Stress and You

Introduction

Stress is likely to affect all of us at some time in our lives. Learning how to reduce the stress that you encounter as you reach towards your professional goals will allow you to achieve these aims without damaging your health. Invaluable information helps
you to minimise the stress factor in your workplace by analysing the causes of stress, recognising its symptoms, and assessing how it is affecting you, and others.

The following statistics attest to some of the effects of stress. Stress-related problems are thought to cause half of all premature deaths in the U.S. In the EC some 10 million people suffer from work-related illnesses each year. In Norway, work related sickness
costs 10 per cent of the National Growth Product. In the U.K., 180 million workdays are lost each year through stress in the workplace.

We speak sometimes of feeling stressed because we are trying to do several things at once or because we have to do some things which we may find unpleasant or because we just do not feel like doing these things. People often refer to being stressed because they feel tired and irritable. Sometimes people refer to being stressed by
their jobs in order to show that they feel their work is demanding. One thing that is absolutely clear is that most people need education in stress management and how they can develop their coping mechanisms. This is the aim of this book.

WHAT IS THIS BOOK ALL ABOUT?
 
This book is about helping you to deal with pressure that may cause you problems at work or in life generally. I have approached stress management from a particular point of view and so a number of key messages and themes run through this book
• Stress may be holding you back from your best performances.
• You need to be aware of your individual responses to stress.
• Pressure and stress are a normal part of our work and life.
• Pressure you cannot cope with is harmful and, like grit in machines, causes wear and tear.
• You need to control your stress so that it does not control you.
• It is important for you to produce a Personal Action Plan and do it.

This book is a guide to Practical Stress Management :

• It has been produced for those who want to learn more about stress, its effects on them and how to manage it; it is also for line managers interested in decreasing their own stress and that of their staff.
• Has the support of Senior Management, who knows that everybody suffers from negative stress at some time or other no matter what their job or grade. Senior managers have also sent in ideas for the book.
• Was developed with the help of people working in Human Resource Departments in both National and Multi-National Companies, together with people from many different walks of life. Their ideas and suggestions have been included.

HOW THIS BOOK HELPS YOU

The Book consists of various ways of helping you to deal with pressure that may cause stress and unwanted problems. It aims to help you:
• Become more aware of the facts about stress
• Identify the pressures and stress you experience in your work and life
• Recognise when pressures and stress are created by you and by others
• Provide you with some techniques which others have found helpful
• Help you plan and cope better day to day and prevent pressure turning into stress by:
— Learning to Relax
— Developing Personal Perspective
— Managing Your Feelings
— Communicating Assertively
— Effective Self-Management
— Sensible Exercise
— Healthy Eating

Please note that although this book addresses the individual’s response to stress, this does not imply that the organisation has no responsibility for helping to control pressure at work or to provide stress management services and relevant training courses.