Stress Awareness
Millions of people around the UK experience stress. In fact, Ciphr found that 79% of UK adults report feeling stressed at least once per month. We know what it’s like to feel stressed, and we know that stress and pressure can be a normal part of life. The issue lies when being overwhelmed by stress can lead to mental health problems, and make other existing problems feel worse.
What is Stress?
Stress is your body’s reaction to threats or pressure, which usually occurs when in a situation that we feel that we cannot control. This can sometimes be referred to as a “fight or flight” response. Your body releases certain hormones, like adrenaline and cortisol. Once the threat has passed, your hormone levels usually return to normal.
The most common causes of stress in the UK are money, and not getting enough sleep. A survey conducted by Ciphr found that 39% of people considered these as contributors to their stress levels. This was followed by health, family, weight, the news, and work, all with over 20% of people naming them as stress contributors.
How do you know when it’s a problem?
A small amount of stress can be a good thing, it can be a useful motivation to take action and complete tasks. However, according to the Mental Health Foundation, in the last year 74% of us have felt so stressed that we have been unable to cope. This overwhelming feeling of stress is damaging to your health and wellbeing.
Although stress is not considered a mental health problem, if you experience a lot of stress, this can lead to the development of a mental health problem like anxiety, or depression.
What about work-related stress?
Work-related stress specifically is the response to overwhelming work demands and pressures. Although stress in work is often unavoidable, when that pressure becomes unmanageable, it can cause burnout. Burnout is a condition resulting from workplace stress which has not been successfully managed and can damage your health and performance.
A study by Perkbox reports that of British adults in employment, 79% of them experience work-related stress, with workload being the largest contributor to this.
What can you do to minimise it?
Whilst it’s important for employers to take steps to reduce stress, there are steps that individuals can take too. Here are our top three tips:
- Sleep. Lack of sleep, as we know, is a big cause of stress. It can result in low mood, lack of energy, irritability, and inability to concentrate. Getting a healthy amount of sleep is crucial!
- Exercise. We all know that exercise releases endorphins, which boosts your mood! And it doesn’t stop when you stop working out. The endorphins flow around your body, making you feel better for the rest of the day!
- Work-life Balance. This one may be harder to control, but you’re actually more productive when you’ve got this in balance! Take your lunch breaks, and when you’ve finished work for the day, take some quality you time.
How do we support our colleagues?
With nearly a quarter of UK adults saying that work causes them stress, we made it our mission to reduce stress in our workplace, and listen to the voices of our colleagues. At Time Appointments we now operate a 4 day working week, and we are reaping the rewards of this. Our colleagues have reported considerable reductions in stress levels. And it’s true what they say, a better work-life balance really does lead to increased productivity! Having an extra day to relax and recharge really is making all the difference.
