The World Health Organisation have stated that STRESS will be the 2nd biggest financial burden on our world by 2020 and it’s currently costing US companies over $300billion a year in absenteeism, turnover and productivity. The American Institute of Stress recently wrote that 75% of all doctors visits are for stress related ailments, and that stress increases the risk of heart disease by 40% and the risk of a stroke by 50%. Even if you don’t personally suffer yourself, stress is already a massive problem in our society and it’s not getting any better. Stress occurs when the frantic pace of the world we live in overloads us.
Combining this hectic pace with the fact we can rarely get away from work or other people because we are readily accessible 24/7 on our smartphones, means that overload is happening all too frequently and this situation isn’t going to improve any time soon! Way back in time when our biggest problem was whether or not we were going to be eaten by a sabre-toothed tiger, our stress response was extremely useful, helping us to run, literally, for our lives when the tiger came round the corner. Our adrenal glands produced a quick burst of adrenaline and cortisol, and allowed us to switch to flight mode immediately. Then, once we had taken the action and the danger had passed, adrenaline stopped being produced and we calmed down again.
Whilst we have evolved and moved on in many ways over the last few thousand years it seems our adrenal glands have yet to adapt to the lack of life threatening circumstances we generally find ourselves in now. For most of us the worst we can expect these days is a threatening look from a colleague or nasty comment from a client, neither of which require much in the form of physical activity. Unfortunately, that nasty look or comment makes us produce
the adrenaline but it’s not used up as it was in stone-age times, and so we remain in the state of stress and anxiety for much longer than we need to be. Have you ever experienced the situation where your mind can’t seem to let go of a negative situation that occurred and you find yourself mulling over it again and again for hours, or even days, later? Every time you go over it in your mind you get another rush of fight or flight juice (adrenaline and cortisol) which adds to our feelings of stress.
Stress and anxiety lead to all manner of further problems, none of which are conducive to good health – sleep deprivation, weight gain, anxiety, depression and other mental disorders dramatically increase in individuals
who are stressed. In the workplace a stressed employee is not a productive employee. They cannot concentrate on the task at hand and they are more likely to be taking sick days, and that all comes at a cost to the business. Clearly, it will be wise for employers to consider the sources of stress within their business and work to reduce or eliminate
them so that the working environment is more productive and harmonious.
However, let’s not run away from the individual’s own responsibility here. In truth we all create our own stress and we need to take measures to stop ourselves doing that. It’s not what happens to us that stresses us, but how we chose to interpret the situation. Some people are terrified of getting up in front of an audience to speak, while others
live for the spotlight. One person may thrive under pressure and perform better with tight deadlines, while their co-worker shuts down when work demands escalate. Some of us don’t hesitate to send food back or complain about bad service, while others find it much too stressful to complain. But in a toxic working environment it’s easier for our minds to latch onto the negative things around us and therefore we produce high levels of stress.
It’s quite easy to put in place training sessions to help people reduce their stress levels, but be careful as there are several approaches that promote ‘stress management’ rather than stress reduction. These approaches usually suggest changing your diet, taking up exercise, becoming more sociable and getting more sleep, all of which may help but they are the ambulance at the bottom of the cliff. I feel a better approach is to build a fence at the top of the cliff to stop them falling off!
Rather than helping people to manage their stress we should be helping them make less of it inside their heads! The only successful way I have found to do this is to use Mindfulness techniques. One definition of Mindfulness is a mental state achieved by focusing one’s awareness on the present moment, calmly acknowledging and accepting one’s feelings, thoughts, and bodily sensations. When we focus our attention on the present moment, we aren’t thinking of our past mistakes or the potential threats of our future so we don’t create any stress.
Aside from the potential legislative benefits of implementing mindfulness practices in the workplace, there are numerous scientifically proven and documented benefits to the individual.
These include:
• Improved attention spans
• Better mental focus and memory
• Improved decision making
• Better creativity
• Increased levels of tolerance towards others
• Better sleep patterns and an increased ability to relax
• The potential to slow the heart rate and reverse heart disease
• An increase in energy levels
• A reduction in stress levels
• A strengthening of the immune system
• Assistance in overcoming drug and alcohol addictions
• Reduced feelings of depression and anxiety
• Greater potential for happiness.
If your organisation could provide all these benefits for your employees wouldn’t you consider putting a mindfulness programme into practice for them? The long term cost benefits for your organisation would be huge, and, in the wider sense, for the economy too. This article isn’t designed to give you the details of mindfulness training but to convince you to have a pragmatic and scientific examination of the facts and benefits of using this approach. You can
get more information and download a free eBook on Mindfulness at www.johnshack.com/pause