How to manage stress at work

December 16, 2022

How to Relieve Stress in the Workplace

Navigating stress can be difficult whatever your profession, and it is often difficult to stop the effects from creeping into your personal life. 

Studies commissioned by Mind have found that work is the biggest contributing factor to stress levels in people’s lives[1]. The Health and Safety Executive estimated that in the years 2021/22 17 million working days were lost due to work-related stress[2]. 

Here are 5 top tips to manage your stress levels at work: 

1. Take a deep breath! Take a few minutes away from your screen to reset. 
2. Get some fresh air on your lunch break. Many studies have shown that going for a walk outside, even for a short period of time, increases serotonin levels in your blood which reduces feelings of stress or anxiety. 
3. Make sure your desk is tidy at the start of the day, by the start of your lunch break, and at the end of the day. Clutter can often add to any feelings of being overwhelmed, and by having a clean and tidy desk you may feel reset for your next task. 
4. Every evening before you leave work make a ‘To Do’ list for the following day. Rank your tasks in order of priority so that you can get your most pressing tasks completed first and as a result, feel less stressed. It may be a good idea to do this on a Word document or something similar so that you can change the order of the tasks if new tasks are entered on the list as the day progresses. 
5. Make plans for outside of work. This will allow you to separate your work life from your personal life and hopefully let you leave those feelings of stress at the office.  

[1] https://www.mind.org.uk/news-campaigns/news/work-is-biggest-cause-of-stress-in-people-s-lives/

[2] https://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/causdis/stress.pdf

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