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Workplace stress should be taken seriously. Maintaining a work-life balance is important for your mental and physical well-being. Recently, Microsoft Japan was in news for adopting a four-day work week. And experiment which was conducted for a month resulted in happier employees with 40% higher productivity levels. This experiment is just an example of the different ways companies can enable their employees to work better and be happier. Being too stressed at work because of toxic work environment or excessive work pressure can make you feel anxious, cause sleep disturbances, affect your gastrointestinal, health and much more.
Workplace stress: myths you must stop believing
Workplace stress can make you physically and psychologically unwell. It makes you start hating the job you once found inspiring. And now that it has been established that workplace stress should indeed be taken seriously, we are going to talk about myths on the subject that you must stop believing.
Workplace stress can affect your mental health and day-to-day functioning
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Also read: Beware! Work Stress May Lead To Irregular Heart Rate
Myth 1: Stress is common and you need to find a way to deal with it
While it is true that slightly stressful situations are common in nearly everyone's lives, feeling too stressed at work-for over a month or more-every day is not common. It can lead to burnout, which is a serious workplace stress syndrome. Studies have found that workplace stress or burnout can increase risk of type 2 diabetes, prolonged fatigue, headaches, respiratory problems and coronary heart disease. Sleep disturbances and depressive symptoms are also likely to occur to those suffering from workplace burnout.
Myth 2: Workplace stress can be because of personal reasons too
Well, there is clear evidence that workplace stress can be diagnosed in a personal independently irrespective of the patient's mental health issues. Workplace stress is inevitably related to mental health. Burnout can make you feel exhausted, feel cynical and reduce your sense of accomplishment after suffering from long-term workplace stress.
Also read: Workplace Burnout Can Increase Stress, Affect Sleep Quality: Top Causes And Symptoms You Must Know
Myth 3: Workplace stress will not affect you outside work
You cannot ignore workplace stress and it is quite likely to affect other aspects of your life. Long-term stress, as mentioned above, will make you feel constantly tired and cause sleep disturbances. Feelings of hopelessness and discouragement take over your mind, affecting your personal relationship with friends and family as well.
How to cope with stress at workplace?
Following are some effective strategies to deal with workplace burnout or stress.
- Avoid conflicts at work
Avoid conflicts at work to reduce workplace stress or burnout
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- Talk to your boss about you feel
- Act rather than react, try to take control of things even if you feel things going out of control
- Eat right and do not skip exercising
- Practice deep-breathing exercises when you have back-to-back meetings or are have to meet short deadlines
- Avoid reacting to every stressful situation that comes your way, learn the art of ignorance for less important issues not-related to work
- Avoid indulging in gossip and any kinds of negativity
- Take professional help if the stress is affecting your productivity and day-to-day functioning
If the above strategies don't help in reducing your workplace stress, then consider quitting. It is probably the best thing you can do for yourself in this time of high stress and poor mental health.
Disclaimer: This content including advice provides generic information only. It is in no way a substitute for qualified medical opinion. Always consult a specialist or your own doctor for more information. NDTV does not claim responsibility for this information.