 |
What Your Work Stress Says About You and How to Address It
Stress is a part of all of our lives to varying degrees. A small amount of stress can actually be pretty good for us. It’s that little bit of pressure you feel that encourages you to focus and get things done. Manageable doses of stress can energize you and give you that additional push to meet some of life’s challenges.
As good as small amounts of stress can be, large and regular doses of stress can be incredibly damaging to both the body and the mind. There is a lot of truth to the phrase stress will take years off your life.
One of the places where many of us regularly feel some level of stress is the workplace. Work-related stress can be good when it helps you to meet the occasional important deadline, but it can be incredibly negative when it becomes more of a regular thing. Finding ways to address and manage workplace stress can be one of the best things you do for yourself.
Lots of Stress, Lots of Harm
Stress affects people in different ways. Some individuals may feel exhausted and run down or completely unable to focus on any one thing for a long period of time. Others may develop stress headaches, migraines, or twitches. Still other people may feel nausea and experience a complete change in diet and significant weight gain/loss. Finally, some will feel the impact more socially and find themselves withdrawing from social activities and becoming more and more isolated.
There is a huge body of research linking chronic stress to negative health outcomes. Long-term stress can lead to serious health conditions such as high blood pressure, a higher risk of heart attack or stroke, anxiety, and even depression. If left unmanaged, undue stress can take a huge toll on your quality of life.
Beyond just the individuals experiencing stress, workplaces can be significantly impacted by stressful work environments as well. Chronically stressed employees are typically less productive, and more disorganized, and they may contribute to negative company culture. Likewise, workplaces that induce a lot of stress in their employees will often see high levels of burnout and employee dissatisfaction, which can lead to trouble retaining quality employees or attracting new ones.
Pinpointing Workplace Stress
If you are experiencing symptoms of workplace stress, the best thing you can do for yourself is start focusing on pinpointing causes. Identifying what leads to stress is the most important step in making changes to manage it. There are many common causes of stress at work such as:
- Feeling underpaid or a low salary, in general
- Excessive workloads with tight timelines
- Work that doesn’t feel challenging or engaging
- Limited opportunities for career-building experience or development
- Challenging management situations
- A lack of a social support system in the office
- Unclear expectations or conflicting demands
If you are having trouble identifying exactly what is causing your workplace stress, it can help to keep a journal of the things that create stress and how you respond to them. Taking the time to record your thoughts, how you reacted, and the surrounding circumstances and environment can really help pinpoint your stressors. More than that, it can help you to find patterns and develop strategies for stress management.
Tips and Tricks for Managing Workplace Stress
Once you can recognize exactly what is causing you stress at work, it is time to start figuring out the best ways for you to manage it. For instance, some people are able to address their stress and motivation issues by getting up and exercising during part of the day. Advocating for work compensation for physical activity is something that is catching on in many offices around the country.
For others, one of the biggest tricks to managing stress might be leaning on other people. If you have a solid support system at work, it might be time to talk to a coworker about the stresses work is causing. You may find that your coworkers are feeling similarly and develop a strategy together to address the issues, or you may just find that having someone to talk it out with makes a huge difference in your ability to manage some of your stress.
Another strategy may be to create more structure and organization in your work life. You may start with creating a schedule that encompasses not only the work tasks you have to accomplish but also designated time for breaks and a real lunch. Sitting down with a supervisor and establishing firm priorities and expectations that are realistic and achievable can also help.
Finally, setting real boundaries is another important aspect. For example, setting a boundary on work hours by not answering work calls outside of work or only allowing yourself a brief period of time to talk about work outside of office hours each night.
Too much stress is a real problem in hundreds of thousands of workplaces and it can have very real and very significant side effects. If you are experiencing chronic workplace stress, figuring out exactly what triggers it and how you typically react is a good first step. From there, developing a strategy to manage that stress and let go of some of it is key to long-term success. Good luck!