The corporate environment demands a lot from us, doesn’t it? There are reports to deliver, campaigns to be prepared, people to deal with. On the one hand, it feels good to be useful and to have the ability to increasingly exceed our limits. However, the excess of tasks and tension ends up generating stress at work.
This matter is very serious and has been discussed a lot in recent years, becoming stress is something which is very common in the corporate world, and which is not at all positive. A person who is suffering from stress at work ends up affecting not only their professional performance but also their health and it decreases their quality of life. Stress sufferers begin to show some symptoms such as constant tiredness, excessive sleep or insomnia, muscle tension, changes in appetite, difficulty in attention and concentration and even physical diseases such as hypertension, changes in the immune system, gastritis and heart problems.
The factors that lead people to have stress at work are excessive tasks, difficulties in being able to reconcile personal and professional life, conflicts with team members or even problems with company policy. There are some very effective measures that help to reduce stress at work.
In this article, we are going to discuss how to reduce work-stress and lead a healthy life. Let’s check it out .
Tips to handle work-related stress
- Locate the source of stress – A good recommendation is to keep a diary or take note routinely for a couple of weeks writing all those situations that generate more stress and how we respond to them. The more details you contribute to the context, about what you feel and the people around you, the more you will be able to identify the main sources of stress. It is also important to note how you react to these stressful situations and evaluate which reactions have contributed most to reducing it, such as going for a walk in the open air or going for a snack.
- Establish good relationships with peers – This is the determining factor to be able to tolerate more or less stress. The social network, feeling valued by colleagues, getting support from them at difficult times, and feeling understood in the face of difficulties, is the most powerful human tool to better tolerate what surpasses us. In addition to this, if you have the possibility of sharing about the environment everything that generates a feeling of lack of control, the strategy is even more powerful. If you have good relationships with colleagues, you are fortunate in this regard and will be more resilient when you feel overwhelmed by the circumstances of your work. If you have a team of people, foster good relationships, and look forward to establishing a good working environment among all of them.
- Develop healthy responses – Instead of trying to fight stress with fast food or alcohol, choose healthy options when you feel the tension rise. Exercise is a great stress reliever. Yoga can be a good option and any form of physical activity is always beneficial. Also, make time for your hobbies and what you like to do the most. Whether reading a novel, attending music concerts or enjoying with your family, make sure you have time to do things that give you pleasure. Sleeping well is also important for managing stress. Create healthy sleep habits by limiting caffeine in the afternoon and reducing stimulating activities such as watching TV or using the computer at night.
- Learn to delegate – If you are overloaded with tasks, an option to have a less loaded list is to delegate; but think of the others too, if they are like you, all you will do is change the person problem, but the problem will still exist. The well-understood delegation is not passing tasks that do not feel like doing; rather it is a tool that contributes to organizational growth, helps maturation and the acquisition of new learning. Keep in mind that you should delegate to someone who wants to do the proposed work, time, capacity and knowledge. And when you delegate, assess whether to say how to do things; Keep in mind that with people with initiative and self-confidence, the best way to turn into performance talent is to say what needs to be done, when it has to be done and leave the field to go.
- Take time to rest – To avoid the negative effects of chronic stress and work fatigue we need time to recover and return to the level of performance prior to stress. This recovery process requires ‘disconnecting’ from work activity when it is not working. Whenever possible, take your time to rest so that you can return to work ready to offer your best. When it is not possible to disconnect at least disconnect your phone and focus your attention for a while on activities not linked to work.
- Talk to the boss – Healthy employees tend to be more productive, so your boss has a clear incentive to create a work environment that promotes employee welfare. Start by engaging in an open conversation with your boss. The purpose is not to present a list of complaints but to begin with an effective plan to control those stressful situations that you have identified to be able to do your job better.
Although some areas of this plan should be designed to improve your skills in areas such as time management, other elements could include identifying aspects that make you feel better in your workplace such as clarifying what is expected of you, getting more help of your colleagues, enrich your work with tasks that are challenging or make sense to you or make changes in your physical work environment to make it more comfortable and reduce tensions.
Conclusion
Now that you know how to avoid stress at work, but each of these tips into practice! And take charge of your professional life and be happy with what you do.