Stress a word that is becoming more and more common in today's workplace. In fact it has been quoted that it costs the UK economy over £100bn per year due to stress related illnesses at work.
That's phenomenal. And why is that? Well, we all know that as digital technology connects us to the world like never before, it also means we could be on call 24/7, our workloads have increased and our schedules are busier than ever. All of which are contributing to increased pressure at work and ultimately increased stress levels.
Now it's important to know that stress is not always a bad thing. We have experienced stress since cavemen times, as stress hormones were released in the brain to trigger the fight or flight response to react to potentially life-threatening situations.
This response is still valid today, if we feel under threat in any way and we need to respond urgently.
Now in the workplace, stressful situations could include many things, and are different for different people such as urgent deadlines, public speaking, interviews for example. All things that could trigger physiological changes such as a racing pulse, the shortening of our breath and even sweaty palms!
This response and the hormone releases in the brain can be helpful in order to ensure we are on top of our game in certain situations. In fact, a healthy amount of pressure or challenge is critical for learning and personal growth. The real issue arises when our brain feels in a constant state of stress or high alert when the brain is constantly firing out stress hormones, it reduces the ability to think clearly, to function effectively and is detrimental to our overall health and wellbeing.
It is so important to recognise the warning signs in yourself and others if you feel that the stress has tipped the balance from healthy stress to unhealthy stress and overwhelm, which can ultimately lead to burnout.
It's also important to know that stress affects different people in different ways. Too much stress can affect our thinking patterns, our emotions, our physical health and our behaviour.
Signs of too much stress include:
1. Feeling more emotional, more of the time
2. Loss of appetite
3. Irregular sleeping patterns
4. Loss of humour
5. Overeating, over-drinking
6. Headaches,
7. Loss of decision-making ability
8. Feeling irritable and short-tempered
9. Becoming withdrawn from others
10. Avoiding situations
This module can help you identify if you have a balance of stress that is:
1. A healthy balance -where you feel a bit of healthy pressure
2. In need of a rebalance - where you could dial down some of the stress levels to regain a healthy balance
3. Have an unhealthy balance - where you need to carefully manage your stress levels
What this module is and what it isn't.
As coaching is all about asking questions to raise self-awareness, thinking creatively, looking at things from a different perspective and putting new behaviours into practice to create long term change.
We've carefully chosen some specific micro-coaching exercises and challenges to help you work on your levels of stress.
Disclaimer. If however, you feel that you are unable to think creatively and are unable to self-coach as your levels of stress are too high, we would always recommend that you seek professional medical guidance as soon as possible.
So, let's make a start now.
