Work is a major source of stress for 65% of adults according to a new survey by the American Psychological Association.
The numbers don’t lie.
39% blame too heavy a workload. 33% blame the demands of work for interfering with family or personal time. There are salary issues. Advancement issues and workplace stressors.
Life today is stressful.
Millennials are thought to be the most stressed out generation because of their addiction to constant mobile connection, entering the workplace as jobs are disappearing and their own personal penchant for not giving up on chasing their dreams.
So what to do?
In addition to the common stress relievers (relaxation techniques, exercise, mind over matter), there are these:
- Retrain the brain. Our pathways change for better or worse as we adopt certain behaviors so a major effort should be made to literally rethink the way we confront and deal with stress because there is a definitive neurological connection that programs our brain.
- Laughter. None other than Mayo Clinic recommends it. We’re getting so technical about how to relieve stress that we forget the best solution of all – a good laugh. Forward thinking companies, the kind that Millennials yearn to work for such as Google make play and playfulness part of the workday.
- Under commit and over deliver in family and personal matters. We try to make up to loved ones for the time we work and the stress that results by overcommitting. We have the capability of removing that stress which then allows us to over deliver to the ones closest to us. And then we do it stress free.
“It’s not stress that kills us, it is our reaction to it” – Hans Selye
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