How do I know if I suffer from work stress?

Do you know someone who has never felt stress at work? Do the exercise of remembering the last time you suffered it. I am sure that you will quickly be able to identify that moment.

We live in a society that lives faster and faster, and the work environment is not exempt from this situation. Everything is for yesterday. In fact, it is rare that within a work experience we feel happy with our job as perennially, since just the fact of working on many occasions makes us stay in states of alert.

In this article I will teach you to identify what causes us to be subject to burnout syndrome and what to do to feel good again in our work environment. For this, it is very important to know the difference between healthy stress (eustress), and work stress, also called burnout.

• Related article: "Types of stress and their triggers"

What is work stress?

Work stress or burnout syndrome refers to a state of extreme physical, mental and emotional exhaustion, to which a person reaches due to their work situation.

In other words, they are those situations of stress experienced within the workplace that harm the employee's lifestyle.

On January 1, 2022, the WHO already classifies burnout syndrome as a disease, and the International Labor Organization (ILO) estimates that 36% of employees work excessively.

Causes

The main trigger of burnout is derived from the working conditions of the worker. The difference between burnout and stress is that stress can be positive (eustress), since it can make us be more effective, react better to adverse situations and be more adaptable, among others.

Burnout is a chronic work stress that makes it impossible for us to remain in a state of calm and tranquilityIn addition to paralyzing us both physically and psychologically, therefore, burnout is always something negative.

• You may be interested: "Psychology of work and organizations: a profession with a future"

Triggers

Below is a list of factors that can be triggers in the appearance of burnout.

• Being under high work pressure.
• Poor work/personal balance.
• Lack of on-the-job training.
• Tasks to be performed are not set.
• Excessively long working hours.
• Bad work environment.
• Poor financial remuneration.
• Excess workload.
• Uncertainty about the work to be carried out.
• Very limited delivery times.
• Exposure to physical risks in the workplace.
• Little autonomy.
• Lack of support.
• Take work home.

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• Related article: "The 8 consequences of overwork: physical and mental health problems"

Symptoms

The symptoms are classified into different groups depending on what human activities they affect.. It is important to know that depending on the biological predisposition of each person, they will be more or less predisposed to each of them. I will classify them for you below.

Psychological:

• Feeling of sadness.
• Lack of motivation.
• Concentration problems.
• Irritability.
• Short-term memory loss.
• irrational fears.
• Lack of self-confidence.
• General apathy.
• Continuous feelings of frustration.
• Bad mood.

Physical:

• Muscle pain and contractures.
• Excessive sweating, usually in the hands and feet.
• Stomach problems (belly pain, constipation, gastritis...)
• hypertension problems.
• Tachycardia.
• Vomiting or nausea.
• Headaches.
• Sleep disturbances.
• Significant weight gain or loss.

Behavioral:

• Tendency to stay up late or sleep excessively.
• Social isolation.
• Problems communicating with others.
• Absences from work.
• Food changes.
• Predisposition to have aggressive behaviors.
• Incomprehension.
• addictions drugs, tobacco, alcohol, drugs, coffee...

Prevention

As you have seen in the article, work stress can incapacitate us in our daily lives. That is why you need to know how to prevent it.

1. Work satisfaction

Ask yourself why you don't like your job and what can you do to change it.

2. Have a healthy lifestyle

Do physical exercise, have a good diet, practice relationship techniques and enjoy day to day, among others They will help you extract all the stress that is caused by your work.

3. personal support

It is essential that you present your current situation to your closest environment; this it will make you see things from another perspective and they will give you support for those decisions you have to make.

• Related article: "How to give emotional support, in 6 steps"

4. job development

Feeling in continuous professional development It will prevent you from falling into the blockage of feeling stuck at work and, therefore, we will avoid the lack of personal fulfillment that characterizes the burnout syndrome.

5. Check the schedules

Don't overdo your workday. Doing more hours on a specific day cannot become something habitual.

• You may be interested: "How to better manage time at work: 12 tips (and what to avoid)"

6. Don't push yourself too hard

Reduce the number of parallel tasks.

If you experience stressful situations in your work environment and you don't know how to manage them, from coaching and neurolinguistic programming (NLP), I can help you reverse the situation and find your personal benefit as labor.