To reduce background sound in open offices – Install partitions to lessen the sound, use meeting rooms separate from the main work area, use quiet rooms or corners when concentration is needed, and when all else fails, use earplugs. If the layout of your workspace is not in your control, which is generally the case; then consider making a well-thought-out suggestion to the management as to how things could be improved. Emphasize the benefits of making the change; do not criticize them.  Make sure that you explain to your co-workers why you are making those changes; you don’t want them to think that you are separate from them.

Quality of Air
Poor air quality is more insidious as an issue. While people tend to notice obvious problems with atmospheric pollution, they are often unaware of the negative effect of invisible and odorless pollutants like Carbon Monoxide and Nitrogen Dioxide. High levels of atmospheric pollutants can damage people’s ability to concentrate. Similarly, lack of ventilation can deplete oxygen in the air, and can lead to headache, tiredness and reduced concentration.

You can do a number of things to improve air quality and reduce the stress caused by it -

• Ban smoking in the office.
• Keep office windows open.
• Use an ionizer or a de-humidifier.
• Introduce plants where the air is too dry. Not only do plants raise the amount of oxygen in the air and reduce stuffiness, they also help to absorb pollutants from the air.
• Keep drinking plenty of water least you get dehydrated.

To Be Continued …

When offices are open for others to see, you are constantly on stage so to say.

Open offices can be immensely distracting when you are doing a job that needs intense concentration. The noise of telephones and of people talking can significantly undermine performance in these jobs. Besides, these offices also lack privacy. This is important because it forces people constantly to “maintain appearances”, and to be constantly sociable when they may be more efficient focusing on the job in hand. Use of improper & uncomfortable furniture

Bad furniture, or bad use of good furniture, may cause pains, aches and stress.
Make sure you use a properly designed, properly adjusted chair – otherwise, you’re very likely to end up with backache. This sounds simple but if you check with any Orthopedic surgeon you will find out that more than ¾ of the patients coming for backache are stress related.

• If you spend a large part of each day working at a computer, then make sure that the monitor and keyboard are comfortably placed, and that you are well positioned when using both.
• If you find that your eyes get sore when looking at a monitor, or that you start to get headaches, then try taking breaks periodically, and get your eyes tested. Wear glasses if you have them.
• If you find that tendons in your hands get sore when you type for sustained periods, it may be worth experimenting with a ergonomic keyboard.
• Wherever your environment causes you pain look at what you can do to relieve it. Take the time to arrange your working environment so that it is comfortable.
• Take break every hour for 2 minutes to get-up, stretch, do deep breathing or lay back and meditate.

To Be Continued …

Work overload is characterized by a combination of the following -

Long and difficult working hours / unrealistic expectations of what can be achieved with the available time and resources / person expected to multitask beyond her ability / excessive obsessive performance monitoring by seniors / expected to work unwanted overtime / less breaks and holidays / continuous pressure at work / not enough recreation room or activities / not enough learning and growing opportunities / not enough social events to know and play with office colleagues.

When overload is a chronic condition, not an occasional emergency there is little chance to recover, rest, and rejuvenate.   Psychologically it is proved that, several hours of a well-defined job with full concentration may do more good to your mental state than pure idleness.  Even one hour of chaos and confusion can wreak havoc on your ability to focus, sleep peacefully at the night, communicate with family, etc.  When you get down to work, you subconsciously define a set of expectations for your working day.  If these all go for a toss because of factors beyond your control, you end up with unmet expectations and thus – obvious stress.

Personally, I see any man who has spent an entire day doing nothing without feeling guilty as successful. There would be times when you have got to achieve a lot and there would be time for you to relax. Take both of them in your stride without getting personal about either.

To Be Continued …

Sometimes it’s important to work for that pot of gold.  But other times it’s essential to take time off and to make sure that your most important decision in the day simply consists of choosing which color to slide down on the rainbow.
~ Douglas Pagels The Boss
Bosses who go crazy over simple mistakes, who scream and holler necessarily or un necessarily, who don’t know how to do their own jobs etc are a huge source of stress.

Office Politics
People form alliances or perceived alliances and that hinders the work for those around them.

Few People & Too much To Do
The doubling of workloads is one of the biggest causes of stress as people internalize their emotions to get gigantic jobs done by them.

Unsure Future
Questions about a company’s and your own jobs stability always seem to cause stress in the workplace.

Cluttered Office
Quite simply, if a place looks like a dump on the outside; your mind is in the dumps on the inside.

Technical Problems
Technical problems and not knowing how to fix them can cause numerous office headaches as people get angry over issues out of their control.

It is unfortunate but true, that today we physically live longer than our ancestors; but die every moment by suffering perceived anxieties and worries. With stress we lower our sensitivity and the power to relax and be serene. Please don’t kill yourself over work, for what is the point of having work but not being around to enjoy its fruits.

To Be Continued …

While stress does involve events and our response to them, these are not the most important factors. Our thoughts and reactions to the situations in which we find ourselves are the most critical factors.

Although everyone talks about stress, it often isn’t clear what stress is really about. Many people consider stress to be something that happens to them, an event such as an accident or a promotion. Others think that stress is what happens to our bodies; minds and behaviors in response to an event (e.g. heart pounding, anxiety, or nail biting).

At work-place, stress occurs when there is a gap in the person’s expectation and his ability to perform. When something happens to us, we automatically evaluate the situation mentally. We decide if it is threatening to us, how we need to deal with the situation, and what skills we can use. If we decide that the demands of the situation outweigh the skills we have, then we label the situation as “stressful” and react with the classic “stress response”. If we decide that our coping skills outweigh the demands of the situation, then we don’t see it as “stressful”.  Simply put; if we can deal with it – no stress; if not – big stress!

Important to note, not all situations that are labeled “stressful” are negative. The birth of a child, being promoted at work, or moving to a new home may not be perceived as threatening. However, we may feel that situations are “stressful” because we don’t feel fully prepared to deal with them. Even positive events of our lives can give us stress!

We may be motivated and invigorated by the events in our lives, or we may see some as “stressful” and respond in a manner that may have a negative effect on our physical, mental and social well-being. If we always respond in a negative way our health and happiness may suffer. By understanding ourselves and our reactions to stress-provoking situations, we can learn to handle stress more effectively. ‘Awareness’ is the magic mantra which can stand between you and Stress.

To Be Continued …

Let us understand a few things about Work-Stress and how to deal with it through these topics: Understanding stress, causes of stress, work overload, work environment, emotional intelligence at the workplace, thinking stress away, relaxation techniques and avoiding burnout.

The person, who doesn’t relax and take it easy once in a while, suffers from a grave danger of being a subject to the pricks and probes of the medical fraternity. I say you need relaxation most when you surely don’t have time for any.

To Be Continued …

Most of often our aches and pains are caused by our negative thoughts and everything else associated with it. It has been observed that at times when we weighed with a problem and we perceive lack of support in our lives from our friends and family, we experience back-pains.

To let go of it we need to let go of our negative beliefs and perceptions. Those are the times when we are enslaved by our pain and miseries and fail to experience freedom, fulfillment and happiness. Bad, sad, angry or hopeless thoughts cause your body to release chemicals that make you feel physically bad.

The effect of negative thoughts and perception on your body is -

• They increase your heart rate; thus causing the heart to work under pressure and less efficiently.
• They increase your respiratory rate; thus causing hyperventilation and less oxygen delivery to your whole system.
• They increase sweat production and divert blood flow from your hands making them cold and clammy.
• They increase muscle tension leading to headaches and body aches.
• They decrease activity in your brain; thus causing decreased ability to think with clarity & memory, and increased emotional state and depression.
• They cause chronic state of stress; thus decreasing the quality of life.

Compared to these, positive thinking, optimism and gratitude enhance brain function and decision-making skills; thus causing you to be calmer, relaxed, joyful and happy. Choose well always!

To overcome this, you need to visualize positive things happening in your life, like your near and dear-ones supporting you completely, and using positive affirmations effectively for releasing our negative feelings and emotions. It is very important to be relaxed when you are visualizing and affirming.

Exercise: Close your eyes, and sit down or lie down in a comfortable position. Relax completely…take 10 deep breaths and with every count, feel you being relaxed. Now affirm to yourself, ‘People around me love and care for me, their love, gives me strength and courage to handle any life’s problems, I choose to be health and free of pain’.  Along with the affirmations visualize the same positive outcome; as you picture mentally it materializes in your life. As you do this exercise only visualize the positive things, and when encountered by an negative thought or feeling…tell yourself loudly, Stop…whoosh….and breathe out the negativities. See the light at the end of the tunnel, rather than the darkness in it.

Nutrition: Eating a healthy wholesome diet, of whole and fresh fruits, vegetables, grains and nuts helps to provide the body with essential nutrients for better back-health. Quit Smoking: Smoking may increase the risk of developing sciatica or back pain that radiates to the hip and/or leg due to pressure on a nerve.

Sleep Technique: Sleep on a mattress of medium firmness, and use a comfortable pillow.

Dressing: Always wear low heeled and comfortable foot-wear.

Exercises: Regular exercise helps to keep back muscles strong and flexible, by not straining or jolting the neck and back and by increasing the strength and endurance in the back. The exercises that are recommended are, low impact aerobics, walking, swimming, abdominal and back muscle exercises. Make sure that you do warm-up and cool-down exercises for a sufficient time. Remain Active: Do house work, gardening etc. and avoid prolonged inactivity or bed rest. Lift things in a proper way, keeping the object to be lifted close to your body and not twisting your trunk when lifting.

Posture: Maintaining good posture while standing for long hours, or sitting for long hours will surely help. One should sit straight in a chair and not slump while working. He/she should take a break for 2 minutes every hour and get up from her/his seat and do some stretches. Also make an attempt to have proper posture while watching TV, either on the couch or bed.

To Be Continued…

Trigger Point Therapy: The goal of trigger point therapy for back pain is to eliminate the trigger points, and thus lessen the pain. Yoga: Proper practice of yoga in chronic back aches is known to help improve the backache. But, I recommend that you find a good yoga teacher and practice it under his/her supervision.

Ayurveda: Spice-poltis, Kathi-vasti and spinal bath are known to reduce pain and sooth the inflamed nerves.

Reflexology: Reflexology involves the application of manual pressure to specific points of the feet, hands and ears, which are believed to correspond to other parts of the body. Reflexology is known to help and more research on it is being carried out.

Others: Homeopathy, Detoxification Therapy, and Spiritual Healing are also known to help, though more evidence of its benefits is desired.