Stress and anxiety are the two most prevalent mental conditions.
According to mental health experts, all humans have the potential to develop stress symptoms. The difference usually lies in the severity of the trigger factors.
But while stress can affect anyone, letting the symptoms go unaddressed can affect your workplace productivity significantly. Fortunately, there are numerous effective tips to combat work stress.
Listed below are the top five strategies to fight stress at work.
Know the Symptoms and Effects of Stress
Knowing the symptoms of stress is one of the most important steps in battling this condition.
Now, stress symptoms vary in number and intensity. But the most common ones include;
- Nervousness or irritability
- Fatigue
- Sweating
- Elevated heart rate
- Headaches
- Appetite changes – unusually high or low appetite
- Insomnia or sleeplessness
- Erratic mood swings
- Reduced self-esteem
- Low sex-drive
- Digestive issues
- Frequent illnesses
In addition to stress symptoms, it’s also important to understand how this condition can affect your workplace productivity in the long run.
For starters, unmitigated stress can take a toll on your emotional health. It all begins with occasional mood swings. And before you know it, you’ve entirely lost emotional control and intelligence.
Stress can also diminish your mental concentration and attention span. This could cause you to miss crucial insights during routine briefings and boardroom meetings, as your mind frequently wanders off to unrelated things. Besides, the reduced mental focus might trigger physical accidents in the workplace. You may find yourself inadvertently bumping into objects or colleagues. Your workmate may push you away and let the matter rest. But you can only imagine what could happen if you lost concentration while working in a steel production company or a high construction site.
Last but not least, unresolved stress will almost always lead to full-blown anxiety disorders. Common anxiety disorders include;
- Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD)
- Social anxiety disorder (SAD)
- Mood disorders
- Panic disorder (PD)
- Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
- Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)
Try Herbal Extracts For Reducing Your Stress
There are plenty of herbal extracts that you can use to keep workplace stress and anxiety at bay. Cannabidiol is one such compound.
Commonly abbreviated as CBD, cannabidiol is a substance extracted from the cannabis plant. The compound is marketed for its numerous therapeutic properties, one of which is its ability to treat stress and anxiety.
CBD mainly fights stress by suppressing cortisol, the primary hormone. Studies have also unearthed CBD’s positive interactions with serotonin, a neurotransmitter associated with feelings of happiness and positive energy.
It would interest you to know that CBD lack’s marijuana’s mind-altering properties. So, the compound won’t get you high.
Besides, numerous cannabis retailers offer high-quality CBD products. Just remember to carefully sample CBD from SundayScaries or cannabidiol goods by other established firms before placing your order. And while you’re at it, pay particular attention to the concentration of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the primary psychoactive cannabis compound.
Manage Your Time Effectively To reduce your Stress
Sometimes, stress at the workplace comes down to how effectively we manage our time.
If you always arrive at work late, you’ll always contend with demeaning dress-downs from your superiors. Besides, you’ll almost always run late with your assignments.
So, how about you try waking up earlier?
Consider the amount of time you take preparing for work and the extent of the morning traffic. Once you have a rough estimate, set your alarm earlier than you usually wake up.
You can also manage your time by prioritizing your assignments. Dispense with what’s urgent and postpone what can wait.
Identify the Causes and Avoid Them
The phrase “work stress” implies stressful feelings that are mainly prevalent in an office setup.
If you only experience stress at work and not in a different environment, then there could be specific triggers that you need to identify and address.
Common causes of stress at workplaces include;
- Overworking
- Underpayment or delayed payments
- Difficult working conditions, such as working with unreasonable deadlines
- Condescending employers or bosses
- Gossips, sexual harassment, and other elements of toxic workplace environments
- Being in the wrong job – perhaps your dream job is an air hostess, but you’ve had to contend with a messenger job
- Uninspiring jobs – for instance, where it takes forever to get a promotion or where the company’s policy is intentionally against employees pursuing further education
- Job insecurity, such as working in a company with a high employee turnover rate
The solutions you adopt will depend on the cause of your stress.
Take Some Time Off
Taking a break from work can also go a long way in combating workplace . A break prevents burnout while also allowing you to recharge physically and mentally.
The break can vary in duration depending on your company’s policy and the time you need to blow off some steam. It could range from a few minutes’ walk around the office precincts to a one-month vacation.
However, the most important thing is how you spend the time off. Remember that the idea is to relax. So, avoid taking on more assignments in the meantime. Instead, consider engaging in recreational activities, such as swimming, dancing, and movie watching.
If possible, spend this quality time with your near and dear ones.
Track your stressors
Save a diary for up to 14 days to distinguish which circumstances make the most pressure and how you answer them. Record your contemplations, sentiments, and data about the climate, including individuals and conditions included, the actual setting, and how you responded. Did you speak loudly? Get a nibble from the candy machine? Take a walk? Taking notes can assist you with tracking down designs among your stressors and your responses to them.
Foster solid reactions
Rather than endeavoring to battle pressure with cheap food or liquor, give your all to pursue solid decisions when you feel the strain rise. Practice is an extraordinary pressure buster. Yoga can be a superb decision, yet any type of active work is helpful. Likewise set aside a few minutes for side interests and most loved exercises. Whether it’s perusing a novel, showing up at shows, or messing around with your family, try to carve out opportunity for the things that give you joy. Getting sufficient great quality rest is additionally significant for powerful pressure the executives. Assemble sound rest propensities by restricting your caffeine admission late in the day and limiting invigorating exercises, for example, PC and TV use, around evening time.
Lay out limits
In the present computerized world, it’s not difficult to feel strain to be accessible 24 hours every day. Lay out some work-life limits for yourself. That could mean making a standard not to browse email from home in the evening, or not picking up the telephone during supper. Despite the fact that individuals have various inclinations with regards to the amount they mix their work and home life, making a few clear limits between these domains can lessen the potential for work-life struggle and the pressure that goes with it.
Take more time to re-energize
To stay away from the adverse consequences of ongoing pressure and burnout, we want time to recharge and get back to our pre-anxiety of working. This recuperation interaction requires “turning off” from work by having timeframes when you are neither participating in business related exercises, nor pondering work. That is the reason it’s important that you separate now and again, such that meets your requirements and inclinations. Try not to allow your get-away days to go to squander. Whenever the situation allows, get some much needed rest to unwind and loosen up, so you return to work feeling revived and prepared to perform at your best. Whenever you’re not ready to go on vacation, get a speedy lift by switching off your cell phone and concentrating on nonwork exercises for some time.
Summary
No matter the nature of your job, work stress isn’t entirely avoidable. But if allowed to go unaddressed, stress may degenerate into severe health issues.