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Tips for coping with stress at work
Coping with stress is easier when you identify your stress triggers, manage your time well, and take steps to curb job burnout.
By Mayo Clinic staffNowhere is stress more likely than in the workplace. Twenty-five percent of people say that their job is the primary stressor in their lives. Job stress can affect your professional and personal relationships, your livelihood, and your health. The good news is that you're not powerless. You can learn better ways of coping with stress.
The effects of stress
In small doses, stress is a good thing. It can energize and motivate you to deal with challenges. But prolonged or excessive stress — the kind that overwhelms your ability to cope — can take a severe psychological and physical toll. High stress levels have been linked to depression, anxiety, cardiovascular disease, musculoskeletal problems, impaired immune response and cancer.
Your genes, personality and life experiences all influence the way you respond to and cope with stress. Situations and events that are distressing for most people might not bother you in the least. Or, you may be particularly sensitive to even minor stressors. The first step in coping with stress is identifying your stress triggers.
Some causes of stress are obvious — the threat of losing your job, for instance. But small, daily hassles and demands such as a long commute or difficult co-workers also contribute to your stress level. Over time, small, persistent stressors can wreak more havoc than sudden, devastating events do.
Tackle your stress triggers
To identify the factors causing you stress, try keeping a stress inventory: For one week write down the situations, events and people who cause you to have a negative physical, mental or emotional response. Give a brief description of the situation. Where were you? Who was involved? Also, describe your reaction. Did you feel frustrated, angry or nervous?
After a week, sit down and look at your stress inventory. Choose one situation to work on using problem-solving techniques. That means identifying and exploring the problem, looking for ways to resolve it, and selecting and implementing a solution.
Suppose, for instance, that you're behind at work because you leave early to pick up your son from school. You might check with other parents to see if your son can ride with them. Or, you might come in early, work through your lunch hour or take work home to catch up. The best way of coping with stress is to try to find a way to change the circumstances that are causing it.
Next page(1 of 2)
- Stress...at work. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/docs/99-101/. Accessed April 9, 2010.
- Segerstrom S, et al. Psychological stress and the human immune system: A meta-analytical study of thirty years of inquiry. Psychological Bulletin. 2004;130:601.
- Mind/body health: Job stress. American Psychological Association. http://www.apa.org/helpcenter/job-stress.aspx. Accessed April 12, 2010.
- Stress at work: How to reduce and manage workplace and job stress. HelpGuide.org. http://helpguide.org/mental/work_stress_management.htm. Accessed April 12, 2010.
- Cunningham JB. The Stress Management Sourcebook. 2nd ed. Los Angeles, Calif.: 2000.
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