Managing Stress

Questions

What is stress?

What causes stress?

How can we manage stress?

How can we help others manage stress?

What Is Stress?

...our body’s physical and emotional reaction to circumstances or events that frighten, irritate, confuse, endanger, or excite us.

Surveys and Research Reports over the past two decades reveal that: 43% of all adults suffer adverse health effects due to stress.

75-90% of all visits to primary care physicians are for stress-related complaints or disorders.

Stress has been linked to all the leading causes of death, including heart disease, cancer, lung ailments, accidents, cirrhosis, and suicide.

An estimated 1 million workers are absent on an average workday because of stress related complaints.

Stress is said to be responsible for more than half of the 550,000,000 workdays lost annually because of absenteeism.

A three-year study conducted by a large corporation showed that 60% of employee absences were due to psychological problems such as stress.

Nearly half of all American workers suffer from symptoms of burnout, a disabling reaction to stress on the job.

The proportion of workers who reported "feeling highly stressed" more than doubled from 1985 to 1990.

Job stress is estimated to cost US Industry $300 billion annually, as assessed by absenteeism, diminished productivity, employee turnover, direct medical, legal and insurance fees, etc.

60-80% of industrial accidents are due to stress. Some, like the Exxon Valdez oil spill and Three Mile Island nuclear disaster have direct cleanup costs of billions of dollars, not to mention environmental damage that cannot even be estimated.

Workers' compensation awards for job stress, rare two decades ago, have skyrocketed and threaten to bankrupt the system in some states.

California employers shelled out almost $1 billion for medical and legal fees alone. Nine out of ten job stress suits are successful, with an average payout more than four times that for regular injury claims.

The market for stress management programs, products, and services was $9.4 billion in 1995, and is projected to be $11.31 billion for 1999.

40% of worker turnover is due to job stress. The Xerox Corporation estimates that it costs approximately $1-$1.5 million to replace a top executive, and average employee turnover costs between $2,000 to $13,000 per individual.

Workplace violence is rampant. There are almost 2 million reported instances of homicide, aggravated assault, rape or sexual assaults. Homicide is the second leading cause of fatal occupational injury and the leading cause of death for working women.

The Work Underload -Overload Continuum

OptimalStress

WorkUnderload

Moderate Work Load

WorkOverload

What Causes Stress?People

Self expectations Impersonal barriers Conflicting desires

Situations Expectations Time Lack of resources Lack of vision & goals

Environmental Stresses

Here your environment may be a source of unpleasant or distracting stimuli. These can come from: Crowding and invasion of personal space Insufficient working and living space Noise Dirty or untidy conditions Pollution A badly organized or run down environment

Chemical & Nutritional Stresses

Here the food you eat may contribute to the stresses you experience. Caffeine: this raises your levels of stress hormones, makes

it more difficult to sleep, and can make you more irritable. Bursts of sugar from sweets or chocolate: these can make

you feel more energetic in the short term. However you body reacts to stabilize abnormally high sugar levels by releasing too much insulin. This causes a serious energy dip shortly after the sugar high.

Too much salt: This raises your blood pressure and puts your body under chemical stress.

Chemical and Nutritional stresses cont.

These specific sources of stress, you may experience stress if you eat an unbalanced or unhealthy diet. You may find that some dietary deficiency or excess causes physical stress on your internal organs and emotional stress as your view of yourself declines.

While there is a lot of biased, dubious or incorrect dietary information around, you can normally rely on your nutritional advice from your doctor or from your government’s health department.

Lifestyle & Job Stresses

Many stresses you experience may come from your job or from your lifestyle. These may include: Too much or too little work Having to perform beyond your experience or perceived

abilities Having to overcome unnecessary obstacles Time pressures and deadlines Keeping up with new developments Changes in procedures and policies Lack of relevant infromation, support and advice

Lifestyle cont.

Lack of clear objectives Unclear expectations of your role from your boss or

colleagues Responsibility for people, budgets, or equipment Career development stress:

Under-promotion, frustration, and boredom with current role Over-promotion beyond abilities Lack of a clear plan for career development Lack of opportunity Lack of job security

Life styles cont.

Stress form your organization or your clients: Pressures from you boss or from above in you organization Interference in you work Demands from clients Disruptions to work plans The telephone

Personal and family stresses: Financial problems Relationship problems Ill-health Family changes such as birth, death, marriage, or divorce

Stages of Reaction to Stress

Alarm: the individual becomes of aware of the stressor.

Resistance: the individual attempts to fight off and/or adapt to the stressor.

Exhaustion: the costs of fighting and/or adaptation are so high the individual wears out.

Burnout

Burnout is a specific stress-related psychological consequence. It has three dimensions: Emotional exhaustion Depersonalization Reduced sense of personal accomplishment

Objective 5.3Describe the effects of stress

Stress sets off an alarm reaction in the body. The bodies fight or flight mechanism starts to function. During stress or anxiety hormones are released into the

bloodstream. These hormones such as adrenalin. Adrenalin normally helps the body adjust to sudden

stress. When a person becomes angry or frightened, the adrenal

glands release large amounts of adrenalin into the blood. The hormone causes changes in the body to make it more

efficient for "fight or flight."

For example, adrenalin increases the strength and rate of the heartbeat and raises the blood pressure.

The heart and breathing rate may increase to cope with the demands.

It also speeds up the conversion of glycogen into glucose, which provides energy to the muscles.

Emotional or physical stress may trigger or exaggerate these disruptions, which weaken the immune system.

If thing causing the stress is prolonged the bodies ability to ward off illness may therefore be reduced.

This helps explain why people who suffer from stress often are more likely to catch colds, flu and other minor illnesses.

The bodies fight or flight mechanism runs into overdrive burning energy, this may be followed by severe fatigue.

During the periods of fatigue a person may typically lack the energy to perform most of their desired daily activities.

Other common symptoms include pain in the muscles and joints, headache, mental confusion, depression, anxiety, and irritability.

It is usually inappropriate to fight or run away from the situation these days, this and the fact that the anxiety causing situation may cause the person to have an other reaction to the situation that is to freeze, and not be able to physically do anything about it.

All these reactions cause the body to use a lot of energy which result in a physically and mentally weakened person.

Short Term Physical Symptoms of Stress

These mainly occur as your body adapts to perceived physical threat, and are caused by release of adrenaline. Although you may perceive these as unpleasant and negative, they are signs that you body is ready for the explosive action that assists survival or high performance: Faster heart beat Increased sweating Cool skin Cold hands and feet Feeling of nausea, or “butterflies in stomach” Rapid breathing Tense muscles Fry mouth A desire to urinate Diarrhea

Long Term Physical Symptoms of Stress

Change in appetite Frequent colds Illnesses such as: asthma, back pain,

digestive problems, headaches, and skin eruptions

Sexual disorders Aches and pains Feelings of intense and long-term tiredness

Short Term Performance Effects of Stress

While adrenaline helps you survive in a “fight-or-flight” situation, it does have negative effects in situations where this is not the case: It interferes with clear judgment and makes it difficult to take the time to

make good decisions It can seriously reduce your enjoyment of your work Where you need good physical skills it gets in the way of fine motor control It causes difficult situations to be seen as a threat, not a challenge It damages the positive frame of mind you need for high quality work by:

Promoting negative thinking Damaging self-confidence Narrowing attention Disrupting focus and concentration Making it difficult to cope with distractions

It consumes mental energy in distraction, anxiety, frustration, and temper. This is energy that should be devoted to the work in hand.

Internal Symptoms of Stress Worry or anxiety Confusion, and an inability to concentrate or make decisions Feeling ill Feeling out of control or over whelmed by events Mood change: Depression, frustration, hostility, helplessness,

impatience and irritability, restlessness Being more lethargic Difficulty sleeping Drinking more alcohol and smoking more Changing eating habits Reduced sex drive Relying more on medication

Behavioral Symptoms of StressTalking too fast or too loudYawningFiddling and twitching, nail biting, grinding teeth,

drumming fingers, pacing, etc.Bad moods: being irritable, defensiveness, being

critical, aggression, irrationality, overreaction and reaction emotionally

Reduced personal effectiveness: being unreasonably negative, making less realistic judgements, being unable to concentrate and having difficulty making decisions, being more forgetful, making more mistakes, being more accident prone

Changing work habits Increased absenteeismNeglect of personal appearance

How Can We Manage Stress?

Keep life in perspective

Exercise

Take time to work

Take time to play

Learn to relax

Avoid frustrations

Develop productive work

skills

Don’t bottle up things

Set realistic expectations

Live in the present

Laugh often and loud

Additional Stress Management Techniques

How Can We Help Others Manage Stress?

Encourage expression of feelings

Help identify stressors

Relieve pressures

Facilitate adaptation

SummaryWe need some stress to perform at peak levelsHelp others deal with stress - talk (don’t complain)Be prepared -- take time to “sharpen the saw”People and situations cause stress - control bothAvoid frustrationExerciseSmileBe around those you likeEnjoy sunsets