how much sickness absence we could reduce if we stayed at home when we are sick. There is another ditch to go into as well: That you stay at home when you could actually go to work. FHI: It is difficult to say something that applies to everyone. Tone Bruun, senior specialist in infection control and vaccination at the Institute of Public Health (FHI), says that it is mainly the general condition that determines whether one should stay at home, or can go to work or school. Although there are many different viruses and bacteria in circulation, the advice is largely the same: – That you stay at home as long as you feel ill. Tone Bruun, senior physician at the department for infection control at FHI, says that one should not have too low a threshold for staying at home. – If you are too unwell to work, you just have to go home. Photo: Folkehelseinstituttet Some viruses, such as the coronavirus, are contagious even before the symptoms of the disease are felt. The coronavirus is most contagious before symptoms such as fever and respiratory infections are felt. It is therefore difficult to give advice that applies to everyone. – But how do you know what poor general condition means? – It will often be a discretionary assessment that must be made by the person who is ill. You should be able to carry out normal activities. If not, you should probably stay home. But if you only have slight residual symptoms such as a runny nose or cough, she says that you should usually go to work. Bruun in FHI says that they really have too little knowledge about the effect of sick children or others staying at home, but experience has probably shown that strict rules to keep, for example, sick children away from kindergarten have a limited effect on the spread of infection. This is due, among other things, to that you can be infected without having symptoms and that some diseases are contagious before signs of illness appear. Photo: Jørgen Leangen – Have you gone to work too early if you get sick again a few days later? – Basically, you can go back to work when you feel well enough to do so. Then you’d better take another sick day, says the superior. She explains that there are many infections in circulation now. It is possible to get a new infection just days after the previous one.
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Psychologist and doctor say you have to stay home earlier than you think – news Nordland
