If you're feeling stressed at work, you're not alone. In fact, more than 80% of US workers feel stress when at work. There is good news, however, as there are some simple tips that you can follow to reduce your stress and enjoy your day a little bit more.
1. Take short exercise breaks.
You might feel pressure to never take breaks at all, but taking more frequent breaks can make you more productive, healthier, and even happier.
Workplace stress can cause you to feel anxious, tired, and irritable, in addition to causing physical problems like headaches, upset stomach, and rapid heartbeat. To deal with these symptoms, take a short, brisk walk for ten minutes at least every two hours.
Walking has been shown to trigger neurons in your brain that are responsible for helping soothe your emotions. These neurons help to reduce any stressful feelings, and importantly, also protect you from future stressors. When you return from your walk, you'll be ready to calmly tackle any challenges that might be awaiting you.
2. Stop worrying about things at home.
Sometimes stress felt at the workplace carries over from stress felt at home. If you have a busy household, you might constantly be wondering about what food you have in the fridge, what to cook for dinner, and whether your animals are being taken care of.
To help keep some of these household chores straight, set up a weekly grocery shopping routine and over the weekend plan out your dinners for each day of the week. With this method in place, you won't ever have to worry about running out of kitchen staples or scrambling to get your kids fed after a full day of activities.
To help your animals stay happy and healthy, make sure someone in your house incorporates animal care into their daily routine. If two people always think the other one is doing these chores, then the chores will often be neglected.
Also, consider sending your dogs to a doggy day care such as All Pets Hospital Ltd once or twice a week. You'll feel so content knowing that your dogs will be active and engaged for a whole day while you're gone. Plus, your dogs will likely exhibit calmer behavior after they get home, as they'll have gotten their exercise playing with their pals at school.
3. End each day with positive thoughts.
A great way to end your workday and to maintain a healthy work-life balance is to take a few minutes to recap the accomplishments of your day. Even in days where a lot went wrong, there are always several little things that you can point to as achievements.
For example, most work involves quite a bit of nuanced communication. Despite not closing a deal or achieving your goals on a project, you may have been a cooperative team player or particularly helpful with a difficult client. Acknowledging positive aspects allows you to stay focused towards becoming a better employee and having a more productive day tomorrow.
When you end your day with positive thoughts, you acknowledge to yourself that you have done a good job and that you can leave your work behind you for the day. This can help make sure your stress doesn't come home with you.
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12 November 2014
My name is Katie Langer. For a long time, I was bed ridden and I felt like I had no control over my life. I simply went along with what was instructed by my doctor and I didn't ask questions. It wasn't that my doctor wasn't willing to work with me, but I preferred to simply not think about the illness I was suffering from. I didn't realize that some of the symptoms I was suffering from were side effects of my medication and were not normal. After communicating more with my doctor, I was able to alleviate my symptoms. Since then, I've taken an interest in patient-doctor relationships and how to improve them.
