Work Related Stress

A study was conducted by Toronto University, shows that people with high scores on the creative work index. Employees whose job enable them or require problem solving, learning on the go in order to improve and develop their skills for better job quality are more prone for stress.
Juggling a demanding job and be able to enjoy and meet your family needs are not an easy task to manage. Dr. Scheiman (Toronto University) advises to try and concentrate on one thing at a time.

When I read this short article it struck me  how work related stress is becoming a big issue that many of us either suffer from directly, or most likely know someone very close does.

Many articles and experts suggest  life changing habits that will allow the person to balance life / work together. But, how easy is that? Our careers demand “full time attention”, doesn’t it? It demands creativity, updated knowledge, flexibility, good communication skills, and more importantly time!



How many of us did not have to return home at some point in their career if not regularly with heaps of work they need to attend to. Not forgetting paying attention to important e-mails and phone calls.

Ambition is not likely to happen if you want to devote time to your family and children, you need to forget about high positions, good salaries etc.

So where does balance come in this? How can we achieve it?
Bbefore getting started with tips on how to organise yourself and your time table, let us identify some of the stress symptoms!

• Headache
• Muscular tension
• Back/neck ache
• Tiredness and sleep problems
• Digestive problems
• A raised heart rate
• Skin rashes
• Sweating
• Blurred vision

Some of the long term stress symptoms are:
• Felling of not able to cope
• Irritability and mood swings
• Disturbed eating patterns
• Finding it hard to concentrate.
• Feeling less motivated.

How do you know that you stress is related to work?
 Rushing about, trying to be in too many places at once.
 Miss breaks and take work home with you.
 Don’t have enough time to exercise, relax or time to spend with your family.

Stress is believed to trigger %70 of visits to the doctors, and %85 of serious illnesses.

So the big question is now, can stress be avoided, is a simple time management plan can solve it all and create balance in our busy life?
Unfortunately the answer has to be NO, stress cannot be avoided. We still have to deal with stress most of the time. So basically we have to find ways to deal with stress or avoid it as much as we can.

Some people tend to seek the following metods to refief themselves from stress:
 Smoking
 Drinking
 Over eating/ under eating
 Sleep too much
 Use pills, drugs to relax
 Preoccupy themselves with things to avoid dealing with problem.
 Withdraw from family, friends and activities.
 Anger at others.
However, those metods are harmful and more importantly do not solve the problem and should be avoided at all costs.

One of the websites suggested four methods to tackle stress:
Avoid, Alter, Adapt, Accept.

Tips to help with Stress Management

 Learn to say NO- know your limits and draw a border between work time and family time- Once you do that try and stick to it.
 Take control of your environment- Avoid things that makes you feel anxious, news, special programme, topics as politics/religion etc.
 Try your best to avoid people who stress you out- limiting the amount you see them, if it is not possible e.g. at work and can’t avoid seeing them, then try to turn the relationship around, looking positively at them for a change.
 Reduce your to do list- look at tasks and see how important they are, cancel unimportant things and if can’t then spread them around.
 Be willing to compromise- finding middle ground.
 Take more holiday and breaks from work.
 Get more sleep
 Select optimistic people to spend time with.
 Make time to sit down relax and simply breath.
Always look at the positive side

Look at the big picture, and decide your priorities and what you are aiming for. I believe then you will tick many things off your list and focus on what you really want, and then go for it.

What can managers of work places do to avoid having stressed employees?

 Insure that there is good communication between you and your employee.
 Feedback is extremely important for both checking the productivity of the work and offering praise and support to your employees.
 Delegating work efficiently- insuring that the workload is spread more or less equally between your employees to avoid some workers from over working.
 Accept responsibility for both leadership and management.
 Learn to build and improve workers self-esteem.
 Office interiors- adding simple touches to the office environment can have a major positive effect on your employee’s mental health. (Painting the walls with light colours, yellow is a good one as it is said to improve productivity, putting plants around the office area can also have a positive effect.

A good one is also encourage your employees to decorate their work area with personal pictures, toys and photo frames; it is known that adding personal things to the work area can help them feel less stressed.
In the end insure you meet regularly with your employees on one to one basis, it is at most important that you feedback the good work your active workers are doing, and not let the extra energy they put into their work go unrewarded.