10 Ways to Combat Work Stress

Everyone experiences a lot of stress at work. Whether you work for someone else or are self employed, job stress can be overwhelming. Stress on the job is not only something that can trouble you. It also wears you down and reduces your effectiveness and efficiency. The following are 10 ways to deal with stress on the job.

1. Take Charge of the Situation

It is important to not let yourself be the victim of circumstances. You need to take charge of the situation and remain in control. When you are confronted by a challenging situation, learn to identify what you can control and what you cannot.

2. Take a Deep Breath

When your body is relaxed, your mind will follow. Taking deep breaths will provide your system with the oxygen that it needs to function well. Taking some deep breaths will clear your head and soothe you.

3. Eliminate Interruptions

People at work are continually bombarded with emails, phone calls, and other interruptions. These interruptions have a way of derailing you from concentrating on what you need to. This can provoke a lot of anxiety. The best thing to do is to set aside a certain period of time in your day when you can address these annoyances. That way, you won't be interrupted and lose your focus.

4. Schedule Breaks in Your Day

Most people think that if they keep pushing themselves all day long that they will maximize their productivity. This is not really the case, however. When you push yourself without taking breaks, you tend to burn out and lose your focus. The best thing to do is to schedule your day so that you have breaks after periods of intense concentration of 90 minutes or so. During your break, it is a good idea to take a little walk and stretch your muscles.

5. Eat and Sleep Right

If you keep a bad diet, then it will put stress on your system. The best advice is to maintain a low-sugar, high-protein diet. The body works more efficiently on such a diet. It is also important to get the right amount of sleep. Your body needs to recover and regenerate after every hard day at work.

6. Interpret Things in Their True Light

Much of the stress that we feel at work comes from faulty subjective interpretations of events that occur there. Instead of becoming angry and upset about things that don't go your way, try to understand what happened in an objective light. You'll find that the objective interpretation will sit better with you and cause you less stress.

7. Relax and Cool Off

When you get upset, it is a bodily reaction as well as an emotional one. Take note of the feelings that you have and simply try to relax your body. This may be easier said than done, but simply taking notice and making yourself aware of what is happening in your body is the first step towards calming yourself down.

8. Try to Build Self-Confidence

Instead of seeking the approval of others in the workplace, focus your energy on building your own self-confidence. Make a strong effort at producing quality work that you can be proud of. Ironically, when you stop seeking others' approval, you will do a better job and impress them more.

9. Identify Your Priorities

Instead of focusing on trying to achieve everything equally well, make sure that you identify what is crucial and what is only more accidental. Spending a lot of time focusing on what is not important will not get you where you want to go with respect to your goals. Take the time to evaluate what is a priority and what is not.

10. Acupressure

If you find that you get panicky and worked up by some things that happen at work, then you can reduce your anxiety by applying acupressure to the right spot. Position your thumb on the side of your middle finger and apply pressure. This will instantly help regulate your blood pressure.

Don't let stress at the workplace get you down. If you find that you are overwhelmed by stress, then try the tips suggested above. You can also seek the advice of a mental health professional if your stress should get to be too much to bear.