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It is so easy to experience stress at work. Deadlines, Office Politics, a poor relationship with your boss, all of these and more can cause us stress at work on a daily basis. While some occasional stress in your life is understandable, the potentially continuous onslaught of work stress can have serious effects on your health. You may not realize it right away, but eventually you, and your body, will get "burnt out".
Many people who experience work stress will often feel headaches, or upset stomachs more frequently than normal, they may even become sick more often. Or they may feel irritable and have a depressed mood and morale. Work stress can even carry over into family life with an inability to sleep and relax as well as possibly a short temper.
Our bodies are naturally hard wired to respond to stressful situations. The brain reacts to a dangerous situation by triggering a sequence of changes that affect the body's ability to react to a threat. It increases production of certain hormones such as adrenaline, increases the heart rate and blood flow while at the same time constricting blood vessels to prevent blood loss (incase of an injury). The body also ups our blood sugar to give us a boost of energy.
This sounds like the whole "fight or flight" thing right? And it is. It is the reaction your body has to the psychological as well as physical threats of danger. That pile in your inbox is definitely a threat, as is the copier that decides not to work, just as you are finishing up your packets for your meeting in 10 min. And each time you feel work stress (sometimes the entire work day) these things happen in your body. It is also interesting to note that the more often your stress responses are activated, the more difficult they are to turn off. While some do believe that this response can help one's drive or work production, the reality is that work stress can take a heavy toll.
There are many chronic illnesses that can arise when there are consistently high stress levels. Conditions like high blood pressure, heart disease, asthma, infertility and obesity as well as ulcers, heartburn and migraines. The difficult thing about chronic conditions though is that they often appear over time. So, you may not realize how all of the work stress is affecting you until it is too late. But, if you know you are feeling even the least bit stressed about work, you can begin now to make changes before your health is negatively impacted. Talk to your boss; see if there is a stress management program at your office. Or if you get down to it, and nothing is changing at work, then maybe its time to find a job that suits you better and has less workplace stress
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