Stress In The Workplace
June 23, 2008
According to the Australian Council of Trade Unions’ (A.C.T.U.) 1997 survey, fifty per cent of workers had suffered some form of stress at work in a 12-month period. The statistics in care professions were even higher, with the Department of Education and Training in Western Australia reporting in its 2002 Attitudes To Teaching Survey that seventy per cent of teachers identified workplace stress as a cause for concern in their teaching positions.
Stress in the workplace is becoming a major concern for employers, managers and government agencies, owing to the Occupational Health and Safety legislations requiring employers to practice ‘duty of care’ by providing employees with safe working environments which also cover the psychological wellbeing of their staff.
One of the costs, for employers, of work place stress is absenteeism, with the A.C.T.U. reporting that owing to stress, nearly fifty per cent of employees surveyed had taken time off work. Other negative effects were reductions in productivity, reduced profits, accidents, high rates of sickness, increased workers’ compensation claims and high staff turnover, requiring recruiting and training of replacement staff.
How To Stress Less and Smile More-The Six Fundamental Steps To Improved Health
June 7, 2008
More than two-thirds of visits to doctors’ surgeries are for stress-related illnesses. Stress has been linked to headaches, backaches, insomnia, anger, cramps, elevated blood pressure, chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia and lowered resistance to infection.
For women, stress is a key factor in hormonal imbalances resulting in menstrual irregularities, PMS, fibroids, endometriosis and fertility problems. Stress can also be a factor in the development of almost all disease states, including cancer and heart disease; the leading cause of death in Australian women.
In most cases stress is a result of letting life get out of balance. This happens when we put all our energy into only one or two areas of our life (usually work) and ignore the rest. We take on too much, over-promise, don’t delegate and push our own wants and needs into the background by always looking after others needs first. We overload ourselves to the point where we are forced to stop attending to what is important to us, such as time for our interests and time to spend with our families.
If stress is a major issue for you there are steps you can take to restore balance to your life - so you can stress less and smile more.
Stress Management Shouldnt Create More Stress. 10 Ways To Reduce Unreasonable Stress and Boost Perf
May 23, 2008
We all know that stress levels in the workplace are reaching unreasonable levels. And most sensible human beings will agree that we have to take action to fix this problem.
However, some government agencies and, I must say, some consultants are all for creating yet another paper and theoretical exercise that will have little benefit to the employees or the business. Managers don’t need lectures on how too much stress diminishes people’s creativity and productivity, increases absenteeism, extended sick leave and can result in tribunal payouts of tens or hundreds of thousands of pounds. Managers want assistance not lectures.
Do whatever you can to escape the form filling that supposed ensure you meet certain "stress management standards". Avoid like the plague what are now being called "stress risk assessments". These will require the resources of a full time employee and lead to even more stress!
Rather concentrate on straightforward and easily applied measures to reduce stress and at the same time show employees and regulatory authorities and legal courts that your organisation does stake stress seriously.
Here are just ten you could start with.
Stress Management Techniques
May 10, 2008
Self-Care Strategies:
Substantial breakfast daily Regular sleeping habits (minimum of 7 hours) No smoking Moderate use of alcohol, caffeine and other drugs Minimal intake of sugar & highly processed foods Maintenance of proper weight Regular exercise program Drink much more water than you usually do.
Relaxation Techniques:
Jog in place or do jumping jacks-count to 300 Roll head and torso from side to side Tense your muscles individually, then relax them Pull seat of chair for 5-count: repeat with legs xtended Take a deep breath to count of 4, exhale to 4, and repeat 4 times Massage your forehead or temples; repeat the word "calm" Try to walk at least 10,000 steps a day. Walk off your worry. Meditate for 20 minutes Listen to music and close your eyes Take a power nap. Train yourself to sleep for 12 minutes.
Time Management:
Decide what your time is worth. Hire some tasks done. Learn to delegate. You don’t have to do or supervise everything. Set priorities. Invest your time in the thing that will give you the highest return on your investment. Plan your day according to energy levels. Manage the paper tiger. Try to handle paper only once.
Entertaining Without Stress
April 24, 2008
Let’s face it. If you are stressed, agitated and flitting about, your guests will be uncomfortable and won’t be able to relax. Here is an easy test of how well you are doing. How many times do your guests ask if there is anything they can do to help? It is reasonable that guests may ask when they first arrive but if you hear the question over and over again, you are doing something wrong.
The Top 10 Steps to DeStress
April 9, 2008
Do you feel tense and anxious at work? Do your co-workers and/or boss make you crazy? Is your personal life less than blissful? If so, you’ve got stress. If you’re like most people you’ve sought refuge from this situation by trying a quick fix or two like calling a friend, walking the dog, or going away for the weekend in an attempt to escape it all. While these strategies may serve as temporary diversions, nothing in your life changes when you return to your routine.
Stress is internal, which explains why it can wreak havoc on your health. It feels awful…it’s the sense that you’re not in control. The easiest way to mitigate its effect is to take charge of the one and only thing you have the power to control…YOU, and let go of what you can’t control. The beauty of this recipe is that by taking control of your life, external or outside things will change in response to your internal changes. Here are 10 steps to destress for your present and future:
1. Heal yourself.
Eldercare/Caregiving Stress–Managing Holidays
March 25, 2008
Caring for a chronically ill loved one can be one of life’s greatest challenges, but during holidays, when even more responsibilities are added to an already stressful schedule, caregivers can often feel guilty and frustrated for not being able to accomplish all the tasks they once did. Additionally, fond memories of past holidays, when a loved one was still healthy, can create a downward spiral with feelings of loss and sadness.
More than fifty million people, one in every five Americans, help loved ones who can no longer help themselves. But when caring for another, a caregiver often neglects their own well-being, oftentimes not even seeing themself as a caregiver, but simply as a loving family member.
STEPS CAREGIVERS CAN TAKE TO REDUCE STRESS AND ENJOY HOLIDAYS
* Take Care of You: You can’t be an effective caregiver if you are so stressed that you get sick too. As hard as it is to find the time and motivation, realize that it’s imperative that you nurture yourself.
-Eat healthy: set limits on high fat and processed foods, caffeine and too many sugar-laden treats that can increase fatigue.
-Exercise often: take a walk, stretch, lift weights, do isometrics.
Technology and Stress- How to Prevent Technology From Taking Over Your Life
March 9, 2008
1. 5-minute rule. How many times do we say, "This will only take 5 minutes" and it ends up taking 20 minutes, making you late for an appointment or client! Anytime you think that something will take you 5 minutes, add on 10-15 minutes.
2. Remember, the news will always be there. You don’t need to print out every article you find over the internet! There will ALWAYS be information out there, so try not to worry that if you throw out this article, all is lost. You can always conduct research at a later date. Avoid paper/clutter build up.
3. Find one planner that works for you. Don’t buy an electronic planner just because you think you should have one or because everyone else has one! If your thinking flows easily typing in a keyboard, you’re more likely to look for something through a word search than trying to remember where it is, and you don’t need a visual overview of a month or week to picture it, then you may prefer an Electronic planner.
7 Tips to Help You De-stress & Handle Your Problems
February 26, 2008
Life would be so wonderful if it weren’t for other people. Let’s face it, people will upset you. They will say things that will hurt your feeling.
And no matter how well you plan, problems and challenges will pop up. You will be stressed out. But it’s your responsibility to do something to feel better.
Here are 7 tips that can help you right away:
1) Don’t just sit there. Move! According to many psychologists, motion creates emotion. You might notice that when you are idle, it’s easier to become depressed. Your heart rate slows down, less oxygen travels to your brain, and you are slumped somewhere in a chair blocking air from reaching your lungs.
I challenge you right now, regardless of how you are feeling, to get up and walk around at a fast tempo. Maybe you might want to go to an empty room and jump up and down a little bit. It may sound silly but the results speak for themselves. Try it now for a few minutes. It works like magic.
Why Stress Management Programmes Don?t Work
February 10, 2008
Why Stress Management programmes don’t work?
It seems that every week there’s yet another report telling us how serious the problem of Stress is becoming ? how many working days are lost (anything between 6.5 million and 90 million days depending on whose report you read), how much it costs industry, what percentage of workers experience Stress, and so on. And despite the publicity, nothing seems to be changing. If anything, Stress seems to be becoming even more widespread, and at an alarming rate.
So why are things getting worse instead of better, and why don’t Stress Management programmes seem to work?
From an individual perspective, managing Stress is a bit like getting fit. There are people whose idea of getting fit is to walk down to the bookshop, buy a book on fitness and exercise, take it home and read it? and do nothing. Or even worse, not even walk to the bookshop at all but buy it on the Internet! People can only get fit by exercising ? getting fit means taking action.
