Stress Less in the Workplace

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Stress Less in the Workplace

• Lisa K. Marzoli, BS, MBA
• Wellness Coordinator, Anthem

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What is Stress?

• A perceived threat (real or imagined) that
  affects ones mental, emotional, physical, or
  spiritual well-being the physiological response
  that is activated when the mind perceives a threat

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What is Stress?

• Stress is a scientific concept which has
  suffered from the mixed blessing of being too
  well known and too little understood.
• - Hans Selye

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The Body Follows the Mind

• Most of our stress and emotional suffering comes
  from our mind or thoughts.

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What are Stressors?

• A stressor is any event or situation that causes
  us to adapt or initiates the stress response
• Stressors can be negative or positive, our bodies
  will still have the same stress response
• A stressor is a stimulus, and stress is a response

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Fight or Flight (Stress) Response

• The fight or flight response prepares the body
  for a battle of epic proportions even over events
  as simple as a misplaced set of car keys!

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Fight or Flight (Stress) Response

• Surges of cortisol, adrenaline and noradrenaline
  (stress hormones) are released on instructions
  from the brain and simultaneously throughout the
  body by the
• Sympathetic Nervous System

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Fight or Flight (Stress) Response

• Pulse and heart beat quicken
• Fatty acids and oxygen increased in blood supply
• Capillaries constrict
• Blood clots more easily
• Pupils dilate

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Fight or Flight (Stress) Response

• Mucus membranes shrink
• Bowels and bladder empty
• Perspiration increases
• Digestion and reproduction stop
• Immune system shuts down

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The Positive Side of Stress

• EUSTRESS Good Stress anything that makes
  you feel motivated, exhilarated, or inspired
• Although the body has some sympathetic neural
  activity, it also produces some very desirable
  neuropeptides we dont generally experience
  enough of this kind of stress

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The Positive Side of Stress

• The Yerkes-Dodson Law

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The Positive Side of Stress

• DEFINITIONS
• Total absence of stress?
• DEATH!
• Too little stress?
• BOREDOM!!

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Bad Stress - Distress

• Acute Stress
• short, occasional episodes of stress
• even if not discharged not likely to damage
  the body
• very intense but doesnt last too long (20-30
  minutes)

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Bad Stress - Distress

• Chronic Stress
• Unrelenting stress a long-term stress
  resulting from those nagging problems that just
  do not seem to go away
• Events that are not so intense, but seem to
  last forever (e.g., days, weeks, months or years)

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Bad Stress - Distress

• The way we think and face a situation and the
  thoughts that cause stress are usually negative,
  unrealistic, and distorted

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Goose in a Bottle

• Imagine a large glass bottle that contains a
  large, healthy, happy goose.
• You can not break the bottle, you can not harm
  the goose.
• How can you free the goose?

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What You Think, You Become What You Feel, You
Attract What You Imagine, You Create.
Mind/Body Medical Institute
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Goose in a Bottle

• Many of our problems can be solved when we
  realize our minds are creating them!

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Our own perceptions and thought processes affect
our stress levels!
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JOB STRESS
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What is Job Stress?

• Job stress can be defined as the harmful physical
  and emotional responses that occur when the
  requirements of the job do not match the
  capabilities, resources, or needs of the worker.
• Job stress can lead to poor health and even
  injury.

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Work-related Stress

• 25 of employees perceive their jobs as the 1
  stressor in their lives
• 75 of employees believe workers now have more
  on-the-job stresses and demands than they did a
  generation ago

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Work-related Stress

• Problems at work are more strongly associated
  with health problems and complaints than any
  other life stressor, even more so than financial
  difficulties and/or family problems.

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Causes of Job Stress

• Worker/individual characteristics
• - Personalities/Interpersonal relationships
• - Coping Styles
• - Communication

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Causes of Job Stress

• Working conditions
• - Work organization and expectations
• - Little or no control over job
• - Mismanagement
• - Physical environment
• - Economic conditions
• - Discrimination

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Early Signs and Symptoms of Workplace Stress

• Headaches
• Sleep disturbances
• Difficulty in concentrating
• Feeling anxious, irritable, or depressed
• Fatigue
• Stomach problems
• Muscle tension
• Job dissatisfaction
• Low morale
• Social withdrawal

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Managing Job Stress

• Take responsibility for improving your physical
  and emotional well-being.
• Avoid pitfalls by identifying knee-jerk
  habits/reactions and negative attitudes that add
  to the stress you experience at work
• Learn better communication skills to ease and
  improve your relationships with management and
  coworkers.

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Ways to Manage Job Stress

• 1 BREATHE!!!
• Beneficial results are immediately obvious
• Can be done any place, any time
• Stress response automatically turns off when one
  consciously returns breathing to its natural
  rhythm of deep, slow, and effortless inhaling and
  exhaling.

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Ways to Manage Job Stress

• Take a break/take a walk (both mental and
  physical breaks)
• Plan and prioritize your day
• Schedule in catch up or back burner time
• Practice the 10-minute rule

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Ways to Manage Job Stress

• Limit distractions
• Dont over-commit yourself
• Make friends at work
• Talk it out
• Practice random acts of kindness
• Ask for help

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Ways to Manage Job Stress

• Cop an attitude (a positive one of course!)
• Rethink your thinking (cognitive restructuring)
• Put yourself in the other persons shoes
• Let perfectionism go when you can
• Try not to personalize criticism, but rather use
  it as an opportunity for growth

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Ways to Manage Job Stress

• Find humor in situations
• Dont hold grudges
• Plan for fun
• Clean up your act!
• Participate in the Better Health Stress
  Management Coaching Module
• Contact EAP office or seek other professional
  help

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Ways to Manage Job Stress

• Take care of yourself and make positive lifestyle
  changes
• Get moving
• Make healthy food choices
• Get enough sleep
• Drink alcohol in moderation and avoid nicotine

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Other Ways to Counter Stress

• Journaling
• Visualization
• Yoga/Pilates
• Mindfulness
• Take a vacation
• Focused breathing
• Play
• Hobbies
• What else brings you joy?

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Serenity Prayer

• God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I
  cannot change,
• The courage to change the things I can,
• And the wisdom
• to know the difference.

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• You are the way you are because of the choices
  that you have made, and youre going to continue
  to be the way you are based on the choices you
  continue to make. If you always do what youve
  always done, youll always get what you always
  got.
• - Sandy Queen, Motivational Speaker

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SELF CARE IS NOT SELFISH!

• Make the rest of your life
• The best of your life!!