Coping with Stress Helps Improve Health

February 28, 2013
Written by: Marissa Kautz

     Stress can be defined as a response to demands that possess certain stakes that exceed a person's capacity or resources (Colquitt, Lepine, &Wesson, 2011). It's on every corner in today's world. Our to-do lists are much longer than the hours they take to be fulfilled and responsibilities with work, relationships, families, etc. are virtually endless. All of this adds up to be the tremendous amount of stress of a busy American lifestyle. Taking time to relax seems out of the question, but if you take a little "me" time it could be just what the doctor ordered.  

     The Wall Street Journal's Melinda Beck reveals that stress can be the cause of physical pain, (especially in the neck, shoulder, and back) and other damage to your body. It has been proved that your physical well-being is connected to your emotions and it's not just "in your head". When your brain is under distress it signals to your brain that you are in trouble and tells your body to release certain hormones in result (Beck, 2009). This response is an equivalent manner to that if you were in some kind of immediate danger. Although it proves to be worse because instead of your body being this way for a couple hours, it stays this way for the weeks, maybe even months and years, that you're under stress and takes quite a toll on your body (Beck, 2009). Also, there have been studies that found fifty to eighty percent of diseases are related to stress (Swent, 1983). The problem is with so many different demands, people don't make time to actually deal with the stress it just builds up over time. Most people don't even know the harm it's doing on their body.

     Some stressors don't even have anything to do with the work so why should managers and administrators look at the stress their employees are under? First of all, it's looking out for their well-being and also job performance is related directly with the amount of stress a person is under(Colquitt, Lepine, &Wesson, 2011). If your employees are stressed they will come to work unfocused and may have an aggressive manner causing problems for other workers. This could lead to a variety of problems and if it gets out of hand have a domino effect on other employees and create a total drop in performance.

     Every human being is unique, and so is the stress management technique that will work for each person. One way to deal with stress is called behavioral coping, people that cope this way like to get involved in some sort of physical activity (Colquitt, Lepine, &Wesson, 2011). Whether it be yoga or lifting weights, this helps to create a diversion from the problem that's causing stress. Any frustrations can be taken out this way and let go of. Also, while working out your body produces feel-good hormones called endorphins which are great after a stressful day (Beck, 2009). 

     A contrasting method of coping is cognitive coping or using the mind to think of different methods that could work out(Colquitt, Lepine, &Wesson, 2011) . These people like to meditate or use other relaxing techniques. At the University of Massachusetts a technique called "mindfulness-based stress reduction" was founded that would work well for some cognitive coping people. This includes breathing and connecting with your body to get a sense of your individual feelings to certain things (Shellenbarger, 2012).  It's also very important to get adequate sleep because when you rest your brain has time to recharge (Beck, 2009).
    
     Working in a high stress job it's also a good idea to have an immediate stress reliever (Swent, 1983). In "How Administrators Cope with Stress" this was a suggestion if you're dealing with an angry employee or irrational customer. It would not be professional to lose your temper, this could cost the company a loyal customer or something of value, so to have something always with you to calm you down in a time of need is a necessity. Simple things may work such as counting backwards from ten or taking a couple deep breaths.

     Since a lot of a person's stress is stemmed from the reaction between an individual's personality and their environment, and most of their time is spent at work, companies should create a nice open atmosphere for their employees. Work is a stressful thing so offering benefits such as discounted child care may take of some of the stressors in their employee's lives. Also, having a gym or giving out gym memberships may be a good way to encourage employees to deal with their stress. With the correct combination stress can be managed, and leave a person feeling ready and happy to work. This most likely will result in better quality work performance and happier employees, which will use domino effect in a positive way. When people are happy and stress free everyone wins!

References:

Beck, M. (2009). Stress So Bad It Hurts--Really. TheWall Street Journal. Retrieved from http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123724722718848829.html.

Colquitt, J., Lepine, J., & Wesson, M. (2011). Organizational Behavior . New York City: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.

Shellenbarger, S. (2012). To Cut Office Stress, Try Butterflies and Meditation?. The Wall Street Journal.

Swent, B. (1983). How administrators cope with stress. Theory into Practice, 22(1), 70-74.