Practical Ways to Reduce Stress at Work

Stress at work is one of the most common types of stress we all face. The only difference is because it is at our workplace we may feel we have little or no control over it. There are some practical ways of reducing or eliminating stress in the workplace that you have control of.

Step 1 - Identify the Stressor

You may or may not know the cause of the stress you are feeling. If you don't know or if you suspect multiple causes a good way to figure this out is to keep a journal. Make note of when you are stressed and what happened immediately before you started having these feelings. Also make note of the people or person that was around. You may also notice a trend in it being a certain day or a certain time of day. It can also be linked to an event, such as the monthly office meeting. Make note of your feelings and times of all of these so you can best identify how to handle them.

Step 2 - Accept the Role You Play

First, are you in denial about the stress and tell yourself that its only temporary and will go away even though you've been on edge for months and don't remember the last time you slept well? Do you tell yourself that stress is just a part of where you work and it can't or won't ever be different? Do you blame it entirely on your co workers and not accept any part of it as a possible problem you are creating? You must accept all of this to be able to deal with the stress.

Step 3 - How Do You Cope Now?

The methods you are using to cope with the stress now may actually be adding to the stress without you knowing it. Using pills, drugs or alcohol to relax will have an affect on your work performance and can bring on more problems for you. Procrastination on making decisions you may need to make involving work will bring on stress. Lashing out at co workers or doing busy work to avoid them will add to the stress also. On the other hand, you can't avoid co workers or projects as that will also bring on stress.

Step 4 - Dealing With Stress

While there aren't individual answers for specific work issues or problems there are 4 ways of dealing with basically any stressful situation at work or at home. They are; Avoid, Alter, Adapt and Accept. These words basically speak for themselves. If you can't avoid the person who sits next to you and drives you crazy then you will have to alter your reaction to them, or ask them to alter their behavior as you find it distracting and stressful. Only you can control that reaction. You may also have to adapt to that person and tell yourself that person doesn't know any better or is a compulsive complainer or jokester. In the end, most likely in an office situation, you will have to accept the person and just move on mentally.

Practical things you can do is watch the amount of caffiene you drink daily as it can have an irritating affect on you. Get a good nights sleep every night so you're not tired. If possible, go for a walk on your lunch hour and enjoy some sunshine and fresh air and people. Eat a healthy lunch consisting of fruit and vegetables and good lean protein.