John Nelson, 50, drives a petrol tanker. He earns £29,000 a year and lives with his wife in Cumbernauld, outside Glasgow. He has two adult children who have left home. Life has become increasingly difficult for manual workers over the years because all of the fun has gone out of work. John has to do long shift patterns, which can be boring and has to work in isolation. The many different health and safety regulations that have to be adhered to also create immense pressure. The increasing use of short-term contracts has created a climate of fear and insecurity. You can work all year doing an excellent job and no one will say anything, then you do one thing wrong and you'll be crucified. John’s work is all about getting a pound of flesh from human beings. Businesses are all about profit and people feel much more stressed because of that. John used to in the social club and football team, but that has all stopped. It is just work, work, and work. Johns wife was in a car crash and badly hurt her leg and has been off work for 4months and had to have many private care operations which is costing John a lot of money and he is he main career for his wife.
John is experiencing a lot of stress with his job and his sick wife this is effecting his social life as he is no longer playing football or going to the social club and spending all his time at work and looking after his wife.
The emotional effects this will be having on John can range from overeating to a feeling of being overwhelmed and pressured, anger is another emotional effect because John feels frustrated and isolated by a stressful situation. Emotional effects of stress can be like a roller coaster of highs and lows of moodiness.
Stress causes many physical effects to the immune system and it could become weakened, which allows minor illnesses that