Kill that Stress!

You can work hard, add value to your company, take work home and never take a day off. You make every effort to secure you job, even when your company is in transition. However beneficial your efforts may be, you are adding on to your stress simultaneously.

Workplace stress is very common in today's competitive work environment. It is more so for women, as they have to juggle between work and home. This feature underlines the causes and health hazards caused due to stress. Plus it provides remedies to bust stress.

Tension, imbalance, out of control situation, all lead to only one thing my friend, chronic workplace stress. And you would be more stressed, if you are a woman. Stress at the workplace has been considered as a health and safety threat in the United States and other parts of the world. Research shows that a majority of work-related stress is borne out of attrition and the obligation to perform more in less time for women.

Route Causes of Stress

Stress is the body’s physiological and psychological response to a dangerous situation. But, what is dangerous for one worker at the workplace, may not be so for another. Origin of stress varies from individual to individual. Lack of balance between demands of home and work, is mostly what strains the women.

Women in relationships have to manage more than 60 percent of household maintenance and childcare work. Divorced and single women have 80-100 percent of childcare responsibilities alongwith household chores. Therefore, quite obviously, they are more likely to arrive stressed-out at work, which then is further aggravated by the work’s demands.

Women working in an inflexible environment would be at a greater risk of distress. Interestingly, women are multi-taskers by nature. Work, family and home cannot be separated, so the challenge of balancing the all three, is greater for women as compared to anyone else.

Failing relationships, physical health, mental health and burnout altogether aggravate stress at workplace, and that is when women are forced to consider a job change, thus affecting their work stability.

Associated Health Effects

Dr. Marianne J. Lagato, founder and director of the Partnership for Gender-Based Medicine at the Columbia University says, “As women increasingly serve in executive positions, on corporate boards and in other high-level positions, it is seen as increasingly important that workplace stress and associated health issues and gender differences are better understood.”

Inflammation, a component of arthritis, diabetes and cancerdefine are the by-products of stress. Headaches, muscular tension, backache, tiredness and sleep problems, digestive problems, a raised heart rate, skin rashes, sweating and blurred vision are all effects of chronic stress.

Workplace stress can also cause libido, irritation, depressiondefine among women. Stress also leads to high blood pressure and heart diseases in women. Women die more of heart problems than men, and studies show that they worry more about day-to-day events.

Ways to Bust Stress

Relief from workplace stress is the need of the hour in today's demanding job environment. According to The American Institute of Stress, "Job stress is by far the major source of stress for American Adults." Lack of security, increasing workload, conflicts with coworkers or bosses and overtime are just a few of the issues that the today's women face.

Recognition is the first step in any change process. Stress related illnesses are the leading causes of death and disability in women today. Studies show that small breaks actually increase our efficiency, so you really can afford it.

Cluttered space, equipment that needs repair, lack of organization, tasks that need to be delegated, noise level, ergonomically unhealthy workplaces and other tolerations are worth an effort to be resolved. They reduce stress too.

Adequate sleep provides our bodies with chemical balancing and healing at a cellular level. A healthy diet (with limited or eliminated additives and chemicals) fuels our bodies, gives us a reserve to run on during stressful times. Exercise, though hard to timetable in our packed schedules, is a great stress reducer.

You need to wipe out all the negativity inside yourself and meditate to relax and be reinforced with positivity. Remember to take care of yourself and give some time to your body. Spas, massages and beauty treatments can do wonders to help you break away from the shackles of stress. On the whole, kill the stress with optimism.