What is professional stress and why does it occur?

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Modern man spends most of his time at work. Some people can't forget about work even when they're at home. People are often tense and experience professional stress because of work. The reasons for the development of nervous tension are different for workers in different fields of activity, but the signs and consequences are the same for everyone. Stress at work and at home reduces a person's interest in life and depletes his creative and intellectual abilities. Psychological stress leads to many diseases. Special exercises, training, and stress relief methods will help you avoid this.

Professional stress accompanies representatives of different professions

Types of work stress

In the process of work, there are irritating factors. They can cause short-term nervous stress. If their negative impact is prolonged, occupational stress becomes chronic. There are the following types of professional stress:

1. Physical. The reasons for its occurrence are uncomfortable working conditions, cold, heat, and increased noise levels.
2. Informational. Occurs due to mental overload and increased demands. Very often it affects people who combine two positions or rapidly climb the career ladder.
3. Emotional. Associated with a person’s inability to adapt to the proposed conditions, set priorities, and complete assigned tasks. A monotonous work schedule or sudden changes in activity are causes of emotional stress.
4. Communicative. Professional stress is caused by an employee’s inability to communicate with colleagues, superiors, defend their interests (or, conversely, remain silent), and make useful work acquaintances.

The causes of stress at work can be different, so the division into specific types of work stress is arbitrary. People with low self-esteem and increased anxiety are most susceptible to work stress. Lack of motivation and clearly defined goals also reduces stress resistance.

Types of professional stress

Professional stress of teachers: how to overcome it in the workplace

According to the stress table, the profession of a teacher is in 8th place and scores 6.6 points on a 10-point scale. This suggests that the work of a teacher requires high self-control, self-regulation and enormous psychological reserves. Therefore, it is important to increase the level of stress resistance of people working in this field.

Stress is often impossible to prevent, but it can and should be dealt with. To increase the level of protection against stress, there is such a thing as stress management. Stress management in professional activities includes two stages:

• training work at the organization level as a whole;
• working with each employee individually.

The following measures are mandatory.

1. Creating favorable working conditions.
2. Creation of a working feedback system with management.
3. Involving employees in resolving issues and making common decisions.
4. Teamwork, proper distribution of workload and responsibility.
5. Social support for employees.
6. Stress management training.

And to determine the level of exposure to unfavorable factors, an occupational stress scale is used. It allows us to understand the degree to which a person is exposed to adverse work-related factors.

Signs of stress at work

Chronic stress at work can manifest itself in different ways. Signs of stress at work are individual for each person and depend on the characteristics of the body and the type of nervous system. The main features can be identified:

• forgetfulness;
• inattention at work;
• increased fatigue;
• irritability;
• causeless melancholy;
• loss of sense of humor;
• lack of joy from the results of work, praise, etc.;
• headache;
• pain in the back, stomach;
• loss of appetite.

Very often, against the background of psychological stress, a feeling of anxiety and helplessness arises.

You can get rid of unpleasant symptoms if you completely cope with stress at work.

You can calm down in a stressful situation without pills and alcohol. These methods are short-term and addictive

The concept of "stress". Types of stress

Stress

– this is a state of psychophysiological tension that occurs under the influence of any strong influences and is accompanied by the mobilization of the protective systems of the body and psyche.

The concept of “stress” was introduced in 1936 by the Canadian physiologist G. Selye. Translated from English, the word “stress” means “pressure, pressure, tension.” The discoverer of stress, G. Selye, gave the following definition: “Stress is a nonspecific response of the body to any demand presented to it.”

There are two components of stress:

1.stress factor

– “demand”, that is, something that affects a person;

2.stress reaction

– a nonspecific response of the body to an influencing stimulus.

The impact of a stress factor causes two interrelated processes in the human body:

• activation
  of standard nonspecific reactions that develop when exposed to any stimulus unusual for the body.
• mobilization
  of physiological systems that provide adaptation specifically to this factor.

The intensity of the stress response depends on

Stages of stress development

• "General anxiety reaction"
• "Resistance" ("Resistance")
• "Exhaustion"

What are the causes of stress?

Psychological, which in turn are divided into

Stress levels

• emotional-behavioral
• vegetative
• cognitive
• socio-psychological

Types of stress

Eustress – mobilizes the body, activates a person’s internal reserves, improves the flow of mental and physiological functions.

Distress disorganizes human behavior and worsens the course of psychophysiological processes.

Factors contributing to distress

Factors contributing to eustress

Experience in solving similar problems

Depending on the manifestation of the stress reaction, several types of stress are distinguished:

1. Acute stress –
   occurs directly in response to an influencing stress factor (i.e. here and now).
2. Delayed stress
   is characterized by some “delay” of experiences for a certain period, which may be due to various reasons.
3. Accumulated (chronic) stress
   - occurs during continuous or regular stress exposure, the strength of which is usually low.

Traumatic
stress
occurs when:

• A person finds himself in a situation that is outside the scope of normal human experience (for example, a threat to life, loss of life, violence, natural disasters).
• This situation is beyond our control.
• Intense feelings of helplessness and fear arise.

Ways to adapt to a stressful situation

Coping mechanisms (conscious) are divided into:

Defense mechanisms (unconscious)

Professional stress

is stress that arises during a person’s work activity. For EDDS specialists, firefighters and rescuers, the development of professional stress is expressed in the form of accumulated stress.

Manifestations of accumulated professional stress:

• decreased labor productivity;
• constant feeling of internal discomfort;
• loss of value motives for work (changes in motivation);
• disappointment in the results of one’s own activities and in oneself;
• the occurrence of psychosomatic diseases, stable depressive states.

Professional burnout

– a protective mechanism developed by an individual in response to unfavorable mental influences in the field of professional activity. The process of professional burnout develops in stages, in accordance with the mechanism of stress development.

Stages of stress

The consequence of professional burnout can be a person leaving the profession.

Professional
health is
the process of maintaining and developing the regulatory properties of the body, its physical, mental and emotional well-being, which ensure high reliability of professional activity, professional longevity and maximum life expectancy.

Three questions, the answers to which help to form an adequate attitude towards one’s own activities and the opportunity to realize oneself in it:

• What are the features of my professional activity and how do they affect me?
• What do I have to be successful in this activity?
• Why am I doing this activity?

Eustress

– normal stress that serves the purpose of preserving and maintaining life.

Distress

– pathological stress, manifested in painful symptoms.

Stress

– this is a tense state of the body, i.e. a nonspecific response of the body to a demand presented to it (stressful situation). Under the influence of stress, the human body experiences stress. Personal factors can also cause stress. Stress can be caused by both positive and negative situations.

Signs of stress

:

1. inability to concentrate;
2. frequent errors in work;
3. memory impairment;
4. frequent feeling of fatigue;
5. fast speech;
6. thoughts often disappear;
7. pain appears quite often (head, back, stomach area);
8. increased excitability;
9. work does not bring the same joy;
10. loss of sense of humor;

The ability to respond to intense external stimuli is determined by the individual psychological characteristics of a particular person:

• psychophysiological constitution,
• sensitivity to influences (sensitivity),
• features of the motivational and emotional-volitional sphere.

To prevent external influences from causing distress, it is necessary to develop in the individual such qualities as self-control, discipline, the desire to overcome obstacles, etc.

Physiological signs of stress

are ulcers, migraines, hypertension, back pain, arthritis, asthma and heart pain.

Psychological manifestations

include irritability, loss of appetite, depression and decreased interest in interpersonal and sexual relationships, etc.

Alarm stage

- this is the initial response of our body to danger or threat, which arises in order to help us cope with the situation. This adaptive mechanism arose at the dawn of evolution, when in order to survive.

The biological meaning of the anxiety stage lies in the maximum mobilization of the body's adaptive resources, quickly bringing a person into a state of intense readiness - readiness to fight or flee from danger.

Stages of development of professional stress

Stress is a normal adaptive reaction of the body, which is regulated by the nervous and endocrine systems. Depending on the duration of the irritating factor, the following phases of development of professional stress are distinguished:

1. Anxiety. The first reaction to a stimulus, the level of adrenaline in the blood rises, the body mobilizes strength to fight or save.
2. Resistance. Occurs when the stressor is very strong and its effect is prolonged. The result of the body's adaptation to new circumstances is a decrease in the activity of physiological processes. All changes occurring at this stage are reversible.
3. Exhaustion. The continuous action of a stress factor leads to the fact that the body has no strength left to fight, and its defense mechanisms are broken.

In the first two stages, stress can be overcome on your own. At the stage of exhaustion, it is already very difficult to overcome stress without outside help. It is imperative to eliminate the effect of the irritating factor or change your attitude towards it.

Dynamics of development and consequences of professional stress

Consequences of professional stress

The negative consequences of occupational stress are associated with persistently increased concentrations of glucocorticoids in the blood. They affect the cardiovascular, nervous, reproductive and immune systems of humans.

Consequences of prolonged work stress:

1. Heart rhythm disturbances, increased blood pressure.
2. Gastritis, peptic ulcer of the stomach and intestines.
3. Kidney diseases.
4. Dermatitis.
5. Gaining body weight or its sharp decrease.
6. Depression.
7. Alcoholism.
8. Frustration (stress and frustration have much in common. It is manifested by anxiety, despair, anger, aggression).

Stress and performance of a manager

Stress in a manager’s work occurs very often and is difficult to avoid. Young specialists who have just assumed a leadership position are especially affected. The following organizational stress factors can be identified:

1. The need for constant monitoring of employee performance.
2. Responsibility for the performance of all employees.
3. Material liability.
4. Low motivation of subordinates.
5. Discrepancy between the effort expended and the result obtained.
6. Excessive demands from top management.
7. Lots of paperwork.
8. Interpersonal conflicts with business partners and employees.
9. Condemnation by subordinates of the work, actions, and personal qualities of the leader.

With constant nervous tension, the performance of a manager decreases. He cannot organize the work process normally and often lashes out at his subordinates. This worsens the overall atmosphere in the organization.

Managerial stress negatively affects the performance of the entire enterprise.

The impact of stress on staff performance

Stress and its impact on work efficiency are one of the important subjects of study in modern psychology. New approaches are being developed to solve the problem. Why does work stress occur among organizational staff:

1. The employee’s lack of understanding of his place in the team and the purpose of his activity.
2. Performing different duties by one employee.
3. Reaching the peak of your career, no further prospects for growth.
4. Long absence of vacation.
5. Undervaluation of work by the manager.

The listed factors cause low motivation of employees, which, in turn, causes stress in the work of the manager. A vicious circle is formed - subordinates and bosses irritate each other. The faster a tense situation is resolved, the faster the company's performance will improve.

Stress Relief Techniques

How to overcome stress? It has already become a tradition in enterprises and offices to organize corporate parties. This is a great way to relax, get to know your colleagues better, and build relationships with them. However, holidays are rare, and during working hours, stress in the activities of the manager and ordinary employees occurs every day. Therefore, there are a number of methods that allow you to relieve stress on any working day:

• Before leaving home for work, you need to do several breathing exercises and drink herbal tea with mint, lemon balm or chamomile at breakfast.
• Breathing exercises help calm your nerves at work. As soon as psychological discomfort appears, you can do exercises with slower exhalation. To do this, you need to take a deep breath, count to yourself to two, then slowly exhale, counting to four. Once you get used to this exercise, you can count 3:6 or 4:8 while breathing. Exercise relaxes muscles and normalizes heart function.
• Changing activities relieves mental stress. You can find five minutes every two hours to distract yourself by drawing or listening to music. During your lunch break, it is better to leave the work area. Then stress will disappear and performance will increase.
• It is very important to maintain friendly relations with colleagues and communicate with them on topics remote from work. And it is better to minimize communication with people who cause hostility, trying to follow the rules of politeness.
• After work, you can relieve stress by walking in the park. You need to completely free your head from thoughts about work and problems, you can watch people, nature, birds, take photos. You can take a contrast shower at home.

A short break to music will relieve stress

Preventive measures

You can eliminate the consequences of work stress, or you can try to prevent its occurrence. To do this, remember the following tips:

• always look for something “to your liking”, and not just for the sake of money, if it does not evoke an internal response in you;
• Don’t make work the only meaning of your life, even if it’s your favorite one. In addition to this, let you have a favorite hobby, and don’t forget to devote time to your loved ones and friends;
• take care of yourself: take care of your physical and mental health;
• develop flexibility in communicating with colleagues and superiors, learn to reduce the degree of internal tension;
• increase your self-esteem, improve your professional abilities, grow as a specialist;
• do not try to find happiness or salvation in work - it is only part of a full life;
• Be open to the world, develop an optimistic mindset - and then you will most likely never know what burnout is at work!

Stress in certain professions

The most nervous and emotionally costly professions are those that involve working with people; they are associated with training, education, service, and leadership. Let's consider the tensions in some professions of this type.

Teacher and educator

Working with children is associated with daily nervous tension, which reduces the teacher’s ability to work.

The main stress factors in the work of a teacher:

• Monotonous repetition of the same material.
• The need to follow a clear program, which does not always satisfy the teacher.
• Additional workload in the form of checking notebooks and keeping journals.
• Feeling of undervaluation of work by the state.
• Complaints from student parents.
• The behavior of students, their conflicts with each other.
• Lack of free time.

Educators and primary school teachers experience stress mainly due to increased responsibility for the lives and health of children.

Secondary school teachers have to teach classes to different age groups, the children of which have different social status.

The need to change from one class to another, move from more complex material to easier material and vice versa, creates an additional burden. Constant work stress reduces empathy levels.

To relieve emotional stress, teachers specially developed a set of simple physical exercises. You can do them at any time. Here are simple exercises to relieve stress:

1. Tighten your toes for 5 seconds, relax.
2. Tighten the calf muscle of your left leg, relax, then relax your right leg.
3. Tighten your knees, relax.
4. Tighten your thighs and buttocks, relax.
5. Tighten your abdominal muscles, relax. Inflate your stomach, pull it in.
6. Raise your shoulders slightly, straighten them back, relax.
7. Tilt your head left and right, look forward.
8. Take a deep breath, exhale slowly.

Stress and performance are incompatible concepts. Therefore, psychologists give recommendations to teachers: never yell at students. This harms not only the children, but also the teacher; his strength is quickly exhausted.

If the situation gets out of control, it is better to simply leave the classroom for 2-3 minutes and calm down.

The ability to abstract is very important for a teacher. It will help you stay calm in a stressful situation. It will not be possible to always keep the class under control, help, and solve the problems of every student. The main task is to present the material on the program in an accessible manner and to provide assistance to those who ask for it.

The ability to abstraction is important in the work of a teacher.

Lawyer

In addition to knowledge of the laws, a lawyer must have high stress tolerance. This is the only way to maintain mental and physical health for many years and prevent work stress.

Psychological stress in the activities of lawyers arises due to:

• high competition;
• customer requirements;
• changes in laws and regulations;
• the need to go against one's moral and ethical principles.

For prosecutors and judges, power puts a serious strain on the psyche. Many experience personality deformation and begin to abuse their official position. Having to constantly deal with people at their worst can, over time, lead to unmotivated harm to others. Many lawyers claim that sports training and creative activities in their free time help them overcome professional stress. You can also reduce your workload by planning your workday.

Police officer

Service in the internal affairs bodies is always accompanied by increased nervous stress. Only citizens with a high level of legal awareness, psychological stability and physical performance can cope with responsibilities normally. Causes of stress among police officers:

• Increased responsibility for the results of actions and their consequences.
• Conflict between duty, obligation and moral character.
• Aggressive reaction of citizens to actions by police officers.
• Negative moral impact of criminals.
• Constant readiness for extreme situations.
• The need to simultaneously predict several scenarios.

After long-term work with the criminal world, obsessive thoughts, paranoid states may arise, and an exaggerated sense of the right to violence may appear.

To keep your employees sane, you need to give them time to adjust after each task. A psychologist must work in the department.

Periodically it is necessary to improve the qualifications of employees, their general moral and cultural level. These are the main ways to deal with stress in police departments.

Emergency Ministry worker

Working in the Ministry of Emergency Situations always involves risk to one’s own life and responsibility for the life and health of other people. The main factors of nervous tension:

• anticipation of an extreme situation;
• fear of error.

There are mechanisms for the accumulation of professional stress: chronic and traumatic. Chronic is associated with the strenuous nature of daily activities. Traumatic work stress for emergency workers occurs when they experience a situation that is outside the scope of their normal experience.

Elimination of natural disasters, fires, saving people from death is the specialization of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, but each new situation is different from the previous one, it is difficult to predict anything. This is what causes professional stress.

Entire scientific institutes are engaged in the prevention of personality deformation and emotional burnout in the Ministry of Emergency Situations. They develop and implement new modern approaches to the analysis of professional stress. Employees receive training on self-control and emergency relaxation skills.

Thematic pages > Healthy lifestyle > Recommendations from experts > Recommendations for managing stress in the workplace

Tips for managing stress in the workplace

Problem

Stress at work is a very common and harmful phenomenon. The United Nations, in its report, calls workplace stress “the plague of the twenty-first century.” According to numerous experts, a significant portion of the population currently suffers from mental disorders caused by acute or chronic psychological stress. It is reaching epidemic proportions and represents the main social problem of modern society.

According to economists, stress-related illnesses cost organizations billions of rubles (treatment, workers' compensation, losses associated with absenteeism and staff turnover). Stress, directly or indirectly, is one of the main causes of coronary insufficiency, cancer, pulmonary diseases, various types of injuries, suicide, and many other serious diseases.

Harm caused, mechanisms, consequences

According to surveys conducted by insurance companies:

- 1,000,000 absences from work were caused by stress,

- 27% of surveyed employees of various companies said that work led to most of the stress in their lives,

- 45% said that work-related stress is very high or extremely high,

- one third of workers thought about leaving solely due to work-related stress,

- 70% said work stress has reduced their physical and mental health.

The most common manifestations of stress: increased nervousness, anxiety, increased blood pressure, anger, irritability, fatigue, depression, depression.

Stress factors:

Physical and hygienic working conditions:

— ambient air temperature (a significant increase or decrease causes stress);

— light level (a significant increase or decrease causes stress);

— air quality (air pollution with foreign substances causes stress);

— noise, vibration (a significant increase causes stress);

— compaction, crowding of workplaces;

— isolation of the workplace;

- correspondence of work to the biological rhythms of the body (for example, sleep-wakefulness, meal times, etc.) (the more it does not correspond, the higher the stress);

- monotony of work or, conversely, “race”, rush jobs;

— the presence and duration of breaks to recuperate (the longer and longer, the lower the stress level).

Emotional factors:

— level of responsibility (the higher, the higher the stress);

— realistic expectations from the employee (the less realistic, the higher the stress);

— the degree of danger to the life and health of the employee (the higher, the higher the stress).

Information factors:

— specificity and certainty of job responsibilities (the more specific, the lower the stress);

— clarity and clarity of work algorithms (the clearer and clearer, the lower the stress);

— level of heuristic activity (the higher, the higher the stress);

— level of training in work skills and management of necessary equipment (the lower, the higher the stress).

Communication factors:

— level in the hierarchical structure of the organization (the higher, the higher the stress);

— leadership management style (the more “poisonous” and critical, the higher the stress);

-opportunities for communication with colleagues (the more, the lower the stress).

Below is the approximate level of stress experienced by workers in different professions (according to research):

The influence of stress on various body systems.

Circulatory system. There is ample evidence of the significant influence of a person's psychological state on the development of heart disease. Anxiety, fear, and anger contribute to the development of cardiovascular diseases. Stress leads to the release of additional hormones that increase heart rate and blood pressure levels, and blood vessels narrow. All this can lead to heart attack and stroke.

Musculoskeletal system. Stress, according to the fight-or-flight syndrome, causes muscles to tense, whether the threat is real or imagined. Muscles create additional stress on ligaments, tendons, and joints, which causes pain. In addition, over time, muscles weaken and get tired, hence headaches, pain in the back, neck, shoulder blades, and knees.

Digestive system. Under severe stress, the salivary glands stop secreting saliva, or, conversely, sharply increase it. The stomach increases the secretion of acids, creating excess acidity, causing nausea, heartburn, leading to stomach ulcers. Another possible result of stress is diarrhea.

The immune system. Stress reduces immunity, opening access to various types of infections. In addition, the results of recent studies (2006) by British scientists confirmed the connection between cancer and strong emotions (primarily fear).

Respiratory system. There are a large number of cases where severe stress (a death in the family, a car accident, and sometimes a simple visit to the dentist) triggered asthma attacks.

As we can see, stress itself rarely causes serious illnesses, but it clearly contributes to the fact that the most weakened part of the body “fails.” Unfortunately, with severe chronic stress, this “failure” is irreversible.

People react to stress differently. Experts distinguish physiological and psychological reactions.

Physiological reactions:

- anxiety reaction - complex bodily and biochemical changes reflecting the body's attempt to restore normal functioning; people complain of fever, muscle and joint pain, loss of appetite and a general feeling of fatigue;

- Resistance Stage - Symptoms of the anxiety stage disappear and physiological resistance increases above normal levels to cope with ongoing stress. However, the secretion of various glands increases, resistance to infections decreases;

- exhaustion stage - occurs if stress persists for too long. The body can no longer continue to secrete increased amounts of hormones and adapt to ongoing stress, and symptoms of the anxiety reaction reappear, but usually in a more pronounced form. Exhaustion often leads to emotional devastation, depersonalization, and a feeling of failure. A person constantly feels tired both at work and in his free time.

Psychological responses to stress are largely determined by how we perceive the world around us. People with a pessimistic view of the world experience stress more severely than optimists. As a rule, an automatic unconscious reaction to stress is the activation of one or another protective mechanism:

Stress also produces a wide range of emotional experiences, from exhilaration in the face of a minor new stressor to the more typical negative emotions of anger, fear, jealousy and despondency.

People's behavior in difficult situations depends in part on the intensity of the stress they experience. Mild stress gives us more energy, makes us more alert, active and resourceful. However, moderate stress can already have a devastating impact on our lives, in particular on complex behaviors such as writing a scientific paper. In a state of moderate stress, a person becomes less sensitive to the environment, easily irritated, and more likely to follow certain compensatory strategies. Severe stress suppresses behavior and leads to apathy (decline of feelings) and immobility, as, for example, in patients with severe forms of depression, who feel helpless in the face of insurmountable obstacles or losses.

What can be changed when influencing this factor?

It is known that health risks can be reduced by reducing stress levels to mild (see above), i.e. not allowing him to “linger” at the stage of resistance and, even more so, to move into the stage of exhaustion. Thus, the results of one study showed that increased levels of special protective proteins produced in response to stress increase life expectancy. Short-term physiological stress leads to long-term positive consequences for cells, as large amounts of proteins are released, trapping any damaged or misformed proteins. Mastery by a subject of a diverse repertoire of coping strategies (see below) significantly increases the level of his social adaptation in general and the success of professional activity, in particular, increases the chances of career growth.

Complete relief from stress causes boredom, apathy, reduces motivation for work and knowledge, and the overall energy of the body, and therefore should hardly be considered as a goal of health-improving work.

In organizational terms, it is necessary to take into account that:

— stress increases if the employee’s ability to control his activities decreases, and the psychological demands on him (workload, responsibility, monotony of activity, etc.) increase;

- stress decreases if control increases and psychological demands decrease;

- stress decreases if social support from colleagues and administration, as well as family members, increases.

Enforcement measures

Often a person automatically, involuntarily uses stress reduction methods that can be called “everyday ones.”

1. Eating, drinking or smoking.

Example: People who overeat, abuse alcohol or drugs, or smoke more than usual when under stress.

2. Crying, laughing or swearing.

Example: people who find temporary relief in crying, who like to joke before an exam, or who start swearing after making a mistake.

3. Touching or sexual activity.

Example: people who begin to cuddle or cuddle with others during a difficult time, or those who seek relief from depression by increasing sexual activity.

4. Relieving stress at work or play.

Example: people who relieve stress through intense exercise, sports, or some form of recreation.

5. Speaking and thinking about experiences.

Example: people who relieve stress by discussing their problems with sympathetic listeners, or people who prefer to think about them alone.

Experts call a person’s behavior aimed at overcoming the stressful situation in which he finds himself coping strategies. The theory of coping behavior, based on the work of psychologists R. Lazarus and S. Volkman, identifies the main, basic coping strategies: “problem resolution”, “seeking social support”, “avoidance”. A problem-solving coping strategy reflects a person’s ability to identify a problem and find alternative solutions, effectively cope with stressful situations, thereby helping to maintain both mental and physical health. The coping strategy of seeking social support allows you to successfully cope with a stressful situation using mental, emotional and behavioral responses. There are some gender and age differences in the characteristics of social support. In particular, men are more likely to seek instrumental support, while women are more likely to seek both instrumental and emotional support. Young patients consider the most important thing in social support to be the opportunity to discuss their experiences, while older patients consider trusting relationships. The avoidance coping strategy allows the individual to reduce emotional stress, the emotional component of stress, until the situation itself changes. An individual’s active use of the avoidance coping strategy can be considered as a predominance in behavior of the motivation to avoid failure over the motivation to achieve success, as well as a signal of possible intrapersonal conflicts.

Conscious use of coping strategies can significantly reduce the level of stress experienced.

To purposefully reduce stress at work, it is necessary to make an unbiased assessment of the job itself and your workplace. You need to find out:

- what conditions at work create negative emotions,

- what conditions can be changed independently,

- what situations cannot be changed and must be accepted as they are,

— is it worth accepting them or should you leave.

If you decide to stay and try to change some working conditions, you can use both predominantly physiological and psychological methods and techniques.

You should start by developing an optimistic view of the world. This is due to a well-known dependence: the more negative information is on the mind, the more negative the body reacts.

An important skill to develop is self-confidence. If management burdens subordinates with more and more new responsibilities, you need to be able to say “no.”

Communication with colleagues, discussing with them their and your professional difficulties is one of the effective ways to reduce stress.

Here are some tips.

If during work you feel that some situation or remark addressed to you has “knocked you off track,” do not react immediately. Don't yell back, even if the criticism or remarks were grossly unfair or hurtful. Take a break. If possible, get some privacy. Tell your colleagues that you have an urgent call, a meeting, etc. Take a breather and remember that life goes on. Look at yourself in the mirror (or mentally imagine what you look like now). Not too good? Psychologists have long established that our body and emotions mutually influence each other. Straighten your back, raise your head, straighten your shoulders. You will immediately feel better. Sit for a minute with your eyes closed. Think about something distracting - a movie you recently saw, a book you read, etc. If you're stressed, resist the urge to drink coffee and a muffin or smoke. You can only use chewing gum, mint tablets or a small piece of chocolate, and do not chew it, but dissolve it. You can drink a cup of hot sweet tea.

Basic work organization can significantly reduce stress:

— cleaning the workplace at the end of the working day from excess papers, tools, equipment, garbage, etc.;

- planning the next day every evening (at the end of the working day), indicating the priority of each task, while tomorrow it is necessary to adhere to the drawn up plan;

— the manager needs to think about delegating some of his powers to his subordinates;

— it is unacceptable to skip lunch or breaks; it is better to leave the workplace during this time, otherwise the rest will not be complete;

- during breaks, it is advisable to perform several physical exercises (swinging your arms, legs, several squats), it’s good if you can choose a suitable set of exercises; energetic walking (walking) is also effective.

After work, you can go in for sports, your hobby, or just take a walk down the street.

Exercise is one of the best ways to cope with stress. There are usually exercises for training the cardiovascular system, stretching and strength exercises. You can do just one type or come up with a complex that includes several exercises of each type. Deep diaphragmatic breathing, autogenic training and meditation are also effective for reducing stress.

So, to summarize what has been said, we note that there are four methods that allow you to withstand both work-related and any everyday stress:

— strengthening general health through proper nutrition, proper rest, sports, etc.;

— change of situation, i.e. eliminating what is causing concern as much as possible;

- change in attitude to the situation;

- be able to relax and not be in the usual tension of stress.

Support Mechanisms

Create a work environment that encourages positive relationships so that everyone understands that they can count on the support of others.

Effective individual behavioral psychotherapy.

Group behavioral psychotherapy.

Family psychotherapy aimed at harmonizing relationships in the family.

FAQ

Is it true that people who experience frequent stress gain weight?
Stress itself does not cause weight gain. However, some people, in an attempt to cope with stress, begin to overeat (feeling full, indeed, somewhat reduces the feeling of stress). It is this overeating that leads to obesity. People whose work involves frequent stress should control their food intake. What sport allows you to overcome stress most effectively? Any exercise helps reduce stress levels. The main thing is that doing them is enjoyable. By the way, we are talking about sports for pleasure; sports competitions and the pursuit of records themselves are often sources of stress.