However, when this work-related stress is recurring or prolonged, it can start to impact you in a negative way. In the long run, it can also impact the way you deal with more trivial problems. It would seem that chronic stress, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder.
Job demands are the roots of psychological stressors in the work environment. However, something that could easily become a source of chronic stress can turn out to be something temporary, followed by the opportunity for recovery and an adaptive response. Good stress can work depending on how you interpret and react to your reality. What is your task? How important is it? And how much control do you actually have over the final outcome? Bearing in mind these three questions — and their potential answers — can make a difference.
According to Dr. Robert Karasek’s demand-control model of occupational stress, bad stress can result from a combination of a sense of high responsibility and low control. This has as much to do with the prior experiences of the individual as it has to do with stressors in one’s current environment.
Your response to a stressful event (both its source and significance) is shaped by how you perceive it. Many stress-management techniques feature a way to recognize the difference between what is and what is not within your control. You must then identify the extent to which your interpretations, beliefs, and judgments about circumstances contribute to your stress. Finally, you must learn how to consciously adjust your reactions and perceptions in a more empowering way so that you feel less stressed.
There are many factors that contribute to work stress, and it’s unreasonable to think that you can avoid them all. However, there are ways to manage work-related stress that can not only improve how you experience your job, but also your overall quality of life.
Yoga Goes To Work With Truck Drivers
Workplace stress comes in many forms, but most stress has physical manifestation. So, one of the most effective ways to reduce bad stress at work is to incorporate physical activity into your day. Last year, a unique group of truck drivers at Lockheed Martin’s, Sunnyvale, California, facility started their mornings with the Body & Brain yoga program. This resulted in a more positive work engagement and fewer injuries.
Without special preparation or equipment, they quickly began to integrate stretching and breathing exercises into their daily routine. The group was led by Patrick O’Donnell — a senior manager who had discovered the Body & Brain yoga program while recovering from a serious injury. He got so much out of it that he himself became an instructor. Because O’Donnell had worked on Lockheed Martin’s shipping docks early in his career, he understood the truck drivers’ work environment and felt that his co-workers could benefit from yoga techniques.
O’Donnell said, “I started it as an initiative to help prevent injuries. These guys are getting older, and they’d go out in the cold weather and twist the wrong way and end up injured. I implemented yoga to stretch them in the morning and help them become more present-minded.” They’ve had wonderful results: According to O’Donnell, there were zero injuries in the first six months of their program.
This article is updated from its initial publication in Brain World Magazine’s print edition.
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