How To Manage Stress In The Workplace

Today is World Health Day, a day to promote diabetes prevention, strengthen care, and enhance surveillance. We thought we’d take this important day to remind you to stay healthy in all aspects of your lives and give you some insights on how to manage stress in the workplace.

Most people have experienced stress in the workplace. You’re probably experiencing some of it right now, scrolling through a thousand emails each asking you to do a million things in the next half hour. It doesn’t need to be that way though. Too much stress can cause problems, especially if it carries over into your home life (where there’s already enough stress as it is!).

But what causes stress? There are all manner of different triggers, but time pressures, interpersonal conflicts, and hard physical labor are all common factors. As you no doubt see, these go hand in hand with employment! And there are internal factors too, ones that we all create for ourselves: the fear of failure, setting unrealistic expectations of ourselves, even being under-challenged. No matter what, it seems we can’t get away from it.

So, how can you actually manage stress? There are ways of reducing stress, however. Stop thinking “I’ll never manage it”. This sort of outlook, no matter how tempting, doesn’t get us anywhere. You need to encourage yourself, no matter how difficult the obstacles you might be going up against! If something doesn’t work out as planned, don’t freak out. It’s probably not as bad you think right now, and losing your head certainly won’t change the situation.

Time management is another solution. Plan out your tasks to see what’s on your plate and what you’ve already achieved, rather than having everything hang over your head like a workload thunderstorm. You might even want to take up exercise or yoga to relax, get the blood pumping, and release some endorphins.

Okay, okay. The last point isn’t exactly possible in the middle of your workday. But you can still go for a walk in the fresh air or eat a relaxed meal away from the hustle and bustle of the workplace. Perhaps even listen to some relaxing music in between tasks – anything to distract you from all the pressure.

We’re no strangers to stress at simpleshow – we’ve even made a video about it! Take a minute out of your busy schedule and see how you can manage stress in the workplace.