Be kind to yourself – tips to help manage stress in the workplace.

Stress is something that we’ve all experienced at different times in our lives and it doesn’t always arise as a result of a negative experience – think about the stress we feel on the morning of our wedding day for instance.

The key thing is being able to manage the stress we are exposed to and Stress Awareness Month serves as a great opportunity to think seriously about this issue. In fact, there are many simple things we can do in our daily lives to help us all live less stressful lives.

Here’s some ideas which may help:

• Simply increasing the amount of physical activity we can do can make a real difference. Why not walk or cycle to work and leave the car at home? Don’t forget that you can also become more active whilst at work – take the stairs rather than the lift and make time to move away from your work station on a regular basis.
• Another good tip is to plan your time at work more effectively so that you are completing tasks in a timely manner and not rushing at the last minute to get things finished.
• Thinking about what you eat and drink whilst at work is also a good idea: try decaf tea and coffee or maybe even Chamomile tea which can help to make you feel more calm and relaxed.
• Having a break also helps: sometimes we can be so busy we either forget to have lunch or sacrifice our lunch break for meetings or other tasks.
• Having the right work-life balance is also important and we should try not to take the ‘job’ home with us.
• Delegation of tasks makes a considerable difference as well: sometimes we need assistance from our peers and there’s no shame in asking for help!

Finally, it’s important to know where to turn within your organisation when things get too much and you simply can’t cope. In most cases, your Line Manager or Supervisor would be the person to speak to, but the HR department or the company’s outsourced HR support is also an option.

So there you have it, some simple tips on how to live a more stress-free life… and nobody’s asking you to eat only carrots or meditate 24 hours a day!