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Understanding Job Stress and How To Deal With It
Trevor Dumbleton
Among the most common types of stress is good old-fashioned job stress
and it is easy to understand why. With the economic slow-down of the
last few years, employers are trying to squeeze more and more work out
of their employees in order to keep their costs low and their production
high. As well, with the concerns over lay-offs and downsizing, it seems
that overwork is no cure for concerns about job security. Thus, the long
hours, low pay, and tenuous nature of employment combine to create a
situation where there is nothing you can count on except stress itself.
Thus, job stress just keeps piling up until there doesn't seem to be any
way out.
Unfortunately, this is all too often the case with workers and people
need to learn how to manage work stress. Otherwise, you will simply
drown yourself in worry and drive yourself batty with concern over your
workload and your job security.
The first thing to remember about job stress is that it really does not
help you get work done. In fact, too much stress can actually prevent
you from getting through your projects. Though every worker can point to
a time when the chips were down and they rose to challenge, the fact is
that long-term stress does not help people focus. Yes, short-term bursts
of stress can heighten your ability to focus, but any period of stress
that lasts longer than a day or even a few hours deteriorates your
ability to focus. This is because the very hormones that heighten focus
over a short period of time eventually degrade concentration and make
you unable to keep your mind on the task at hand. Needless to say, this
does not help you in the workplace.
One of the best ways to manage workplace stress is to take a break every
so often. This means that you should give yourself a short break about
every fifteen minutes or so and avail yourself of a break of a few
minutes about every hour.
If you have the self-awareness to notice that you are not able to focus
completely, you should give your eyes a break and take a quick stretch
break in your chair. These breaks should be taken about every fifteen
minutes, as they will allow your brain to recover a little bit of energy
and allow you to return to the task at hand.
Additionally, every hour, stand up and walk away from your desk. This
break should consist of some task not related to work or your desk and
it is vital for maintaining concentration and reducing job stress. Go
get a soft drink, take a restroom break, or simply walk the halls for
about 3-5 minutes. This will not only give your body a break, it will
provide your mind with an opportunity to relax. It is the simple act of
doing something mindless that helps your mind. Just like muscles, the
brain needs a rest and recovery period in order to get its strength
back. Remember, you cannot remain completely focused forever, just like
you cannot sprint forever.
If you do not take a break, your mind will start taking its own breaks.
This is otherwise known as "having your mind wander." This is a
tremendously frustrating phenomenon and it can create severe job stress.
You cannot focus, so you cannot get your work done, so you try to focus,
which is causing your mind to wander simply because it has been focusing
for so long. Thus, you become more frustrated with yourself and your
stress increases. This is an endless spiral and, if you do not
deliberately escape it, job stress will consume you until the only thing
you can think about is your inability to think about anything other than
your inability to get work done.
For those who are in the throes of job stress already and there does not
seem to be any way to get out of it, it is time to give yourself a
complete break. The best break is, of course, to go home and leave your
work behind. However, this is not always feasible and, instead, you need
some way to give yourself a break while not leaving your desk.
The best method for relieving job stress at your desk is to close your
eyes and take deep breaths. The key to this is to avoid thinking about
work while you are doing this breathing exercise. In fact, you should
simply concentrate on your breathing. In essence, this is a form of
meditation and it is a very good way to refresh your brainpower. This is
because, when you are thinking about your breathing, you are thinking
about almost nothing at all. After all, you breathe all the time and it
comes pretty naturally. Thus, by concentrating on a process that is
generally automatic, your mind will give itself a much-needed rest. In
fact, some people are so effective at this form of meditation that they
receive something akin to concentrated sleep. Though it takes a great
deal of practice to achieve this much relaxation from meditation, even
simple meditation can help you recover from job stress.
The most important thing to remember about job stress is to simply not
worry about job stress. In fact, worrying about job stress will actually
create a certain about of stress all its own. Thus, if you simply
concentrate on your work, give yourself a break every so often, and give
yourself a complete break when you need it, job stress does not need to
be a concern.
LowerYourStress.com:
for everything to do with stress. Get a free ebook to help with your
stress levels:
www.loweryourstress.com/stress-book.html
Trevor Dumbleton is
the owner of
LowerYourStress.com
a categorized resource
directory for everything to do with stress. Get a free ebook to help
with your stress levels:
www.loweryourstress.com/stress-book.html
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Controlling Stress and Tension (7th Edition)
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