Unfortunately, it’s true to say that while many jobs can be actualizing and stimulating on a day-to-day basis, many of them come with a fair deal of stress, or rather, exposure to it. If you ignore this, then that stress can build and start causing you harm.
For this reason, it’s almost always a good idea to engage in hobbies that help you express your energies and recover when necessary. Good exercise, good sleep, a hobby you can express yourself through (such as writing, playing an instrument, artwork, or playing a sport for example), can achieve all this and sustain you properly from day to day.
But often, while we continually talk about the mental effects of stress, the physical effects are also present and may be harder than you expect to deal with. In this post, we hope to identify what those physical effects of a stressful job can mean, and how you can mitigate and overcome that in the long term. With that in mind, you can be a better, keener, and more satisfied employee.
Get Up & Stretch!
Getting up and stretching can have a massive impact on how your body feels and how you undo the damage of sitting over time. Getting up and walking around, or stretching using a stretch bar or resistance bands can make a massive difference.
You’d be surprised how integrating movement during a stationary desk job can make a massive difference. What may seem relaxing, at least compared to people who have to walk miles and stand on their feet all day, will come with its own harmful effects.
There are other ways to get active at the desk too. Some people use stepper machines under the desk so they can walk while they work, bit by bit. However, a far more popular option is using a standing desk you can easily lift up, with all the working necessities on it, and work while standing. This helps you maintain a better posture, while also standing with confidence and working in a position that helps you feel more alert.
Regardless, making sure you have time to walk around each day can make a massive difference. So make the most of it.
Be Assertive As Necessary
Generally, we tend to establish ourselves and how we carry ourselves based on our attitude and relation to other people. When intimidated by someone for instance, it’s not hard to make ourselves smaller to try and appear less threatening. This is a fantastic TED talk on the subject.
It may be that being assertive, and working on your posture at work, can not only help you seem more impressive and interpersonal, but it also helps you alleviate much of the physical stress you may have subconsciously forced upon yourself when working in a new environment, or when you have to deal with a difficult colleague or manager. If something as simple as working on your posture can have such an effect, it’s worth integrating.
Eat Healthily & Stay Hydrated
It’s very easy to indulge in bad habits when we’re working hard and have to make it through a stressful or tight deadline. But the truth is that often, eating poorly, overdoing the caffeine, and not drinking enough water can be a problem.
Eating healthily and staying hydrated, in this sense, can make a massive difference. Make sure that your lunches have enough vegetables in them, and high-value nutritional sources of healthy fats like avocado and nuts. This way, you can feel satiated and your diet will also be contributing to your brain power rather than taking away from it. You are, quite literally, what you eat, and so making sure you eat worthwhile foods is key.
You may also find medications to help you with stress can help. Herbal tablets with valerian root can help you alleviate immediate stress, while the effects of general conditions sometimes exacerbated by stress can be aided by finasteride tablets, skincare creams or other aids.
Rest Your Eyes
Staring at a screen a fixed distance away from us at all hours of the day can be hard on our eyes. For this reason, it’s a great idea to rest your eyes when and where it’s appropriate to do so. A good rule to follow is the 20/20/20 habit. This means that every twenty minutes, stare at something twenty feet away for twenty seconds. This can help you keep your eyes continually looking at different depths while also taking them away from the computer screen to begin with. It may sound simple, but this can make a big difference on how much eye strain you encounter. Also - make sure you’re not overdoing the screen brightness of your devices. That can have a big effect, too.
With this advice, we hope you can deal with the physical effects of a stressful job in the best way.
How do you stay healthy at work? Comment and share your tips below.
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