7 Effective Ways to Manage Work Stress

Work stress is an integral part of your life whether you are an office employee or a remote worker. According to a report presented by the American Institute of Stress, 80% of the employees feel work-related stress. Although experiencing a bit of work stress is normal, the rising of its level beyond normal is troublesome. Elevated stress levels can cause significant damage to your physical, emotional, mental as well as professional health. Thus, it is important for you to manage your work stress levels effectively.

Given below are 7 effective ways of stress management by practicing which you can prevent your work stress levels from rising beyond the normal.

1. Create a Daily Exercise Routine 

‘A sound mind lives in a sound body’. This saying is completely validated by the stress-relieving impacts of exercise. According to the Daily Mail, regular exercise reduces your risk of anxiety and high-stress level by 40%. This is because exercise in almost any form of induces stress-relief. It gives a boost to your feel-good endorphins and distracts you from worries. As you get distracted from worries, your stress level gradually decreases. So, you can take a powerful step towards work stress management by creating a daily exercise routine. In order to create an effective exercise routine, you can use the following tools:

• Workout Apps: Workout Apps convert your smartphone into your mini gym. These apps offer a number of features such as diet tracking, footstep tracking, workout plans, and progress tracking. You can use all these features to create your customized exercise routine. Nike Training Club, Fit On and Map My Fitness are some examples of popular workout apps which you can download both on Android as well as iOS.
• YouTube Videos: There are plenty of Workout Channels available on YouTube. You can search and select the ones which you find suitable. It is not necessary for you to follow only one workout channel; you can follow any number of channels you wish. In fact, it is good if you follow different workout channels every day. This will prevent you from experiencing boredom.

 

2. Inculcate a Habit of Meditation 

Meditation is an excellent technique for stress relief. According to the US National Health Interview 2016, 60% of the meditators who meditate for stress management, say that meditation actually provides them stress relief.  Along with this, a report presented by the project- Meditation also highlighted that meditation reduces anxiety levels by 60%. Thus, you can experience great stress relief with meditation. 

Further, regular meditation empowers your resilience against stress. As a result, you no longer succumb to the damaging impacts of stress. Meditation also helps you in eliminating the constant chit-chat of intruding thoughts which goes on in the mind. As a result, you reclaim back your inner peace.

 In order to meditate, you just have to follow the simple procedure given below:

•         Find a peaceful place to sit, maybe your room, the terrace of your home, or any other peaceful place you know.
•         Sit with your legs crossed and your hands gently placed on your thighs.
•         Close your eyes and focus subtle attention on your breath.
•         Take a few deep breaths and exhale slowly
•         Keep taking long deep breaths and let any intruding thoughts just be
•         Don’t worry if you get flown away with your thoughts. It’s perfectly okay. But, the moment you realize that you have flown away, focus your attention back on your breath.
•         Keep practicing the above-mentioned steps
•         Meditate for as long as you feel like. You can begin with meditating for 10 minutes every day and then increase this duration as you become habitual of meditating.

Further, you can also learn meditation by consulting guided meditation videos available on YouTube.

3. Share Your Concerns

Sharing your concerns with your family and friends is an effective way to find relief from work stress.  A study led by Sara Townsend has proven the same results. According to the study, having specific interaction with a person who genuinely understands your emotions and response, and ideally is also experiencing it at the same time, can provide enormous relief from stress. So, it is important for you to share your work-related worries and concerns with your family and friends.

Further, if you are an introvert and find it hard to share your concerns with others, you can try writing your worries in a diary. By doing so, you give your emotions and feelings a vent out which consequently induces work stress relief.

4. Practice Mindfulness

Mindfulness is the practice of focusing your attention in the now. By doing so, you set your mind free from the thoughts of the past and the anxieties of the future. As a result, work stress relief takes place. In 2010, researchers at Hoffman along with other researchers analyzed 39 studies and concluded that mindfulness can reduce stress. 

Further, you can practice the mindfulness technique at all times during the day. This is because it simply requires you to perform all your actions in the light of consciousness. For example, if you are working on your laptop, then you should try doing it consciously. This implies that you should pay complete attention to how different keys feel on your fingers, the slight sound of typing, and the brightness of your laptop screen.

Your enhanced attention towards all your actions, will gradually bring your mind into the present moment and free you from burdens of past and anxieties of the future.

5. Have Soft Music Therapy

Listening to soft music works well against work stress. This is because soft music creates a therapeutic effect on your mind. As a result, your mind enters a state of thoughtlessness, where all that is left is the sound of the music. This further induces a state of flow in your mind which washes you in deep waves of peace. The same has also been validated by the American Psychological Association. So, by listening to soft music while working or during work breaks, you can take a progressive leap towards work stress management. Further, it is best to listen to meditative or instrumental music while working. 

6. Take Regular Breaks from Work

Working for continuous long hours leads to a significant increment in your work stress level. This is because by working continuously, you deny your mind the time to replenish its productivity. Rather, you keep on exploiting it even when it is no longer in a position to continue working. All this, causes your work stress levels to rise. Thus, it is important for you to take regular breaks from work. For example, you can take a break for five minutes after every 60 minutes of working. Further, you can create your own break strategy but make sure not to take long breaks from work. Doing so can make it really hard for you to focus your mind back on work.

7. Talk to Your Office Friends During Work Breaks

According to the Mayo Clinic, spending time with friends is a great stress reliever. This is because spending time with friends promotes the secretion of Oxytocin in your body. Oxytocin is a happy hormone that brings a reduction in the levels of the stress hormone- Cortisol. As a result, your work stress level lowers down. Thus, it is vital for you to have regular conversations with your friends. For this, you can simply call your office friends during your mini work breaks. Further, make sure not to indulge in long conversations as they may distract you from work.

To conclude, work stress is an integral part of your life. It can act adversely if its level rises beyond the normal. So, it is important for you to manage work stress. You can do so effectively by practicing the different ways of stress management mentioned above.