You can't totally avoid stress. Even if you had nothing to do but sit on the porch and watch the grass grow, you would have stress. You would be thinking about the latest military skirmish our government has gotten us into. You would be worried about the government spending the country into bankruptcy. You would worried about steadily increasing crime and if you would become a victim. You would be stressing over the weather and if the lack of rain would cause that grass to turn brown and die. You would be stressing over the fact that you're just sitting on the porch not getting proper exercise and if this would affect your health. There's always something to stress about.
Work loads on even more to worry about. Will that idiot fellow employee that you had an argument with somehow get you fired? Will you get your latest assignment completed on time? Have you made a mistake that hasn't been discovered yet and the boss is going ream you out when it does get discovered? Is business slowing down and management putting your name on the non-essential personnel list for possible layoff? There's always something at work to stress about.
Yes, stress is a normal part of life and work, but too much stress can actually cause health problems. How do you know if you're experiencing too much stress? Below is a list of the signs of too much stress.
• Feeling worried or afraid most of the time
• Feeling depressed and having no interest in life or work
• Having no interest in being with other people
• Felling tired and fatigued but can't sleep
• Can't focus or concentrate
• Muscle tension for no reason
• Headaches and⁄or vision problems
• Stomach problems
How to Deal With Too Much Stress
Most stress is caused by poor time management. Lets face it, if there were no time limits, no deadlines, if you could just let things take forever, there would be no stress. Poor time management results from having too much on your plate and having a life out-of-balance.
The fact is, one man, or one woman, can only do so much. Make a list of all the things that are eating up your time. Which things on your list are things that you must do, and which are things that you should do? Maybe you have a problem saying NO to people who have no respect for your time and for your personal life. Don’t over-commit yourself. Drop things that aren't absolutely necessary.
An individual can accomplish an amazing amount of things if they have balance. When I say balance, I mean physical-mental balance and work-personal life balance. If you're spending a lot of time at work involved in mental activities, use your after-work time involved in physical activities. Each minute of physical activity deletes the stress caused by one minute of mental activity. I know it sounds crazy, but give it a try. It works.
If you're spending a lot of time at work, balance that with social activities, family time, and solitary activities and downtime. Sure working all kinds of overtime may get you a bigger paycheck, but what good is that going to be after you have a nervous breakdown or a stroke? We work to earn money to have a better life, not to have no life.
Regular exercise, especially aerobic exercise, activity that raises your heart rate is a most powerful stress reliever. Even though you may feel tired, get at least 30 minutes of exercise every day. It will increase you energy, sharpen your focus, and relieve stress.
Don't try to relieve stress by pigging out on sugary junk food. Sugar gives you instant energy, but that's all it gives you is an instant of energy. Within minutes it screws up your level of blood sugar and makes you lethargic. To maintain an even level of blood sugar throughout the day eat small but frequent servings of fruits and vegetables.
Don't try to relieve stress with alcohol or smoking tobacco or pot. Alcohol may temporarily reduces stress, but it's actually a toxic poison that leads to liver disease and cancer. Smoking tobacco may temporarily seem calming, but causes many types of cancer, including cancer of the lung, esophagus, kidney, bladder, liver, and many others.
Smoking marijuana may temporarily make you feel mellow, but may studies have proved that marijuana shrinks your brain and makes you stupid, aka pothead. Being stupid is just going to add to your problems and create even more stress.
Thinking about things that happened at work, how you are behind schedule, how you may have screwed something up, what your going to do the next day can prevent you from sleeping at night. You need to calm your mind. Instruct your mind that the best thing it can do now is to forget everything about work and go to sleep. I know it doesn't sound like it will work, but you can actually control your mind. Give it a try. It works.
Stress is a normal part of life and work, but too much stress can cause health problems. To know if you're experiencing too much stress, listen to your body. Listen for the signs of too much stress described in the list shown earlier in this section. Most stress is caused by poor time management. You can eliminate by achieving physical-mental balance and work-personal life balance.
More Success at Work Information:
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• When You Have to Say I'm Sorry
• How to Successfully Manage a Difficult or "Bully" Boss
• Meeting Assignment Requirements at Work
• Techniques - Delegation
• Communicating With Your Boss
• Working on a Team
• How to Deal With Customers
• The Power of Time Management
• How Continuous Learning Increases Your Market Value