Recession good for health: Study

The research led by Jose Tapia Granados and his colleagues from the Michigan University’s Institute of Social Research analyzed the health trends from1920 to 1940, which also included the ‘Great Depression’ that started in 1929 in the United States.

Recession - a health-friendly phenomenon
Researchers found a 6 years increase in life expectancy, from 57 to 63, in the time period of 1929-1932 and this was found the same for both men and women. There was also a decrease in the number of deaths caused from diseases, accidents and infant mortality during the Great Depression.

"The finding is strong and counter intuitive. Most people assume that periods of high unemployment are harmful to health,” says Jose Tapia Granados, the lead researcher of the present study.

Reasons for health boom during economic doom
The researchers assumed that an economic downturn gives one more relaxation hours as work is less, and over indulgence in drinking and smoking also goes down because people have less money to spend.

Granados feels that economic expansions have been linked to increase in smoking and drinking and people get less time to sleep as they are engulfed with more work and more stress.

He confirms, “During expansions, firms are very busy, and they typically demand a lot of effort from employees, who are required to work a lot of overtime, and to work at a fast pace. This can create stress, which is associated with more drinking and smoking.”

The study also found that there were more deaths due to excess traffic in boom periods, and as companies employ inexperienced workers to meet with the increased targets, there is an increase in fatal workplace injuries too.

It may also be noted that deaths due to cancer and heart attacks also fell considerably during recession as pace of work was slow.

Though the study also finds that suicides increased during an economic downturn, this does not affect the results as suicide deaths only add to 2 percent of total death rates.

Experts feel that the study provides some respite in the hard-hitting recession times, and also breaks the myth associated with poor health during recession.

The study and its findings have been published in this month’s issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.