Australians' long working hours are an unnecessary health hazard, writes David Wilson.

Frantically busy? Stress has been called "today's essential badge of status and success". In fact, stress sparks such awe that analysts talk of "stress envy".

Stress envy means the office workaholic verging on burnout could be treated as a role model. Apparently, it is impressive to be wedded to 24-hour connectivity. Apparently, it is cool to multitask like a maniac, yapping into a mobile phone while grappling with social media updates and directing the intern.

Such intense displays of commitment can be seen as bragging because they show the showoff is in demand - a winner.

From the stress-envy angle, only losers loaf. The heroic overachiever's idea of relaxing is pursuing a part-time MBA (Manic Busy Agitated) and skimming alpha-dog blogs about hacking your inner success geek.

"I just had the most productive week ever," wrote blogger Kaihan Krippendorff in a December 22 Fast Company post about maximising potential. Krippendorff then explained how to "rip out of the gates in 2012 on fire". "Imagine if every week were your best week ever," the go-getter urged.

In similar spirit, profiles of tycoons breathlessly highlight their type-A, high-pressure seven-day weeks and 20-hour days. "Meet Clive Palmer: busy one day, frantic the next," says a November 11 BRW magazine profile of the mining magnate billionaire.

In the quantity-over-quality climate, frantic effort is portrayed as exemplary proof of that buzzword trait, "passion".

The rise of reverence for zeal marks an epic shift. Back in the tweedy age of elegantly unemployed gentlemen, prestige hinged on being above toil. Attended by servants, aristocrats took pride in bludging in an echo of the classical age. Then, slaves enabled classy Greeks and Romans to devote their "careers" to areas including philosophy and art.

Now, in the quick-fire smartphone age, stress rules.

One in two Australians is experiencing a level of stress that could cause illness, according to a report produced by the mental health group Lifeline. The Lifeline report, which rates work as the top national cause of stress, also says 93 per cent of
Australians were stressed in 2011 - up from 90 per cent in 2010. Australia's stress levels apparently rise every year, inching towards the 100 per cent mark.

Stress has its virtues. According to the so-called "Goldilocks principle", just to stay alert and interested you need to experience some of it.

Still, stress is toxic. It triggers the "fight-or-flight" response, causing cortisol to surge through your bloodstream as you perch at your desk, absorbing the poison that impairs your immune system.

After that, you become vulnerable to everything from depression to cancer.

Whether stressful quantity-over-quality bustle even offers the boon of boosted productivity is doubtful. Just look at the Dutch.

The Netherlands' residents are the most leisurely workers in the Organisation for Economic

Co-operation and Development. The average Dutch worker puts in fewer than 1400 hours a year, compared with 1855 hours for Australians. Still, the Netherlands boasts low unemployment and the second-highest gross domestic product per capita in Europe. Just to underline its gift for effortless excellence, the Netherlands regularly ranks among the world's happiest countries and boasts an enviably high living standard. Hence the talk of a "Dutch miracle".

Australians, however, remain dependent on work for their identity, it seems. Tourism Australia says Australians need a holiday because they stockpile leave entitlements, further harming their health.

So the next time you hear the gung-ho office hero brag about being "crazy-busy" all the time, resist the urge to feel envy.

Stress is sad.

How to keep calm and carry on

Effective management of stress and excitement hinges on perception adjustment, psychologist Dr Joann Lukins says. She says we need to see that many dynamics are beyond our control.

Think, for example, of the random ways in which others react to our actions. Think of that byword for unpredictability, the weather, and the global financial crisis of 2008.

Still, when a challenge emerges, we have choices, Lukins says.

To start with, we can dodge or change the source of stress by extending deadlines and delegating responsibilities, among other options."Or we can accept that the stress is something we need to deal with," she says.

Then we should build resistance: eat well, exercise and enlist social support to make us resilient.

Finally, we need to lighten up. "There is oodles of research supporting an optimistic outlook over a pessimistic one," Lukins says.

She recalls an interview with long-distance runner Cathy Freeman, who said she was glad to get pre-race butterflies. To Freeman, butterflies meant her body was ready to race. Less-positive athletes might read them as anxiety, with career-damaging results.

For more advice on coping with stress, contact the Resilience Institute, 9509 2881, resiliencei.com, or Lifeline, 13 11 14, stressdown.org.au