Mental Health - Stress

Stress at Work

Few people can ever say they live a truly “stress-free” life.

Work pressures, home responsibilities, extra-curricular activities, even international pandemics can all pile onto even the most “care-free” individuals.

It’s important to know how to properly handle stress so as not to affect our performance and relationships in our work and home life.

At work, stress can lead to distraction and cause an unfortunate accident.

At home, stress can put strains on relationships with friends and family.

What Causes Stress?

While stress cannot be pigeonholed to single cause, we do have a general understanding of what causes stress among most people.

• It usually is occurs when the demands of work or life do not match the worker’s abilities or the available resources.

  
  

Managing stress starts with identifying your personal stressors, the things that make you react. Stressors don’t have to just be triggering events, they can be caused through thoughts, feelings, and expectations. Common stressors for the average employee include things like:

• Time constraints

• Unanticipated change

• Issues at home

• Extra responsibility

• Personality clashes

• Financial difficulties

  
  

Identifying/Managing Stress

Stress doesn’t look the same for everyone; people show signs of stress in different ways.

Stress can make you susceptible to certain illnesses, like the common cold, ulcers, and even some cancers.

Learn to spot the side effects of stress, including: upset stomach, fatigue, tight neck muscles, irritability, and headaches. If you are suffering from any of these frequently due to stress, make sure to see a doctor.

Everybody has a different way of coping with stress, some healthy, others not so healthy. The key to dealing with stress, is doing it in a positive and constructive way.

Here are some great ways to keep stress low in the workplace:

Acceptance

•  Many people worry about things we have no control over. For example, a family illness, workplace restructuring, or shifts in the market due to the pandemic. One way to manage stress is to accept when things are beyond your control. It may be helpful to put positive spins on things that come up such as, "Someday I'll laugh about this," or "It's a learning experience."

Attitude

• Try to focus on the positive side of situations. Ask yourself, "What good can come out of this?" "What can I learn from this situation?" and "How can I handle this better when it comes up again?" Solutions come easier when you focus on the positive and your stress level will be reduced.

Perspective

• We often worry about things that never happen. Keep things in perspective by asking yourself, "How important is this situation? Can I do anything about it?, In five years, will I even remember it happened?"

Health

• The best way to take care of your mental health, is to take care of your physical health. Self-care is critical to keeping your stress levels low. Exercise regularly; exercise is a powerful stress reliever. Eating good food will always be beneficial. That double cheeseburger may appear to be a stress reliever, but in the long term, it will only make you feel worse.

Above All, Ask for Help

One of the quickest ways for an injury to occur is to rush through a job task.

Stress, and the feeling of falling behind at work go hand-in-hand.

Pace of work is a major factor in muscular-skeletal disorders, slips, trips, falls, and motor vehicle accidents.

If you feel overwhelmed by work, ask a coworker for help, or contact a supervisor if you feel like deadlines are affecting your health or the quality of your work.

Look out for your fellow co-workers as well. If they are showing signs of stress, try to help. Everyone is dealing with their own issues, as well as work problems.

Remember, we’re all in this together.

Find resources such as our Employee Assistance Porgram (EAP) on OneNote.