Stress In Professional Life

2023 Author: Wallace Forman | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-08-25 11:04

Stress in professional life

Growing professional demands, pressure to perform or fear of losing your job - stress and work life often go hand in hand. In addition, it is often also important to reconcile family and work. However, like our Stone Age ancestors, we cannot react by attacking or fleeing, for example simply fleeing a meeting if things go differently than intended. So coping strategies are needed that are adapted to the present day. The employer should take measures that ensure not only physical but also mental health in the workplace…

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• Continue reading
• more on the subject
• Advice, downloads & tools
• Work can be fun, but it can also be a burden
• From chronic stress to exhaustion
• Stress factors in the world of work
• Particularly stress-inducing constellations
• Work stress and its consequences
• Prevent instead of waiting

Work can be fun, but it can also be a burden

But work can also be fun and offer positive challenges. Professional activity is financially rewarded and thus secures the livelihood. Social contacts and integration into society strengthen and offer development potential. If a job is lost, this often means existential fears. Regular daily routines and contacts with colleagues are missing. Self-esteem decreases and dissatisfaction or physical complaints spread. Thus, work can be a very important positive, but also a negative factor in a person's life.

From chronic stress to exhaustion

Persistent stressful situations often have consequences for mental and physical health. The stress model according to Rohmert & Rutenfranz shows the contexts of ergonomics in an understandable way. According to this, stress can lead either to excessive demand, insufficient demand, frustration or threat.

The following consequences can be derived from these factors:

• Overwork → tiredness
• Underchallenge → monotony
• Frustration → satiety
• Threat → stress

The result is fatigue and / or chronic stress. These lead to exhaustion and go hand in hand with work, life or partner dissatisfaction. This can result in illnesses or disorders of a psychological or physical nature.

Stress factors in the world of work

If there are unfavorable conditions in the workplace, this increases stress. These factors include, for example:

• insufficient flow of information,
• unclear tasks or work areas,
• frequent malfunctions and interruptions,
• frequent close professional contact with people (this can lead to emotional exhaustion),
• little support in the team,
• lack of demarcation,
• Compulsion to show feelings that do not correspond to the actual mood,
• high time pressure,
• Conflicts,
• suboptimal environmental conditions such as noise, heat or a one-sided posture,
• Mobbing,
• Cooperation pressures (great dependency),

• little recognition as well
• dreary or poor future prospects.

This list can be expanded as long as you like and also depends on your individual stress levels. In addition, the factors influence each other - for example, conflicts also affect other areas.

Particularly stress-inducing constellations

Some combinations of stressors promote stress to a particular degree, such as the combination of excessive demands and a lack of self-determination. Likewise, the common occurrence of monotony and excessive demands or psychological insufficient demands accompanied by little room for maneuver.

However, if those affected have the feeling that an unpleasant situation will turn for the better again, there is less stress perception. The more opaque (you don't know exactly what to expect) the stressful situation, the higher the stress potential can be. In this case, it is difficult to see whether it is a real "threat".

Work stress and its consequences

If chronic stress arises, emotional and physical complaints can result. For example, those affected experience back pain, insomnia or difficulty concentrating. It is important to ensure that there are other causes for this. Stress indirectly leads to an unhealthy way of life, for example little exercise, smoking or too little relaxation and can thus have an influence on the development of cardiovascular diseases and other diseases.

Stress in working life can also lead to a burnout spiral. Cynicism, emotional exhaustion or depressive moods - the range of indications of burnout is diverse. For more information, see Burnout.

Prevent instead of waiting

Health care not only pays off in the context of a preventive examination. Preventive measures can also be taken in professional life. You can find more information under Healthy Engagement at Work and under How to Avoid the "Burnout".

With the time management tool, you can learn to organize your working hours optimally and to set limits.

It is better to start paying attention to your mental balance and health sooner than too late. Your body and your psyche will thank you.