You can’t unwind and connect if your head is still stuck at the office. When you come home from a long day filled with meetings, numbers, and following your boss’s orders, all you want to do is relax – but at home, the next challenges await. If this isn’t possible at your workplace, try to spend some time reflecting on this outside of work. A lack of sleep may also make it more difficult to focus and perform at work. If you can’t exercise regularly, try to stretch in your sitting spot, take walks before, during, or after work, or go up and down the stairs if you can.
- The same report found that a whopping 94% of workers say they feel stressed at work.
- It’s also OK — and healthy — to realize you can’t be 100% successful at everything all at once.
- Take a little time to review the following common culprits of work stress — see if any resonate with you.
- Listening to an interesting podcast between meetings or watching a funny YouTube video can give you relaxing pauses throughout the day.
Spending Quality Time with People
A 2013 study found that listening to music reduced the stress levels in participants, and in fact it’s quite easy to feel that same effect when listening to your favourite songs. Give yourself a moment away from your desk and enjoy listening to relax. Purposefully slowing down and being conscious of your surroundings can how to destress after work keep you relaxed throughout the week. Meditation, deep breathing exercises, and mindfulness calm stress and anxiety.
Practice mindfulness or meditation
Working on your time management skills, taking time to recharge, becoming aware of how events affect you, and relying on a support network may help you manage job-related stress. Performance anxiety may also lead you to experience higher stress levels in the workplace. To better deal with job-related stress, consider maintaining optimal sleep hygiene.
Craft and create
When we don’t unwind, stress can accumulate, leading to burnout, which is a state of emotional, physical, and mental exhaustion. In addition to maintaining a healthy work-life balance, taking steps to minimize stress before work can be helpful. Managing conflicts, staying organized, and having a comfortable workspace can also be very helpful. With the right strategies, you can keep workplace stress to a manageable level. You might be surprised by how affected by workplace stress you are when you have a stressful morning.
- Pick up your favourite fiction novel, glossy magazine, or get inspiration from the Calmer Community’s book club.
- To better deal with job-related stress, consider maintaining optimal sleep hygiene.
- In fact, all physical activity can boost feel-good hormones such as endorphins, dopamine, and serotonin.
- However, dietary supplements may not be appropriate or safe for everyone.
Working with a mental health professional may help you better identify the sources of your work stress and find ways to navigate them. Keep in touch with trusted friends and family to help cope with stressful work situations. One of the best techniques comes from breathwork guru Wim Hof. It only takes a few minutes but completely resets your system, rids you of all stress, and makes you feel like a newborn baby.
Cultivate Mindfulness
Adequate rest is crucial for maintaining mental health and recovering from work stress. Research suggests that getting even just 60 – 90 extra minutes of sleep per night could result in being overall happier and healthier. Aim for around 7 – 9 hours of shut-eye each night to wake up invigorated.
It can also impact our mental health, contributing to anxiety, depression, and irritability. Many people feel the ill effects of leading a sedentary lifestyle. You can combat the physical and mental effects of work stress by getting some exercise on your lunch break. Several vitamins and minerals play an important role in your body’s stress response and mood regulation.
Minimize phone use and screen time
Being chronically stressed may lead you to overeat and reach for highly palatable foods, which may harm your overall health and mood. A 2022 review of research suggests that people who follow a diet high in ultra-processed foods and added sugar are more likely to experience higher perceived stress levels. If you’re currently inactive, start with gentle activities such as walking or biking. Choosing an activity that you enjoy may help increase your chances of sticking to it in the long term.