While stress may be an inevitable part of our personal and work lives, there are signs you can look out for and some easy ways to manageย and reduce its impact.ย
03 Jun 2020
Humans are programmed to stress; itโs how we survive โ think fight or flight. But itโs fair to say that currently we are living through a very strange and unique period in our lives. Weโre busy enough at the best of times without the added pressure of COVID-19, which, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), just under two-thirds of 16 to 69-year olds surveyed say they are being most affected by boredom, stress and anxiety and an inability to make any plans for the future.
A very important aspect of maintaining resilience is identifying what stress feels like to you. Whether this is physical or psychological, recognising when your body is entering the โfight or flightโ mode is important.
Changes to look out for include an increased heart rate, body temperature, headaches and muscle tension. Or, perhaps you are more emotional or irrational than usual, or struggling to concentrate โ these are ways in which the emotional part of our brain, our limbic system, responds to stress.
Breathe
If you feel any of these symptoms, take a deep breath and exhale. Deep breathing is one of the best ways to lower stress levels โ this action sends a message to your brain to calm down and relax. Find somewhere to sit quietly for five minutes and concentrate on your breathing. This short break removes the stressorsย and gives you an opportunity to regroup.
We humans do tend to focus more on the negative aspects of life - like a disagreement with a colleague, another driver beeping their horn at you, or when a piece of work needs to be reworked. And we simply canโt control what other people are doing, the state of the economy or things happening on the news. These are natural concerns and shouldnโt be ignored, but itโs likely that weโll focus in on these sorts of negatives rather than the proactive, positive aspects that also might have occurred.ย
Accept the things you cannot change
Right now, and in future, try focusing on the good things in life and the things you can control. Perhaps you have more time to spend with your family, more 'spare' time to exercise or relax reading a book. Itย takes less energy to focus on the positive aspects of your life and focusing on these sorts of things will help you to feel more proactive and dramatically increase your resilience.
Be honest, how many of you spend time flicking between emails, doing the washing, phone calls and dipping in and out of social media while also trying to do your work?ย This type of multitasking can be inefficient and, in the end, will add to your stress. Our brains are wired to work on one task at a time. In a recent article we published, Part 2: Mental Health Weekย we referred to a recent neuroscience research study that suggests multitasking can reduce productivity by as much as 40%!ย
One solution is to try rewarding yourself after each task you finish - take a 5 to 10-minute break to do something else that you enjoy, this will give you an opportunity to refocus before starting your next project.
And arghhh, the news...
It's natural to want to be informed, but over exposureย to the news, especially negative news,ย can become all-consuming and damaging for your mental health. A good way to prevent this is to limit the amount you watch or listen to, and/or the amount of time you spend on social media.ย
According to Matthew Walker in his book โWhy we sleepโ there is not a single process in the brain, or a single organ within the body that is not optimally enhanced by sleep, it truly is the foundation of good health. Unfortunately, itโs quite easy to disrupt our sleep patterns, but itโs also very easy to put them right.
We'll explore these topics further in our next article, 'Sleep - the foundation of good mental health'.
None of us ever really knows what the future holds and some things are simply out of our control, but managing stress isn't. Building resilience is all about managing your energy levels, the more energy you have, the more resilient you can be.
If you think RPS can help you and your team manage your stress and overall wellbeing, please don't hesitate to get in touch with Ben at, ben.massey@rpsgroup.com.
Your contact information:
All fields are mandatory *
RPS is committed to protecting and respecting your privacy. We will only use your personal information to administer your account and to provide the products and services you have requested. We would also like to contact you about our products and services, as well as other content that may be of interest to you.
Your contact information:
All fields are mandatory *
RPS is committed to protecting and respecting your privacy. We will only use your personal information to administer your account and to provide the products and services you have requested. We would also like to contact you about our products and services, as well as other content that may be of interest to you.