How much stress are you under right now?

Stress management and stress reduction have become popular terms within workplace across the UK in recent years.

However, stress is not tangible, we can’t see it or touch it, therefore, how can we manage it?

Stress doesn’t just come from unmanageable workloads, relationships at work, high risk working or lack of sleep due to shift work. It comes from our home life too… unexpected bills, moving house, divorce, children etc.

We cannot leave our work stress at the door when we get home and neither can we leave our home stress at the steps of our workplace. In 2014/15 stress accounted for 35% of all work related ill health and 43% of all working days lost (HSE, 2016). So what do we do?

Stress is considered the silent gateway to developing poor mental health, therefore, if we can’t physically control the stresses of life, it is important that we develop tools to help us cope with life’s ups and downs. Building personal emotional resilience is proven to build overall hope, optimism and positivity; enable people to better cope with life’s demands and get through tough times; make us less likely to become ill during adversity; and better able to learn new skills and knowledge (Siebert A, 2005). National Stress Awareness Day is 2nd November 2016. The theme this year is ‘workplace well-being – your prime investment’ (ISMA.org.uk, 2016).