Career Advice - 10 Tips to Combat Workplace Stress

Stress May be a Normal Part of American Life, but that Doesn't Mean You Have to Succomb to It. Cutting Down on these stress will enhance relationships

By
Relationship Advice Expert April Masini

I work in a very high-stress environment where I am under constant deadlines and important decisions must be made. I love my job, but the stress is taking a toll on my body and my relationship with my longtime boyfriend. I don't want to feel this way all the time, but I don't want to forgo my job either. What can I do to control my stress?

Signed,

Stressed-out Sue

Dear Stressed-out Sue,

Your situation is not an uncommon one, but more and more people are taking control of their stress instead of letting it control them.

Workplace stress affects health and relationships, and health and relationships affect work performance. It's a cycle. Any stress affects your immune system, and when your body is depleted, your emotions get hit, and you don't communicate well. This affects your family relationships and work relationships as well as your work and body, and the whole process cycles on a gradual, downward spiral. That's when I usually get letters from readers about what's wrong in their relationships. And it can all be remedied with the following tips to combat workplace stress:

1. ZZZZZZ. Get enough sleep at night. Residual lack of sleep will catch up with you and drag you down. If you work in an office where you can catch a cat nap, do it. Shut your office door, and lie down on the sofa for lunch hour.

2. Cut down on caffeine regularly. Caffeine is good for quick highs, but when you want to maintain your energy level, you need a different ploy. Sugar and caffeine fixes should be saved for emergency energy boosts -- not regular boosts. They'll wear you down. Substitute water for your caffeine.

3. Get your oxygen moving. Yawn and stretch. Both of these things re-circulate your blood and help you intake oxygen. Do this when you have long hours at the office or a tedious project at hand.

4. Dress in layers. Heat will make you tired. If you can shed clothing as you go through the day, you'll be able to adjust your body to the appropriate comfort temperature.

5. Eat well. Carbs will tire you out. Eat protein and eat light multiple times throughout the day. Don't snack on junk. Snack on good food.

6. Watch the liquor. Obviously, drinking too much during the week, at nights, will take a toll on you, eventually. No amount of coffee can combat the residual effects of drinking too much. Moderation.

7. Take care of business on the home front. If you're thinking about when you have to get the babysitter home or when you have to pick up someone at soccer, you're not going to be concentrating on your job. Make sure business at home is taken care of so you can relax and let it go while you're playing.

8. Don't gossip and don't snipe. When you start making negative comments, you'll become known as someone others can come to gripe with. Before long, you'll be gripe central. All that negativity will wear you down. Keep it positive and keep it light.

9. Throughout the day, hand out compliments and be generous with your words. Don't lie, but don't hold back if something or someone is doing a good job or improving. You're part of a team. Act like it.

10. Make time for you and your partner. Your romantic relationship is a place where you rejuvenate. If you have a rough week at work, book a night at a hotel or a weekend away. It's not a splurge -- it's proactive health care! But don't bill your insurance company for it -- they're not that enlightened. Yet.

April Masini -- nicknamed "the new millennium's Dear Abby" by the media, is author of the best-selling books Date Out Of Your League and Think & Date Like A Man, the two (just released) step-by-step dating and relationship manuals, Ideas for a Fun Date and Romantic Date Ideas, and the critically acclaimed dating and relationship online magazine www.AskApril.com.

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