Nursery World - Staff Health & Well-Being: Part 1

In the first part of a new series looking at staff health and well-being, Charlotte Goddard sets out how healthy we are as a society, and sector, and how inequality affects this

The many faces of health - Illustration: Amanda Hutt

As a nation, we are increasingly unhealthy. More than a quarter (28 per cent) of adults in England are obese. More than one in five (21 per cent) are getting less than 30 minutes’ exercise a week, and 23 per cent drink too much alcohol. Despite all this, the leading cause of sickness absence is not physical but mental health problems, according to the Mental Health Foundation.

Good health is unequal

Health and well-being issues are not experienced to the same degree by everybody. Women have a higher percentage of mental disorders than men in each income bracket, and almost twice as many women as men are diagnosed with anxiety disorders. The pandemic has also shone a light on health inequalities faced by black and ethnic minority communities. Rates of infant mortality, cardiovascular disease and diabetes are higher among Black and South Asian groups, for example.

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