How to Stay in Control When Your Job Is Stressful
A quarter of Americans view their jobs as the biggest stressor in their lives, according to The American Institute of Stress. The AIS also found that the vast majority of employees – 80% – feel stressed out at work.
All kinds of negative outcomes are more likely when your stress level is high, from feeling tired, having headaches, suffering from back and neck pain, struggling to fall asleep or even reacting negatively to a co-worker.
Because so many jobs are stressful today, it's important to develop some strategies to help you effectively manage stress and anxiety at work. Here are tips on how to do it:
Set Yourself Up for Success With Single-Tasking
In a HealthDay article on multitasking, University of Michigan professor of psychology David Meyer stated, "Multitasking is especially stressful when the tasks are important, as they often are on the job. ... The brain responds to impossible demands by pumping out adrenaline and other stress hormones that put a person 'on edge.'"
Digital multitasking – for example with email, texting, internet surfing and social media messages – was found not only to lead to stress but also to have an indirect effect on anxiety, depression and burnout as well, according to a recent study published in the academic journal Media Psychology.
Knowing the perils of trying to do too many things at once, manage the front end to ensure that your focus stays centered on one thing at a time as often as possible during your workday. Gain awareness of your own habits when it comes to multitasking so that you can do what it takes to make single-tasking more likely. For example, if you usually leave your smartphone on your desk while you're working on your computer and you're distracted by personal texts, alerts and calls, then turn off your phone while you are working or put it out of sight in a drawer.
Find out all the tips at U.S. News.