How to Survive a Stressful Work Environment?
Being a working professional, you may have, at different times of your career, felt the pressure of work that in no time turns into what is commonly known as work stress.
Today, workplace stress has become a norm for most individuals, especially the ones working in fast-paced industries. I believe that the ever growing competition among businesses and individuals within an organization is majorly responsible for giving life to a stressful work environment.
While some people are naturally good at coping with stress, others have to take action to sidestep the excessive tension at work that can lead to chronic or long-term stress.
Here, I will be shedding light on various aspects of workplace stress, including reasons for its existence, consequences, and effective ways to deal with it.
Common Reasons for Workplace Stress
While the factors that give rise to stress at the workplace are quite large in number, the following are the ones that are the most common:
- Too much workload
- Lack of social interaction
- Inadequate compensations
- Bad work management
- Absence of appreciation
- Toxic work culture
Repercussions of Holding Stress for a Protracted Period
No matter how normal it feels to be stressed at work, the consequences of long-term stress are going to affect you in one way or another. Furthermore, the effects of stress can be physical or psychological, and you need to understand that chronic stress is only going to put you in bad shape.
To bring some clarity, here are some of the consequences that you may experience due to the stress prevailing in your workplace.
- Low Productivity
The excessive amount of work or the stringent deadlines can overwhelm you and your productivity graph is likely to witness a sharp dip. When you are assigned tasks that you can’t complete within the defined time limit, you tend to get demotivated and your productivity suffers. Moreover, it is also possible that stress pushes you to work beyond your limits, which will result in burnout.
- Mood Swings
Stress is one of the key factors that induce mood swings is people. If you are undergoing stress for a considerable period, chances are high that you will go through mood swings that can disrupt not only your office life but your personal life too. Abrupt emotional changes indicate that you are going through mood swings.
- Falling Sick Too Often
Another major issue that you have to deal with due to stressful work life is getting sick frequently. Stress weakens your immune system and you will observe that you become more prone to diseases and your recovery time is higher than usual. Furthermore, stress also brings about chemical imbalances in your body that will lead to many problems such as headaches, stomach upset, acne, and hair fall.
- Sadness and Depression
According to WHO, more than 264 million individuals throughout the world are suffering from depression. Additionally, you should know that stress and depression have a relationship that you simply can’t ignore. When it comes to the office, if you are unable to leave behind all the workplace stress after leaving your cubicle, then the same stress can possibly escalate into depression and sadness. Low energy levels, anxiety, negative thoughts, etc. are some of the indicators of depression that you should look out for.
- Feeling Agitated and Angry
One more thing that becomes apparent when you are under stress at work is getting angry or agitated in a snap. This can cause you to have arguments with your colleague too often and damage your professional relationships. Moreover, you can become aggressive and people are not going to feel comfortable around you.
Tips to Recuperate Yourself From Overbearing Work Stress
- Identify What Is Bothering You
When you are feeling stressed at your office, it means that there are certain things that trigger the stress in you.
Is it the excessive workload? Conflict with a colleague or supervisor? Unrealistic expectations?
It’s important to know what exactly is making you feel tense and worried at the workplace. By identifying the root cause of your stress, efforts can be directed in the right direction to curb down the stressors affecting your performance.
- Take a Break to Relax and Recharge Yourself
Getting too involved in work that you forget to take breaks is what you need to avoid.
While you are at the office, you need to take short breaks throughout the day, say every couple of hours, to relax your body as well as your brain.
A typical short break should last between 5–10 minutes and during this time you can take a short walk in your office corridor, grab a drink, meditate, or simply sit back and relax.
Additionally, planning short trips on weekends is also a good measure to come out of the stress and get back to work with a better state of mind.
One critical thing to keep in mind while on any type of break is that you need to switch yourself off from work by not engaging or thinking about the work that you have to accomplish afterward.
- Schedule Your Day
Picking any random task and starting to work on it is not the best way to keep yourself on top of your work.
This way tends to bring you in a situation where you have either missed the deadlines of important tasks or the time left for such tasks is inadequate. The end result — increased stress.
So, what you need to do is to schedule your daily or weekly work in a smart way and emphasize proper time management.
Not every task demands the same level of your attention or is equally important to other tasks. Consequently, you need to prioritize tasks and schedule the most important or the ones with strict deadlines on top of your to-do list.
This way, you can make sure that you can direct your efforts to complete tasks on time.
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- Stop Being Hard on Yourself
One of the most important that you need to do is respect yourself and your efforts.
If you have been assigned tasks that are just impossible to accomplish in a single day, it doesn’t mean that your skills are questionable. Over that, there’s no need to feel guilty or being hard on yourself for not meeting the expectations of others.
Sometimes, things are just beyond your control and you need to accept this fact gracefully.
All you need to do is to try giving your best during work hours and leave office space with no regrets for the unaccomplished work or things like that.
- Share Your Emotions with Someone You Trust
It’s good not to open up to everyone you know. However, not sharing your emotions and feelings about work or your mental state with anyone is a pathway that leads to stress.
So, it’s good to have someone, be it your friend, your family member, or even your supervisor, with whom you can share what you are going through.
By having a good cordial relationship with your manager or supervisor, you can easily communicate the stressors that are bothering your work with them.
Also, it’s important to socialize with colleagues and people outside the office to get all the help and support you need to live a happy life. After all, sharing is caring!
- Make Exercising a Habit
Physical activity is a must for you, especially if you have a job role where you need to stick to your office chair and desk throughout the work hours.
As you may be aware of the fact that exercise helps your body to stay energetic and is a vital part of a healthy lifestyle.
However, one more thing about exercising that you may be missing is that it can help to relieve stress.
When you exercise, your body starts producing endorphins, which helps you to feel good and counteract stress.
Regular exercise has other benefits too, including elevated self-confidence, improved sleep, and good mood.
- Focus on Eating Healthy
Have you ever considered your diet as a stress buster?
Well, if you haven’t, now is the best time to take your eating habits more seriously.
You may be interested in knowing that a healthy diet plays a vital role in stress management and your overall well-being.
Following a healthy diet means you eat nutritious foods that are particularly rich in nutrients, including Vitamin C, Carbohydrates, Magnesium, and Omega-3 fatty acids.
You should follow healthy diet plans and can consult a dietician for the same. Moreover, you need to avoid eating junk food to keep your stress level under check.
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To Sum it Up
It’s quite common to get stressed when you have the work pressure that goes beyond your control. Fortunately, the ways that I’ve mentioned above are effective when it comes to surviving a stressful work environment.
Ending the article with a very powerful quote related to the stress, which is put into words by Andrew Bernstein — “ Remember that stress doesn’t come from what’s going on in your life. It comes from your thoughts about what’s going on in your life.”
I hope it will help.
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