If you are one of those type A personalities who thinks that being on the go, keeping in touch, making do with little sleep and needing to be at three places at once is okay, think again. According to a fantastic article on stress by the Canadian Center for Occupational Health and Safety, our health is at risk if our systems become overloaded and we don’t manage the stress in our lives. Our bodies’ natural response to stress include an increase in blood pressure, metabolism, cholesterol levels, blood clots, and stomach acids. A decrease in digestion and a low immune system are also after effects of the body’s stress response. What does this mean? Increased risk for heart attack, stroke, gastrointestinal disorders (remember Quincy and his stomach ulcers?), diabetes, and other illnesses because the body is so focused on the stress that a weakened immunity interferes with being able to fight off viruses – some that could be fatal. There are even studies that increased stress levels over a length of time can be linked to some cancers. EWI Works has access to papers written on the subject of psychosocial factors that are related to disorders such as back, neck and shoulder pain (please contact us if you are interested in finding out more information on stress in the workplace and musculoskeletal disorders).
But how do we know when a co-worker, employer, or even ourselves have had enough? Going back to the article from CCOHS, there are signs when someone is unable to cope with the level of stress they are going through:
- Physical symptoms include: migrains, aches and pains not cause by an obvious injury or overuse, constant feeling of being tired, inability to sleep through the night (insomnia), increased hear rate, tightness in chest, indigestion, constipation or diarrhea.
- Emotional: anxiety, mood swings, depression, easily agitated or irritated, unreasonable anger, feeling sad or listless, and either an inability to focus or think or racing thoughts (which will keep you up at night too!)
- Behavioral: extreme increase or decrease in appetite, impatience with others or an immediate need to argue, poor coping habits such as an increase in smoking, drinking, drug use; apathy towards work, hygiene, relationships, hobbies; erratic behavior and a sudden change in religious practice.
According to CCOHS, there are different levels that the negative effects of stress go through before it reaches a point where professional help is needed for an individual. The warning signs are covered in four specific phases. I would highly recommend this article for families, organizations and individuals to refer to if concerned about stress in the workplace or at home. Why? Because all too often we tend to deny that we’ve taken on too much in our lives. We don’t associate that feeling that we’re going crazy, feeling exhausted, or always catching the flu to the fact that our systems are over stressed and we need a break.
We need to seriously need to take stock in what is most important to us and let the rest go. Next time, I’ll offer ways that we can try and reduce the amount of unnecessary stress in our lives and in the workplace – something that employers need to address to ensure their organizations are healthy and safe.
