5 Ways to Help You Combat Workplace Stress

With the longer working hours, stress may have reached an all-time high despite the fact that technology is supposed to make work, social and home life easier. The stress most people are feeling and dealing with comes from many sources, like problems at work, concern over deadlines and job security, issues with co-workers and even includes people that are close to them, like friends and family.

The impact of workplace stress goes way beyond just the effects it causes at work; almost all aspects of life can be impacted by the stress you feel on your job. It can impact your performance, relationships with colleagues and your work quality.

To combat the effects of stress, many people turn to prescription medication to manage their stress and its related symptoms like insomnia, emotional problems and nervousness. Some people even turn to metal function enhancing medications like Adderall, which is known for improving working memory, enhancing focus and increasing motivation.

It is much better to turn to some of the natural alternatives to Adderall when you want to ease the symptoms of stress from your workplace. Besides natural medication, we have gathered several other ways to help you combat workplace stress.

Counseling or Group Therapy

Having an experienced professional you can talk to or someone else who also experiences stress can really help you. You can share your thoughts and get advice from others; even just listening to similar stories will provide you relief, because you will know you are not alone. This verbal and emotional support can really help you deal with stress, and in some cases just the fact that someone else understands exactly how you feel, the frustration and everything that comes with that, can be just the thing you needed to cope with stress.

Creative Outlets

You can also try to seek out some creative outlets that will help you to channel and express your feelings. For instance, writing, drawing, coloring, painting or some other creative activity can help you get those feelings out that may be bothering you from the inside and lead to stress. The act of creation will help your cognitive abilities focus on other things and diminish the power of the things that are behind your workplace stress.

Breathing Deeply and Meditating

Often, when you are stressed, your breaths become very fast and shallow and further the physical manifestation of stress. If you take time to breathe slowly and deeply, the natural response of your body will be to calm down. This will push out the stress from you muscles, whereas meditation will help you remove it from the mind. Even if it only lasts one moment, this is a very healthy and helpful benefit to both your body and your mind.

Learn To Relax

Shower, take a bath or nap, these are just some ways to relax your body and your mind, and let all that anxiety that it is time to leave. Even crying and laughing is a stress reliever that will take away the tension and will result in a more relaxed perspective.

Unplug From Electronics

Even though technology is helping us in many ways, it can also be stressful, especially because of the easy access to work emails or messages from your colleagues. You need to try to turn off all of your devices during a certain part of the day. If you are going on vacation, take the opportunity to leave your computer and phone in your room and go out and enjoy yourself.

This does not mean you have to keep them turned off during the entire vacation, because this can stress you out even more. You can start with something like a 2 to 3 hour break from your devices each day and while you are on vacation.

Whether you decide to practice these habits before, during or after working hours, these coping mechanisms can provide you with physical, emotional and mental outlets for the problems and situations at work that are causing you to stress out.

Stress does not have to ruin your work performance, health or personal or professional relationships, so take care of yourself, because this is your responsibility and with some careful planning, you can fight that stress out of your life.

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