Then & Now FROM 1993-2023
In the third part of our look back at the UK health survey results published in the launch issue of Top Santé, March 1993, we turn to mental wellbeing to see whether or not this has improved or worsened since our first survey.
CRIME RATES continue to rise. Schools, hospitals and roads are crumbling. The Royals are teetering on the brink of oblivion and the weather is as bad as ever. But we keep smiling.’ So wrote the author of the first Top Santé health report in March 1993, when he summed up the state of the nation. And most of that still applies: hospitals are still under immense strain, if not more so, crime levels have spread and risen due to multiple factors and, although not as serious as the first two, potholes still dampen our day (although with King Charles being crowned on May 6, there’s renewed interest in the Royals, so perhaps they’re not teetering on the brink of oblivion just yet)
So let’s take a look at what was said in response to the 1993 survey about mental wellbeing, and how that compares to the survey we conducted at the end of 2022…
1993: Back then, nine-out-of-10 respondents said they were “very happy” or at least “fairly happy”. However, in our recent survey, slightly less than six out of 10 described themselves as “very” or “fairly happy”. It seems the sky-high mortgage rates from the 90s hadn’t dampened our spirits as much as perhaps more recent world events did, 30 years on. The\ impact of Covid is still being felt.
Two out of three also reported being “very” or “somewhat” relaxed in 1993 and, on average, less than one in 16 said they were “very anxious”.
Few people reported feeling truly gloomy, withmore than two thirds“rarely” or “never” waking up feeling blue, and only one in 50 reporting being “very unhappy”.Women were also more anxious thanmen, and old people weremore anxious that young people.
2023: Our recent survey, 30 years on, showed that stress and anxiety have risen over the past three decades with just under half, so roughly five in 10, reporting being “very” or“somewhat” relaxed, compared to nine out of 10 in 1993.While on the anxiety scale it was roughly the same, with one in 20 reporting feeling “very” anxious, and 15 per cent“usually” anxious
RELAXED OR OVERWROUGHT?
We are all designed to take on life challenges, and a boring life will make us listless and apathetic. The right level of stress is exciting; it makes us feel bright alert and read
