Stress is our body’s response to pressure. Many different situations or life events can cause stress. It is often triggered when we experience something new, unexpected or that threatens our sense of self, or when we feel we have little control over a situation. We all deal with stress differently. Our ability to cope can depend on our genetics, early life events, personality and social and economic circumstances.

Stress has been defined in different ways over the years. Originally, it was conceived of as pressure from the environment, then as strain within the person. The generally accepted definition today is one of interaction between the situation and the individual. It is the psychological and physical state that results when the resources of the individual are not sufficient to cope with the demands and pressures of the situation. Thus, stress is more likely in some situations than others and in some individuals than others. Stress can undermine the achievement of goals, both for individuals and for organisations. Signs of stress can be seen in people's behaviour, especially in changes in behaviour.

When we encounter stress, our body produces stress hormones that trigger a fight or flight response and activate our immune system. This helps us respond quickly to dangerous situations. Sometimes, this stress response can be useful: it can help us push through fear or pain so we can run a marathon or deliver a speech, for example. Our stress hormones will usually go back to normal quickly once the stressful event is over, and there won’t be any lasting effects. Whatever your work demands, there are steps you can take to protect yourself from the damaging effects of stress, improve your job satisfaction, and bolster your well-being on and off the job.

According to a psychologist, stress isn’t always bad. A little bit of stress can help you stay focused, energetic, and able to meet new challenges in the workplace. It’s what keeps you on your toes during a presentation or alert to prevent accidents or costly mistakes. But in today’s hectic world, one of the factors of extreme stress is workplace environment. the workplace too often seems like an emotional roller coaster. Long hours, tight deadlines, and ever-increasing demands can leave you feeling worried, drained, and overwhelmed. And when stress exceeds your ability to cope, it stops being helpful and starts causing damage to your mind and body—as well as to your job satisfaction. Sometimes, overly stressed employees may become reluctant to participate in teamwork. Poor work performance and impulsive actions are commonplace. Unfortunately, such long-term stress is all too common. You can’t always avoid the tensions that occur on the job. Yet you can take steps to manage work-related stress.

Secondly, unclear work or conflicting roles and boundaries can cause stress, as can having responsibility for people. The possibilities for job development are important buffers against current stress, with under promotion, lack of training, and job insecurity being stressful. There are two other sources of stress, or buffers against stress: relationships at work, and the organisational culture. Managers who are critical, demanding, unsupportive or bullying create stress, whereas a positive social dimension of work and good team working reduces it.

An organisational culture of unpaid overtime or “presenteeism” causes stress. On the other hand, a culture of involving people in decisions, keeping them informed about what is happening in the organisation, and providing good amenities and recreation facilities reduce stress. Organisational change, especially when consultation has been inadequate, is a huge source of stress. Such changes include mergers, relocation, restructuring or “downsizing”, individual contracts, and redundancies within the organisation.

Other common factors tend to go hand-in-hand with work-related stress. Some common workplace stressors are low salaries, excessive workloads, few opportunities for growth or advancement, work that isn’t engaging or challenging, lack of social support, not having enough control over job-related decisions, conflicting demands or unclear performance expectations, fear of being laid off, more overtime due to staff cutbacks, pressure to perform to meet rising expectations but with no increase in job satisfaction, pressure to work at optimum levels and all the time, lack of control over how you do your work.

It is obvious that when you feel overwhelmed at work, you lose confidence and may become angry, irritable, or withdrawn. Other signs and symptoms of excessive stress at work include, feeling anxious, irritable, or depressed, apathy, loss of interest in work, problems sleeping, fatigue, trouble concentrating, muscle tension or headaches, stomach problems, and social withdrawal employee’s mental health; however, its effects don’t stop there.

Chronically stressed employees suffer from a wide range of harmful effects, including headaches, exhaustion, slow reaction times, forgetfulness, difficulty making decisions, anxiety, depression etc.Research shows that extreme pressure in the workplace can hamper productivity and motivation.

Somehow, we have some tips / steps to manage stress at work. One can beat workplace stress by simply sharing his/ her stress with someone close to him/her, turning to co-workers for support, leaning on their friends and family members, building new satisfying friendships, supporting their health with exercise and nutrition, making time for regular exercise, making smart, stress-busting food choices, minimizing sugar and refined carbs, reducing their intake of foods that can adversely affect their mood, avoiding nicotine, improving the quality of their sleep by making healthy changes to their daytime and nightly routines. Further, stress can be released by prioritizing and organizing the tasks by creating a balanced schedule, leaving earlier in the morning, planning regular breaks, establishing healthy boundaries.

Stress at work shouldn’t be a regular thing. Increasingly, the demands on the individual in the workplace reach out into the homes and social lives of employees. Long, uncertain or unsocial hours, working away from home, taking work home, high levels of responsibility, job insecurity, and job relocation all may adversely affect family responsibilities and leisure activities. This is likely to undermine a good and relaxing quality of life outside work, which is an important buffer against the stress caused by work. In addition, domestic pressures such as childcare responsibilities, financial worries, bereavement, and housing problems may affect a person's robustness at work.

Thus, a vicious cycle is set up in which the stress caused in either area of one's life, work or home, spills over and makes coping with the other more difficult.

In our society, women are especially likely to experience these sources of stress, since they still carry more of the burden of childcare and domestic responsibilities than men. In addition, women are concentrated in lower paid, lower status jobs, may often work shifts in order to accommodate domestic responsibilities, and may suffer discrimination and harassment.

Eventually, it’s crucial to look after your own personal needs and set aside ‘me-time’ regularly to prevent burnout. Spend time with your loved ones outside work, and prioritize time for rest.

Published in The Daily National Courier, November, 16 2022

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