In the office, we need to make it a point to promote stress awareness and to provide handy tips on how to lower stress to keep your blood pressure low.
Let’s take a look at 5 great ways to honor stress awareness month in your work life, and hopefully add a little more zen to your day.
1. Connect With Colleagues in Person
You work next to them every day, you exchange roughly 10 gazillion emails with each other every week, and hey, you even take the time to chat about the weather. But how close are you really to your colleagues?
There’s no doubt that having a good working relationship with your colleagues will lower your stress levels, both in your day-to-day work life and when the going gets rough and you need to band together. But, as convenient as it can be, hashing things out over email or chat can lead to more frustration than resolutions. Writing long emails is stressful for many people, and it’s easy to misinterpret a colleague’s tone.
Whether you’ve hit a rough patch or you’re simply looking to deepen your ties, it makes a lot of sense to invest in time with a fellow colleague so that you can see each other as people, not just workers who get things done. Why not suggest grabbing lunch together at that hip new eatery around the corner? Alternatively, go for a walk during your lunch break, or offer him or her a ride if they live in the neighborhood. Or why not arrange an office event or two, like a monthly themed potluck? And never underestimate the power of a beer post-work!
2. Work on Ergonomic Equipment
You know that ergonomic equipment is good for your body, but did you know that it’s great for your brain, too? When you work on ergonomic equipment, you’ll experience less pain both in the affected regions of your body and overall, as pain has a way of radiating across your body. It’s not difficult to see how this would lower stress. With a pain-free body, you’ll naturally feel better both about being at work and about the specific kind of work you’re doing. This kind of satisfaction and pride will help you enjoy what you’re doing and to succeed more overall, thereby lowering your stress levels — and your heart rate.
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3. Switch It Up
When you’re a hard driving person, you want to ensure you’re doing the best job at all times. That can often mean digging into a task that’s been troubling you, long past the point where you’re actually being productive. While grit is important, pushing yourself on past the point where your mind can make the connections it needs to will only cause frustration. Instead, take a break, whether that means grabbing a cup of coffee in the breakroom, going for a stroll and thinking about other things, or switching to an entirely different kind of task. Not only will doing these things refresh your mind and re-energize you, but oftentimes the best insights come when you focus on other things, letting your mind make connections subconsciously.
So the next time you feel yourself getting into a rut this month, be a little kinder to yourself and change it up!
4. Pump It Up, Work It Out
The best way to lower stress: get those endorphins pumping. Being in shape overall should help you take things in stride. You’ll start the day off in a much better mood when you sneak in a morning workout or when you bike, run, or walk to work. Alternatively, working out after work can be a great way to, well, work it out (lower stress)– that is, to work out all of the frustrations that have accumulated over a particularly stressful day. Nothing like hitting the treadmill hard or punching it out on a punching bag to show that stress who’s boss.
And don’t forget: you can always work out at work, too, as long as you’re subtle about it. Take the stairs to and from your office. Do a little yoga while you sit. Take time to lunge and stretch. And hey, why not sprint to that big meeting with your boss? You’re late anyway! (Just kidding on this one. We know you’re always on time).
5. Don’t Over-Commit
One sure way to rise through the ranks is to say “yes” — to new projects, to heading up a volunteer initiative, to pitching new ideas. At the same time, it’s never good to overcommit, especially if you find yourself stretched too thin and unable to deliver on promises. When you say yes too much, you may be constantly disappointed in yourself as you won’t have the time to do each thing to the best of your ability, and you’ll worry endlessly about meeting so many different demands.
By all means, do say yes. Just say so strategically, picking projects and initiatives that you feel you can give to the most. Another good technique is to volunteer for positions that overlap with each other, so that your work in one area spills over easily to the next. Your time is valuable, and the more you maximize it, the better you’ll perform, the less stress you’ll experience at work.
To help you lower stress this month, we recommend trying any of our ergonomic keyboards Find your perfect match and experience a better way of working — and less stress — today!
