Stress can be defined as a set of physiological and psychological reactions experienced by the body when it is subjected to certain demands.

There is a “good” type of stress which stimulates the body to react to normal events. However, stress becomes negative when stimuli, if there are too many of them, go beyond the limits of the person and continue to cause both physical and psychological disorders for some time.

For many people the workplace is a constant source of negative stress, due to increasing demands and the large number of objectives and goals to achieve in a short period of time.

In order to learn to manage work stress in a way that does not harm your health, here’s a number of recommendations which you should follow:

Before you go to work

  • Organize your work day: It is important that every morning, before leaving home, you prepare everything you need to take with you to the office. To do this, you can go over the items you need mentally, and make sure you have everything you need. This will prevent you from having to return home halfway from work, which can logically cause a lot of stress.
  • Get up early: It’s advisable to get up a few minutes earlier than usual to take some extra time to complete your morning chores without rushing.
  • Don’t get distracted in the morning: When you are getting ready to go to work, you should avoid turning on the TV or answering the phone. These activities will distract you and make you late.

At work

Image courtesy of Firesam! at Flickr.com

Image courtesy of Firesam! at Flickr.com

  • Establish a work routine: It is important for you to have a work routine. To do this, you can plan, with the help of a desktop calendar, a weekly and daily work plan. You can even list your pending activities, but make sure that it’s not too long, otherwise it may discourage you, and even cause you negative stress. It is not appropriate to try to do too many things at once.
  • Set priorities and do the essential tasks first: If you work with a list of activities, you can do the most important ones first and even quickly address the tasks you dislike the most, because once you’re done you will feel gratified.
  • Book half an hour each day for unexpected situations: If something unexpected occurs  and you have an extra half hour, you will be able to handle the situation better than if you didn’t have that time.
  • The more tasks you can delegate, the better: You don’t have to do everything yourself. If you can delegate, do so. If you can not delegate, ask for help.
  • Control your phone: If you have to make several calls, try to group them all together. If you don’t want to be bothered, use an answering machine and disconnect the phone.
  • Organize your desk or workplace: If you have a desk full of disorganized papers, you will feel disoriented and stressed. You need to organize your desk, have inboxes, outboxes and to-do lists. You must have pens and refills handy and discard those that are no longer working.
  • Take your time to think: Often, while trying to finish faster, we don’t take the time to analyze and reflect on the work we are doing. This situation may cause more mistakes, which reduces our efficiency and productivity. It is important to take a few moments to think, this will give you the opportunity to act with greater awareness and therefore react in every situation in the most appropriate way. A pause will also allow you to learn to say “no” when needed.
  • Take a break: If you work for hours and hours without stopping, not only will this reduce your skills and ability to concentrate, but it can also harm your health. Many offices have chairs that are not very comfortable, causing workers to maintain a poor posture for several hours. To reduce mental fatigue and the impact of a poor posture, it is important to take breaks at least once every hour. To do so, it’s convenient to get up, stretch and walk around the office. It’s not advisable to eat at your desk. Take your time to eat. This will help you increase your productivity and, in turn, it’ll reduce stress.
  • Avoid nerves near a deadline: to avoid the nerves near a deadline, it is advisable to start the project early and strive consciously every day so that, when the deadline comes, you will have finished the project as quickly as possible. This will help you feel more confident and less stressed.

At home

  • Get disconnected from work: Don’t think that if you bring work home you’ll be more productive because, usually, it’s just the opposite. In many cases, you will feel overwhelmed and stressed. Learn to separate work from home. It is essential to know how to invest your own time with your family. If you spend your leisure time relaxing, you will get back to work feeling renewed and it’ll definitely be worth it.