Managing Stress At Work

What causes distress is primarily the unrealistic demand on the self, often it is not caused by the amount of work achieved but the little time left to do the work that is still to be done.

When stress are at manageable levels, it tends to work for us by giving us a sense of immediacy that spurs us to work, even makes us excited about ourselves and our tasks. Too much or too little of it and we will not function as effectively as we should.

Stress management is therefore not about eliminating the stress but hitting the balance. Stress management differs from an individual to another because people respond to stress differently. Depending on their point of experiences some people have developed high tolerances for it while some have not. Whatever, learning to manage stress is recognizing what causes it. Outside of professional help, recognizing the origins of stress is the first step to self stress management. It may also be worth noting that there are stresses that develop gradually. It can not be detected until it reaches a critical level and then a breakdown occurs.

Stress management is realizing that there are things that we can not change, there are things that sometimes can be changed, and there are things that we can do something about.

Stress management is also managing the threats that are exposed to us. If the threat can be remedied on, the threat can decrease dramatically. Threats can come in many forms. The possible loss of a job, noise, change of surroundings, relationships going bad, fear, problems with other people and even the things that we imagine can cause stress.

Aside from identifying the things that causes stress, stress management will include a good introspection on how we cope with it. Using our recognized coping mechanism that is helpful is a good start towards stress management. An example of our coping mechanism is how we change it by our actions.

Signs of stress are headaches, indigestion, shortness of breath, change of appetite, fatigue and exhaustion, sleep interruption restlessness, decreased sexual activity, etc.

Stress management will require a good amount of rest, if sleep is not possible immediately, you should relax 1 to 2 hours before your sleeping time. Exercise deep breathing. Get physical exercise, loosen muscles and listen to what your body is telling you.

It will also be very helpful if you start re evaluating yourself and come out with a more realistic expectation. Changing the way you think opens up opportunities for creativity and problem solving.