How to Deal with Stress in the Workplace
Stress is an inherent part of many jobs. With deadlines approaching, end-of-year budgets to meet and all manner of daily issues to sort out, excessive stress can creep up on you.
But excess stress is something that is to be avoided at all costs. It can have a deep emotional and physical impact on your wellbeing, as well as increasing the risk of accidents occurring in the workplace; accidents that may require personal injury solicitors, such as First Personal Injury, to get involved.
In order to avoid the build-up of excessive stress in the workplace, there are a couple of coping mechanisms which can truly help to alleviate the problem.
Take care of yourself
When you find yourself stressed out in the workplace, it’s easy to let your health suffer, by skipping meals, ditching exercise or seeking solace in comfort food.
If stress is beginning to creep up on you, one of the most important things that you can do is to make a concerted effort to take care of yourself. Ensure that you eat healthy foods, including plenty of fruit and vegetables; avoid high-sugar foods, as well as excessive caffeine and alcohol. And perhaps most importantly, ensure that you get plenty of sleep.
In addition to ensuring that you maintain a good diet and get sufficient sleep, exercising regularly is also of the utmost importance. Thirty minutes is enough and the release of endorphins that follows will give you a great short-term boost of energy, but it is the longer-term cardiovascular and brain function benefits that should really be coveted.
While exercising regularly, getting enough sleep and a healthy diet may not be magic bullets that are guaranteed to alleviate stress, they ensure that you’re infinitely more capable of dealing with stress as it rears its ugly head.
Don’t get caught in the work treadmill
Stress is a fickle beast, especially in the workplace. Often, feeling stressed is merely a result of feeling overwhelmed with activity. In this regard, it’s important prioritise your work tasks, eliminating or delegating the least important of them.
In any job, there are endless activities that we could use to fill our time. By creating a targeted to-do list on a daily basis and only focusing on the most high-impact tasks, momentum is created and you can focus on the important things, while allowing others to help you on less important tasks.
Don’t be afraid to share
Many people mistakenly believe that admitting that they are stressed shows weakness. And in a competitive working environment, showing weakness is seen to have negative connotations.
It is important to remember, however, that your bosses and your work colleagues are all there to support you, even if they may seem consumed by their own work at times. So, if you’re beginning to feel the pressure, reach out to colleagues of all levels and don’t be afraid to show a little honesty and vulnerability.
The goal of any business is to achieve their specified outcomes. And if a business is going through an unusually busy period, your bosses and colleagues need all the help that they can get. If you’re excessively stressed, however, you’ll be no use to anyone. Be brave, look after yourself and speak to those around you; you may be surprised by the support and understanding that you receive.