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Understanding Job Stress and How To Deal With It
By: Trevor Dumbleton
Copyright 2005 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.
About the author:
LowerYourStress.com: for everything to do with stress. Get a
free ebook to help with your stress levels:
http://www.loweryourstress.com/stress-book.html
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