Support your health with a good lifestyle. While you’re overwhelmed by stress at work, the food you eat, and your physical inactivity can
worsen the effects of stress on your general wellbeing. Good nutrition and exercise make you stronger and resilient to stress.
Take a walk when you’re pissed off and make time for regular exercise
When you feel extremely agitated at work, please take a walk and breath. It really helps. Aerobic exercise such as jogging also helps you to lift your mood, increase your energy, sharpen your focus, and relax both the mind and body.
Rhythmic movement, such as walking, running, dancing, drumming, etc., can be done even at work. These help to relieve stress try to get at least 30 minutes of activity on most days.
And when stress is mounting at work, try to take a quick break and move away from the stressful situation. Take a stroll outside the workplace if possible. Physical movement can help you regain your balance.
Eat healthy foods
Your food choices can have a huge impact on how you feel during the workday.
Eating small, frequent and healthy meals, for example, can help your body maintain an even level of blood sugar, keeping your energy and focus up, and avoiding mood swings.
Low blood sugar, on the other hand, can make you feel anxious and irritable while eating too much can make you lethargic.
Minimize sugar and refined carbs. When you’re stressed, you may crave sugary snacks, baked goods, or comfort foods such as pasta or French fries. But these “feel-good” foods quickly lead to a crash in your mood and energy, and they end up increasing and worsening the feeling of stress.
Reduce your intake of foods that can adversely affect your moods, such as alcohol, trans fats, and foods with high levels of chemical preservatives or hormones.
Eat more omega-3 fatty acids to give your mood a boost. The best sources are fish, seafood, avocado, and walnuts.
Avoid nicotine. Smoking when you’re feeling stressed may seem calming, but nicotine is a powerful stimulant, leading to higher, not lower, levels of anxiety. You can get out, and instead of smoking, breath in and out, pace yourself down with sending oxygen into your lungs and calming yourself down.
Drink alcohol in moderation. Alcohol temporarily reduces worry, but too much can cause anxiety as it wears off.
Get enough sleep when stressed
When people are stressed because of work they tend to sleep less, some as little as 4 hours per night. Sleeping for fewer hours when you are stressed is the worst decision you can make.
Firstly, a lack of sleep will increase your blood pressure. It increases the level of the stress hormone in your blood (cortisol), and your insulin levels too. It is also associated with increases in the hormone Ghrelin which promotes appetite and suppresses Leptin hormone that informs the brain that you are full.
This is why stress (chronic stress) leads to illnesses and conditions like diabetes, hypertension, overweight and obesity.
When you’re stressed, make an effort to sleep for at least 8 hours, help your body and brain to meet the challenges you are facing by having a good night sleep.
Rest is the only time your body takes a break and gives the brain an opportunity to revive your mind and body. Rest allows you to handle the day’s activities at your optimum, it makes you ready to think, and act!
Burned-out? Seek Support
When you’re burned-out, talk to someone, and seek support. We tend to forget that we are all human and suffer the same challenges. Find someone you can trust to advise you well and speak to them honestly about the situation.
The government also has health clinics with counsellors. Also, religious places such as churches and mosques have people who can listen to you.
Counsellors are there to help you cope with the stresses in life, through listening and helping you help yourself to figure things out. Sometimes that’s all we need.
Seek the advice of a counsellor, you will feel so much better. Most medical-aid plans cover for consultations with counsellors, psychiatrists and psychologists.
More than often solving work stress means mitigating the risk of getting diabetes, hypertension and obesity.
