This article introduces you to some useful tools that help you understand the sources of stress in your life. It also helps you understand the way you react to stress, so that you can change the way you handle it.
1. Working overtime, cancel vacations.
2. Lack of sleep.
3. Working in an open plan environment.
4. Tension and pain caused by bad, uncomfortable furniture.
5. Background noise.
6. Poor air quality.
7. Bad lighting.
8. The chemicals (Caffeine, Alcohol, Nicotine, Sugar, etc) we put in our bodies.
9. Getting stuck in a traffic jam.
10. Our wrongful reaction to circumstances.
Even though these frustrations are small, each one either triggers a small release of stress hormones into our bodies or reduces our overall sense of happiness.
By managing the small stresses in our life, we can reduce the impact of the major stresses when they occur.
Other research has shown that stress reduces people’s ability to deal with large amounts of information. Both decision-making and creativity are impaired because people are unable to take account of all the information available. This inability accounts for the common observation that highly stressed people will persist in a course of action even when better alternatives are available.
1. Rest, Relaxation and Vacations.
Rest is what we do to let stress subside. Rest at the end of a day and at the end of a week, helps us to calm down. Also, make sure that you get enough good quality rest during the week, so that you can keep on enjoying life to its fullest.
Doing fun things that we enjoy in our leisure time compensates us for the stress we experience at work, bringing some balance back into life. This is particularly important if we routinely experience unpleasant levels of stress.
A good way of getting rest and reducing long-term stress is to take up an enjoyable, non-rushed sport or hobby. Slow physical activities such as sailing or walking are good for this. Reading novels, watching television or socializing can also be very restful.
Vacations are particularly important, and you really do need to take these. Where possible, take two weeks off rather than just one week: A common observation that people make is that they really do not start to relax properly until the end of their first week of vacation.
2. Sleep.
On average, people need around eight hours sleep a night (although this can vary between three hours and eleven hours, depending on the person and his or her age). Make sure you get enough sleep. If you have become used to being tired all the time, you will be amazed by how sharp and energetic you will feel once you start sleeping normally.
When we are stressed and anxious, we can often find it difficult to get to sleep as thoughts keep on whizzing through our heads, stopping us from relaxing enough to fall asleep.
If you find this is the case:
- Make sure that you stop doing mentally demanding work several hours before coming to bed – give your brain time to calm down before you try to sleep.
- Try reading a calming, undemanding book for a few minutes, again to relax your body, tire your eyes and help you forget about the things that are worrying you.
- Write persistent thoughts and worries down in a notebook and then put them out of your mind. Review the notebook in the morning and take action if appropriate.
- Keep the same bedtime. Let your body and mind get used to a predictable routine.
- Cut back on caffeine and alcohol. Some people find that they sleep badly if they drink coffee or cola after 4pm. Others find that if they drink alcohol to excess, they wake up in the middle of the night and cannot get back to sleep.
- Exercise not only improves your health and reduces stress it also relaxes tense muscles and helps you to sleep.
3. Minimizing stress in an open plan offices.
Open plan offices can be immensely distracting when you are doing a job that needs intense concentration. The noise of telephones and of people talking can significantly undermine performance in these jobs. Open plan offices also lack privacy. This is important because it forces people constantly to “maintain appearances”, and to be constantly sociable when they may be more efficient focusing on the job in hand. This requirement for constant sociability can be a source of stress, as people really need to be able to control the level of social activity they participate in, and the way in which they interact.
4. Tension and pain caused by bad, uncomfortable furniture.
Another source of stress is tension and pain caused by bad furniture, or by bad use of good furniture.
Make sure you use a properly designed, properly adjusted chair - otherwise, you're very likely to end up with backache.
If you spend a large part of each day working at a computer, then make sure that the monitor and keyboard are comfortably placed, and that you are well positioned when using both. If you find that tendons in your hands get sore when you type for sustained periods, it may be worth experimenting with a “natural” or ergonomic keyboard. If you find that your eyes get sore when looking at a monitor, or that you start to get headaches, then try taking breaks periodically, and get your eyes tested.
Wherever your environment causes you pain look at what you can do to relieve it. Take the time to arrange your working environment so that it is comfortable
5. Background noise.
Noise can cause intense stress.
Solutions to noise at work can involve:
- Installation of partitions to deaden sound;
- Use of meeting rooms separate from the main work area;
- Use of quiet rooms when concentration is needed;
- And, if all else fails, use of earplugs!
If the layout of your workspace is not in your control, then consider making a well-thought-out suggestion to the person responsible as to how things could be improved. Emphasize the benefits of making the change. If you need personal space but none is available, try blocking off areas with furniture, screens or blinds. If noise is an issue, then padded screens and plants can help to muffle it. Make sure that you explain to your co-workers why you are doing this; after all you don’t want them to think that you are avoiding their company!
6. Air quality.
Poor air quality is more insidious as an issue. While people tend to notice obvious problems with atmospheric pollution, they are often unaware of the negative effect of invisible and odorless pollutants like Carbon Monoxide.
Long-term studies in polluted cities have shown that admissions to hospitals for psychiatric illness increase as Carbon Monoxide and Nitrogen Dioxide levels increase. High levels of atmospheric pollutants can damage people's ability to concentrate. Similarly, lack of ventilation can deplete oxygen in the air, and can lead to headache, tiredness and reduced concentration.
You can do a number of things to improve air quality and reduce the stress caused by it:
- Ban smoking
- Open windows
- Use an ionizer. This helps to freshen the air by eliminating positive ions created by, for example, electric motors powering computer fans.
- Use dehumidifiers where humidity is a problem.
- Introduce plants where the air is too dry. Evaporation of water from the plant pots or from the plants themselves will help to raise humidity. Not only do plants raise the amount of oxygen in the air and reduce stuffiness, they also help to absorb pollutants in the air.
- Keep drinking water on hand so that you do not get dehydrated.
7. Improving lighting.
Bad lighting can cause a strain on your eyes and increase fatigue.
Most people are happiest in bright daylight. In fact, this may trigger a release of chemicals in the body that bring a sense of emotional wellness. Try experimenting with working by a window or using full-spectrum bulbs in your desk lamp.
8. Managing Chemical Stress.
If you eat a good, well-balanced diet, you should be able to minimize this sort of chemical stress. With a little forethought, you can make sure that your body receives all the nutrients it needs to function effectively. Avoid extensive use of:
Caffeine:
Caffeine is a stimulant. One of the reasons we drink it is to raise our levels of arousal, particularly at the start of the day. If you drink many cups of coffee a day, then you may become twitchy, hyperactive and irritable. You may find that you can eliminate a lot of stress by switching to a good decaffeinated coffee (or an alternative).
Alcohol:
In small amounts, alcohol may help you relax. In larger amounts, it may increase stress as it disrupts sleep, reduces your effectiveness, and possibly harms working relationships. Large amounts of alcohol over a long period of time will damage your body. Be aware of this, and keep your alcohol consumption under control.
Nicotine:
While in the very short term, nicotine can cause its users to relax, its toxic effects raise your heart rate and stress your body. If you smoke, try taking your pulse before and after a cigarette, and notice the difference: You will probably see your pulse rate increase. After the initial period of giving up smoking, most ex-smokers report feeling much more relaxed than they did beforehand.
Sugar:
Sugar-rich foods can raise energy in the short term. The problem with this is that your body copes with high levels of sugar by secreting insulin, which reduces the amount of sugar in your blood stream. Insulin can persist and continue acting after it has controlled blood sugar levels. This can cause an energy dip.
Getting help when you need it
We all have networks of people who can help us solve problems. This network extends professionally and socially, as well as including our family and public services.
These people can give help and support in a wide variety of ways, including:
- Physical assistance: This can be financial or direct help, or provision of useful resources.
- Political assistance: Other people can use their influence and personal networks on your behalf to help with the situation, for example, by persuading other people to move deadlines, change what they are doing or help directly.
- Information: People may have information that helps in the situation or solves the problem, or may have personal experience that can help you
- Problem solving: Similarly, they may be able to help you to think through how to solve the problem. Just explaining a problem clearly to someone else can bring a problem into focus so that the solution is obvious. Alternatively, other people may have problem solving skills you do not have, or may just be fresh and unstressed enough to see good alternatives.
- Reassurance: People can also give emotional support and reassurance when you may be starting to doubt yourself, can help you put problems into context or can help you find solace elsewhere. Others can cheer you up when you are feeling down.
When you are under pressure, make sure that you ask for help when you need it.
Negative thinking
In many cases, situations do not cause all of the stress that we experience. Sometimes, our reaction to circumstances (and what we say to ourselves about them) contributes to the stress we experience.
Most of the time we are overly harsh and unjust to ourselves in a way that we would never be with friends or co-workers. You are thinking negatively when you fear the future, put yourself down, criticize yourself for errors, doubt your abilities or expect failure. Negative thinking can damage confidence, harm performance and paralyze mental skills.
Unfortunately, negative thoughts have a tendency to flit into our consciousness, do their damage and then flit back out again, with their significance having barely been noticed. Since we barely notice these negative thoughts, we do not challenge them properly, which means they can be completely incorrect and wrong.
Awareness is the process by which you observe your thoughts and become aware of what is going through your head. Do not suppress any thoughts. Instead, just let them run their course while you make note of them.
As you notice negative thoughts, write them down and then let them go.
Examples of common negative thoughts might be:
- Fear and self-criticism over quality of your performance or of problems that may interfere with it;
- Worries about how you appear to others
- Dwelling on the negative consequences of a poor performance;
- Feelings of inadequacy.
Thought awareness is the first step in the process of eliminating negative thoughts: You cannot counter thoughts that you do not know you think.
The next step in dealing with negative thinking is look at every thought you wrote down and rationally challenge it. Ask yourself whether the thought is reasonable. Would your friends or mentors agree with the thought or disagree with it?
Once you identify incorrect negative thinking, it is useful to prepare rational, positive thoughts and affirmations to counter these negative thoughts.
Positive affirmations help you to build self-confidence and change negative behavior patterns into positive ones. By basing your affirmations on the clear, rational assessments of fact that you made using Rational Thinking, you can use them to undo the damage that negative thinking may have done to your self-confidence.
Other Ways of Relaxing
There are many other ways of relaxing, and different people need different approaches.
When you are stressed, remember to give yourself "treats". Do the things you enjoy and see the people you like. Meditation and listening to relaxation tapes can help you calm down and relax. Its good to make relaxation a regular part of your daily routine. Health spas offer many treatments targeted at relaxation. Times spend with friends and family can be very satisfying. And there are many forms of entertainment that you can enjoy, sports and hobbies that you can participate in. This is not self-indulgent: It is an important part of keeping you functioning effectively and avoid the problems of burnout, anxiety and depression that come with intense, sustained stress.
Taking frequent effective exercise is one of the best physical stress-reduction techniques available. Exercise not only improves your health and reduces stress caused by unfitness, it also relaxes tense muscles and helps you to sleep.
Exercise has a number of other positive benefits you may not be aware of:
- It improves blood flow to your brain, bringing additional sugars and oxygen that may be needed when you are thinking intensely.
- When you think hard, the neurons of your brain function more intensely. As they do this, they can build up toxic waste products that can cause foggy thinking (you may have experienced the feeling that your brain has "turned to cotton wool"). By exercising, you speed the flow of blood through your brain, moving these waste products faster.
- Exercise can cause release of chemicals called endorphins into your blood stream. These give you a feeling of happiness and positively affect your overall sense of well-being.
There is also good evidence that physically fit people have less extreme physiological responses when under pressure than those who are not. This means that fit people are more able to handle the long- term effects of stress, without suffering ill health or burnout.
Big part of living a healthy lifestyle is making sure that your environment is pleasant.
If your living or working environment is bad, or you have a bad commute, then you can often improve your lifestyle by changing where you work or where you live.