Work Related Stress, Your Work Might Be Killing You

If you ask someone if his or her work is stressful, odds are that the answer would be "Boy is it ever"! Work is by far the principal cause of stress in our lives. The majority of people say they go through high levels of work related stress quite a few times a week. And nearly every one of us has high stress levels every day. This can be said about my wife too, her job could be so overwhelming that by the end of the day she has no desire to anything but try to distress herse

Work Related Stress is a Harmful Thing

What you might not know is that work related stress, in fact, might be affecting your health. Stress has an effect on the body in countless different ways. Some categories of stress are beneficial. Others can cause serious health problems.

Chronic work related stress deteriorates the body's physiological systems and leads to innumerable health problems. In fact, 70 to 80 percent of all disease and illness is stress related.

Major work related stress related health problems include:
1. coronary heart disease
2. cancer
3. the common cold
4. migraine headaches
5. warts
6. some cases of female infertility
7. ulcers
8. insomnia
9. hypertension

Over $400 billion dollars a year is spent on stress related diseases.

Even scarier is that work related stress is at an all-time high and keeps on rising. The days of working 40 hours a week is a thing of the past. The standard individual now works 60 hours a week meaning more hours of protracted stress and less time to calm down.

Work related stress even occupies our vacation time. To make things worse, many people who go on vacation usually stay in touch with the office by taking their laptop or cell phone with them.

There are quite a few signs you can use to verify if you suffer from chronic work related stress. Warning signs of chronic stress include headaches, teeth grinding, back pain (principally in the shoulders or neck), anxiety, and insomnia.

The essential thing is to recognize the things that might be triggering your work related stress. Check the tasks of your job. High responsibility jobs can be a resource of great stress. Your work situation can also cause stress if it is noisy, crowded, etc. If you have interpersonal tribulations at work, this can be one of the greatest causes of work related stress.

If you experience from chronic work related stress, there are a lot of things you can do to diminish the stress. Some of the most successful stress management techniques consist of relaxation exercises, meditation, or taking a short nap. If you are at work and need to ease stress, try deep abdominal breathing, take a short break from work, or talk to a friend or co-worker.

Ultimately, practically every job is stressful to some extent. But by identifying and effectively managing your work related stress, you can reduce its negative effects and take pleasure in a healthier life.