Managing Stress at Work

Stressful events and heavy workloads are often the most widely accepted causes of stress, but people may develop symptoms of stress from experiencing uncertainty or discrimination, abuse or hate of some kind. If you are the type of person that likes to be in control, experiences where you feel a loss of control.

There are many different causes of stress, and they change from person to person. Some people’s capacity for stress may differ to another’s, neither is any better or more superior than the other. Stressful events and heavy workloads are often the most widely accepted causes of stress, but people may develop symptoms of stress from experiencing uncertainty or discrimination, abuse or hate of some kind. If you are the type of person that likes to be in control, experiences where you feel a loss of control may result in high levels of stress. Even not having enough going on in your life whether it be work, activities or changes can result in stress. However, for many of people in the UK it seems that work is their biggest cause for stress.

According to the 2022 Q1 Hiring Trends Index conducted by Total Jobs, 38% of workers are reporting that their workloads are unmanageable due to resource shortages. Almost half (46%) of workers want to see more staff employed to make their workload more manageable, which can only indicate that stress levels are high in our working population in the UK. Another statistic that reflects this in the Index is that 60% of workers reported feeling tired or drained and 40% say their work is the biggest negative impact on their mental health. To assist ourselves in the battle against workplace stress, we must view tools for managing stress as a consistent prevention strategy rather than a retrospective cure.

We’ve put together some ways you can proactively manage your stress to help make work a little easier.

Look after your wellbeing

It’s an obvious one and we are sure it’s something that you’ve have heard of before but putting your wellbeing at the top of your priority list could be the best thing you do in managing your stress.

The definition of wellbeing is “the state of being comfortable, healthy, or happy.” – this state looks different for everyone, so you need to get to know yourself a little better to know how it looks for you. Here’s a few general things that can help you look after your wellbeing:

  • Find time to relax – This could be taking a break to read a book, listen to some music, meditation or it could be active relaxation like yoga or walking. Making a daily commitment of 30 mins to relax can have a huge impact on your week.
  • Spend more time in nature – This could be going for a walk in nature, looking after plants at home or spending time with your animals. Again, making a commitment to this time and doing it consciously is where you will see a difference.
  • Look after your physical health – trying to get a good night’s sleep, staying active and nourishing your body. You’ve heard it before but nourishing your body is an act of giving it energy, sometimes just asking the question ‘is this nourishing me?’ is all it takes.
  • Spend time on your hobbies and interests – This is a great way to distract your mind from stressful situations or meet new people through group hobbies. Building up your support network also helps with managing stress.

Understand your triggers

Figuring out patterns with what triggers your stress is a helpful tactic, this allows you to identify a trigger and implement stress reduction tactics in real-time. Maybe there’s a particular colleague that you know often triggers you, it could be your Monday meeting or maybe it’s a particular task that you hate doing so put it off and then it gets on top of you. Write them down too! They’re more likely to stick in your mind.

Organise your time

When we feel like our days have been messy and we feel like we’ve been unproductive it can add to our stress levels. Here’s a few ways to organise your time to avoid messy days being a trigger for you.

  • Identify when you have the most energy, are you an early bird or a night owl? Do your high priority tasks at that time of the day
  • Make a ‘to do’ list – If you can, maybe write them down in order of priority. Ticking things off will help with your momentum
  • Baby steps – often when we’re stressed it’s because we feel like we have a mountain to climb. Breaking it down and just thinking about that chunk until you’ve finished can really help

That last point is crucial – baby steps. Although, we should try to use stress management tools as a prevention method it can feel like there’s so much to get through and this is another task to remember to do. So, break it down, start by making 1 commitment for 5 minutes a day and see if you experience any progress. Work from there.

If you’re struggling with stress at work, talk to your GP or get some more information on how you can get help on the NHS website or Mind.org.uk.

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