Coping With Workplace Stress

Stress is a serious health problem today, and it can affect people from all walks of life. Stress can be caused by various factors, and can lead to many different conditions, such as mood swings which can make people more aggressive or more easily upset, anxiety, skin problems such as eczema, changes in sleep patterns and insomnia leading to tiredness and irritability, muscle tension, poor concentration, changes in eating patterns causing rapid weight loss or gain, low self esteem and confidence, memory loss and relationship problems.

There are two things to consider if you are suffering from stress, firstly what is causing you to become stressed, and secondly, what can you do to lessen the effects of being stressed. It is all to easy to get into the vicious cycle when stressed of attempted to ignore the situation by turning to alcohol, prescription drugs, nicotine or comfort eating, all of which could cause the symptoms to worsen while not tackling to problem at all.

When embarking on a self-help program to tackle stress, the first thing to do is take control. You may not be able to improve your working conditions, for example, straight away, but you can change your habits. Once you have taken control of your physical self, by exercising and eating healthily, giving more time to yourself, and stopping any binge drinking, eating and smoking, then you will be in a position to take a more positive look at the conditions which have lead to you becoming stressed. You may not be able to change your boss, or your job, but you can change you approach to they way you chose to react under stressful conditions. In a nutshell, this common phrase sums it up rather well – “work to live, don’t live to work”. I find that when work becomes stressful, when managers are piling on the work, demanding tighter deadlines, expecting me to complete new tasks in shorter time frames, then I remember one thing: I am paid to fulfil my contract of 35 hours per week, and to do my job as best as I can with the resources I have at my disposal. If a deadline is not met, then no matter how much this may upset the management, remember that essentially it is their problem, and not yours.

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Management often like to encourage you to take responsibility, but this is just their way of offloading some of their own work to try to reduce the stress they are under. So long as you do a good job, you cannot be penalised. So if you are bending over backwards to meet tighter deadlines and complete more work, then remember, deadlines can be broken, time frames do not have to be met, and most importantly, your health is far more important than anything else. This may seem a bit of a cavalier approach to working, but this attitude could help you take control of yourself at work. Stress causes more hours to be lost each year from our industry than are gained through over time, so it really does make sense. One thing a lot of people fail to do these days is take a proper lunch break. Seven or eight hours spent at the same desk can lead to a very stressful environment.

One simple method to reduce stress is to ensure that most days you take one hour out of the office for lunch, either sitting in a coffee shop, or walking and browsing in shops, or going to a library. Escaping from the office for an hour you give your mind a chance to relax. Some people find it useful to go to the gym in their lunch hour, some people prefer to read for an hour. Either way, both are very good ways of getting away from your work environment. If you chose the gym option, or just walk, just ensure you do not dwell on work issues while you are out. Remember that your lunchtime is your time, not your company’s time. And try to avoid taking work home with you too, time at home should be your time to unwind, relax, exercise, pursue hobbies etc. not to finish off work to meet deadlines.

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