Perception of the health risks resulting from health, lifestyle and professional strain of teachers of various school levels

Perception of health risks from lifestyle and work psychic load of teachers from different school levels Introduction: It is well known that the teaching profession is associated with numerous health risks. Teachers are exposed to excessive mental work and sensory stress, long working in a forced position at increased risk of noise, infections and voice disorders. Compared with the general population, there are more frequently found diseases related to occupational stress. Aim: To determine the perception of health risks arising from particular health state, lifestyle and workload of teachers from different school levels. Methods: In the context of cross-sectional epidemiological study we used an anonymous questionnaire enquiry to obtained data from 484 respondents, ranging from 201 primary school teachers, 227 teachers of secondary schools and 56 university teachers. We have investigated the presence of risk factors and their perception by teachers with regard to the school level, age and gender of the respondents. Working psychological stress was assessed by Meister questionnaire. Results: We found that many respondents were exposed to several risk factors simultaneously. Most often it was a serious illness in close relatives, and increased mental work load. This was increasingly exposed..