India 18 July 2016: Stress creates anxiety and anxiety creates disorder which is harmful for a normal human life. Stress when clubbed with obsessive compulsive disorder makes the person unmanageable and is on border line personality disorder. In today’s world when compared with medieval era the stress level was not too high. In earlier days the performance of the person was the only key factor which was taken seriously but in today’s world the performance is clubbed with competition, excellence, organisation, technology, education, administration and execution. This has brought major health issues due to stress and pressure of performance in a person’s daily life. Today’s human being compare itself to a robotic life. The leadership quality is no more to be seen. Becoming a boss in every field and trying to do the things alone and not taking the help of teammates has proven to be a major disaster not only in personal life it brings also a chaos in the professional life too.
Stress is also felt in educational sector too whether they are school going students, doctorate students, research students have felt massive anxiety attacks due to overwhelming stress in their life. Students are not able to cope up with the pressure which they face daily in schools, colleges at home with tutors etc. The parents and the teachers continuously keep a vigilant watch on the children and which has led them to all work no play. The students have started facing many health issues such as major depressive disorders, suicidal tendencies, bi polar disorders which has hampered their performances and has forced them to remain in their own respective shells. The students are not able to open up their feelings with parents, teachers and tutors. They remain in their own world and the competition around them kills their performance. Even if they want to come out from their respective shells, the busy world where there near and dear can’t provide quality time to them hence the students are not counselled on regular basis.
The ability to deal with the stress can mean the difference between the success and the failure in the work. Stress is not always bad, stress if felt in comfort zone of the person it can help the individual to meet new challenges in the work place. It keeps us on the toes during the presentation or alert to prevent accidents or costly mistakes at work. But in today’s hectic world long tiring hours, tight deadlines and increasing demands leaves the person worried, uncertain and overwhelmed by the stress. When stress exceeds our comfort zone area it stops being helpful and start causing major damage to our mind and body as well as to our job satisfaction, but no matter what we do for a living, how stressful our job is, there are plenty of things that can reduced overall stress level and regain our sense of control on the work.
Symptoms of stress at work
When we are overwhelmed by the work, we lose confidence, become angry, irritable or withdrawn. Other signs and symptoms are such as:
1. Feeling anxious, irritable, or depressed.
2. Apathy, loss of interest in work.
3. Problems sleeping
4. Fatigue
5. Trouble concentrating
6. Muscle tension or headaches
7. Stomach problems
8. Social withdrawal
9. Loss of sex drive
10. Using alcohol or drugs to cope
Causes of excessive stress in our life
• Eye hawk on team’s performance every time creates anxiety.
• Fear of being laid off.
• Fear of being super succeeded by the competent colleague.
• Recession in the market
• Competition and e shopping has brought a lot of turbulence in the industry.
• Pressure to perform to meet rising expectations but with no increase in the job satisfaction.
• More over time due to staff cut backs.
• Pressure to work at optimum levels of all time.
• Politics, Corruption has brought down the humanitarian ground and human resources which again brings stress and a feeling of hopelessness.
• Pressure at work is a major cause for the occurrence of domestic violence, broken homes incompetency in relationships and parenting.
Stress at work coping tips
Beating stress by initiating positive relationships: sharing our thoughts and feelings with another person can help reduce stress. The other person does not have to be a doctor or a counsellor just need to be a good listener. Developing friendships with co workers can also help in reducing stress. Meet new people with common interest by taking a class joining yoga dance, gym as exercise also helps in beating the stress and we make new bonding.
Don’t stop moving: Staying at one place also brings boredom, loosing of interest and essence of accomplishment. Bringing change in our environment brings change in us. When stress is mounting at work take a quick break and move away from the stressful situation. Eating small and frequent meals maintains the level of blood sugar, keeping us energetic and focuses us up and avoids mood swings.
Take enough good sleep: Sleep is like a morphine induced in the system helps us to relax rejuvenate and come back with a stronger, energetic, focussed approach to the same old problem.
Organise and prioritise your work: Create a balanced schedule all work and no play is a recipe of burn out. Find a balance between a work and family life. Social activity and daily responsibilities. Try to be punctual, leave early for work, plan your day this will help to reorganise the scattered and unfinished work leading to deadlines.
Plan small- small approachable goals: Instead of having a goal which is unapproachable, inaccessible, unmanageable we should plan to have small - small approachable goals. This helps in retaining confidence; happiness keeps us motivated on the toes full of life. It can be compared with the small - small meals we take instead of taking three big meals which keeps our system healthy stomach is full, energetic and keeps us happy, therefore it is very important to have small manageable goals which will keep stress at bay.
Take Help: It is not late to take a help if you are feeling stressful degenerated, nervous breakdown, impatient, anxiety attacks, panic attacks not having enough sleep, eating too much food, eating less food it’s better to take a help from a counsellor and understands your symptoms and try to cope with it go for the counselling sessions understands your behaviour deal with your shortcomings and give your best shot at your work.
Let’s cultivate a friendly social climate, provides opportunities for social interaction among employees establish a zero tolerance policy for harassment and make management actions consistent with organisational values.