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How to deal with stress at work

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Are you struggling to cope with stress?

With April marking Stress Awareness Month, we wanted to share our expertise on managing stress at work. Stress is common in work, and many people who take Calmer’s masterclasses and training courses come to us reporting everything from high-intensity pressure, to long-term, unresolved episodes of stress that lead to burnout.

The reality is that burnout has hit record levels in recent years, and there’s never been a more significant time to educate ourselves on the impact of unresolved stress and explore evidence-based ways to prevent burnout from escalating. In this article, we explore the common signs of stress, how stress manifests, and ways to cope with stress at work.

 

What are the most common signs of stress?

Did you know, there are over 40 ways that you may experience stress? The 20 most common signs of stress are:

  • Lack of energy

  • Muscle tension or pain

  • Overeating

  • Racing thoughts

  • Rapid heartbeat

  • Reduced ability to make decisions

  • Reduced immune system

  • Sleep problems

  • Sweating

  • Under-eating

  • Acne

  • Change in sex drive

  • Chronic pain

  • Constant worry

  • Depression

  • Difficulty concentrating

  • Digestive problems

  • Dizziness

  • Feeling tired all the time

  • Headaches

 

How does stress feel?

Stress manifests itself in different ways in different people, and when connected with different situations. However, you may be feeling stressed at work when you feel:

  • Anxious

  • Fearful

  • Irritable

  • Overwhelmed

Stress can also cause a fight, flight or freeze snap-response to non-threatening situations. This means you may find your heart rate and adrenaline increases when posed with a normal situation, even though there is no evidence of an actual threat - essentially, your body is reacting differently due to the stress you are experiencing.

 

Can stress be a helpful prompt?

Eustress and distress refer to different forms of stress.

The form of eustress is viewed as a proactive form of stress, that gives us motivation, drive, and enables us to achieve a level of high performance - particularly when we overcome a stressful event, we can feel proud of ourselves which therefore benefits our health and emotional wellbeing. In essence, short, manageable bursts of stress can in fact provide a helpful prompt.

However, distress, the challenging form of stress, is what we try to avoid. It can cause any or all of the above symptoms, and an accumulation of stress can lead to problems at work, lack of efficiency with running a business, or issues in your personal life.

 

How to cope with stress at work

No matter how you work - in a team as part of a business, or as an entrepreneur or freelancer - there’s no doubt about it; stress can impact how effective you feel in your work. Depending on your workplace environment, you may or may not feel like it’s possible to talk about your mental health - which is why we are here to support you.

If you would like to take steps to start managing your stress on a regular basis - it is a practice, after all - why not try the following stress management strategies:

Here’s to your inner and outer success,

The Calmer Team