Text: Andrea Black.ANYTIME YOU FEEL THE PRESSURE
BUILDING IN THE WORKPLACE
TURN TO THESE IDEASA
recent Australian
workplace survey
has revealed 73
per cent of workers
are feeling stressed
about work. The survey,
entitled Workplace Wellbeing,
conducted by not-for-profit
HR think tank Reventure,
revealed that a huge
proportion of us are under
pressure. Here’s some ways
to relieve workplace anxiety.BLUE LIGHT
THERAPY5 WA Y S
According to research,
blue lighting accelerates
the relaxation process after
acute psychosocial stress in
comparison to conventional
white lighting. Acute
psychosocial stress can happen,
for example, when someone
pressures you to finish a task
to a deadline. Next time you’re
under the gun, pull out the blue
light (there are many on
the market including the
Philips goLITE BLU
Energy Light, see
fishpond.com.
au).ZEN MAGNETS
Squeezing a stress ball is
so yesterday. Now you can
release your stress through a
Zen Magnet set. These clusters
of hypnotising silver orbs can
be crushed together and made
into cool shapes to your heart’s
delight. The bonus is, they look
impressive on your desk too,
though they should strictly
be for the office and not around
the family, the small magnets
can be hazardous if swallowed.
zenmagnets.comEXERCISE IN A
GROUP
We all know that it clears the
head to go for a walk or even
a run at lunchtime but if you
really want to release stress then
organise some group fitness.
A recent study published in
The Journal Of The American
Osteopathic Association found
working out in
a group lowers
stress by 26
percent, while
those who exercise
individually putin more effort but experienced
no significant change in their
stress level.‘The communal
benefits of coming together
with friends and colleagues, and
doing something difficult, while
encouraging one another, pays
dividends beyond exercising
alone,’ said Dayna Yorks, lead
researcher on this study.PET THERAPY
Google and Amazon know the
benefits of pets in the office,
they allow employees to bring
their dogs to work. Empirical
evidence supports the notion
that dogs may provide social
support, improve performance,
and increase social interactions
in the workplace. In one study
of the effects of dogs in theworkplace on employees’ self-
reported stress, those who did
not bring dogs to work had
significantly higher perceived
stress than employees who did.DON
,
T SAY THE
S WORD
‘Just saying that you’re stressed
can set off a cascade of chemicals
in the body – epinephrine and
cortisol – and neurotransmitters
in the brain that make us
feel completely stressed
out,’ says author and clinical
psychotherapist Seth Swirsky.
Instead of automatically
saying you feel stressed out,
experts recommend you try to
frame it in a positive way. Try
something like this: ‘I’m up
against it this week, but I know
I will get there in the end.’TO NEVER
FEEL
STRESSED
AT WORK
AGAIN
NEW
STRESS-FREE