Last night, I watched a disturbing segment on the TV program series "60 Minutes". In it, they highlighted the increasing trend of replacing American workers with foreign workers and pressuring the displaced American workers to train their replacements. Now that's stressful. In my recently published book "I Can't Take It Anymore: How to Manage Stress so It Doesn't Manage You", co-authored with Janice B. Longobardi, R.N., I discussed the role of stress in the workplace and the impact of neuroscience knowledge on it. I am giving an excerpt of that topic from the book, available from Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/dp/1542458056
If you ever have held a job, you have experienced workplace stress. It is a part of work life no matter how much you enjoy your job and work. You may have a project to complete on short notice, a demanding supervisor, or too many job demands, among other work challenges. Yet, when the demands are chronic, you can feel excessively challenged and/or overwhelmned. These demands can lead to decrements in your physical and mental health. These effects can include problems such as headache, stomachache, sleep disturbances, short temper and difficulty concentrating. Chronic stress can result in anxiety, depression, insomnia, high blood pressure, a weakened immune system, and overeating. What can you do to handle these situations more effectively? Well, some of the answers are included in strategies discussed already. However, there is yet another factor to consider, namely the role of social support in our lives and its capacity to reduce stress.
Workplace stress is common. Management studies have estimated $300 million lost to work related stress conditions per year. According to the American Psychological Association workplace survey (2012), 65% of Americans rated their job as a major source of stress. At the same time, only 37% of those surveyed thought they were doing a good job of managing their work related stressors.
Some common workplace stressors include: unchallenging work, few opportunities for growth or advancement, excessive workloads, and lack of control over work conditions.
How can brain science help us to understand and achieve stress management in the workplace? There increasingly is evidence that various relaxation techniques for stress can help us concentrate and focus better, strengthen our brains, and reduce age-related brain atrophy. These techniques consequently influence company success factors such as increased workplace productivity. Strategies for reducing stress include meditation, yoga, and progressive muscle relaxation. In the last few years, there have been a number of research studies, predominantly with meditators. The results have shown that meditators developed stronger connections between different regions of their brains and showed fewer signs of brain atrophy of white matter tissue, critical for brain connectivity. Additional recent studies noted that individuals who practiced mindfulness meditation for one half hour per day for just eight weeks had changes in gray matter density in the hippocampus, an area associated with memory, as well as in the amygdala, associated with stress. Increasing activity in the caudal anterior cingulate cortex, in the frontal area of our brain, has been associated with more brain activity for those characterized with a growth mindset as described by Dr. Carol Dweck of Stanford University (Dweck, 2008). Also, in an article in the Los Angeles Times titled "Mindful Management", author Robin Rauzi (2013) noted the existence of Executive Mind classes in the MBA program at the Drucker School of Management at Claremont Graduate University. Meditation and the power of attention are taught as core skills for leaders and managers. She also observed that multiple mainstream companies such as Google and General Mills have in-house programs to increase mindful approaches and credit such with increasing their productivity.
Given the above, it should be clear that we need not wait for the company retreat to reduce our stress and burn-out. Most such retreats involve time for self-contemplation, relaxation, meditation. Perhaps leaders, entrepreneurs, small business owners, and network marketers might planfully and proactively promote such strategies in the work environment. They all involve a focusing of one's attention, breathing, visual imagery, emotions, and bodily sensations.
In my next post, I'll provide some additional tips from the book, which is available from Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/dp/1542458056
As always, change your thoughts, change your results. Good luck on your journey.
Dr. Paul Longobardi
For information on these and related topics, please see my website at www.successandmindset.com