How To Reduce Stress In The Workplace

The impact of stress should never be underestimated. The effects of stress on your daily life can be debilitating for both your mental and physical health. One of the most common contributors to the stress we feel in our daily life is stress derived from the workplace. Whether employee or employer managing stress in the workplace is vital. 

One of the first and foremost actions you can take to manage stress in the workplace is to prioritize wellness. Take steps to ensure all aspects of your health take the priority spot, this includes everything from heart health to mental health. Regular exercise coupled with a healthy lifestyle is some of the best defences you can put up against workplace stress.

Regular exercise releases endorphins, or those happy hormones that improve your mood. Fitting in a quick jog before work or spin class in your lunch break can make all the difference to your mood, productivity, and wellbeing. If that’s not possible how about a workplace competition of who can achieve the most steps in a day? Not only will this keep you moving but it will encourage workplace socializing and light-hearted fun. Exercise should then be teamed with healthy habits such as good food, supplements, and rest.  Perhaps avoid the convenience lunch and replace it with pre-prepared fresh food. It does not have to cost a fortune or be overly time-consuming. Try bringing in the leftovers from last night’s dinner or batch cook some easy meals at the weekend to be put into containers and taken to work and reheated when needed. 

Another way to improve your wellbeing and reduce stress is to focus on and encourage socializing. That doesn’t mean taking a long lunch and pushing back your to-do list, that will only add to the stress, but ensuring you are on good and friendly terms with all co-workers will help create a comfortable, trusting, and happy workplace environment. Feeling comfortable at work will do wonders for keeping stress levels low. You will feel more able to raise problems, discuss issues and seek out help where you need it, ultimately reducing stressful situations, and in turn, stress levels. Not to mention the plentiful psychological benefits socializing is proven to provide; such as reduced feelings of loneliness, improved confidence, and memory. 

While taking time to socialize, exercise and rest are of the utmost importance it doesn’t mean that you should overlook the workload itself. To truly keep that workplace stress down you want to ensure you can stay on top of your to-do list. You can do this by staying organized and creating a priority list of everything that has to be done that day. Work through that list consecutively ticking off each accomplished task. This will provide you with the mental boost of successfully achieving each item, each time taking a little bit more pressure off. That said if your list really is too long and you simply cannot complete it don’t be afraid to ask for help or to inform management. Asking for help isn’t something that you should be ashamed of but rather a quality that should be appreciated. By asking for help you are likely to get the help you need and hopefully not be overloaded in the future. What is more, if you over-promise and under-deliver it is only going to add to feelings of incompetence and consequently add to any stress you may be feeling.