If one would have to pick one most prominent defining characteristic of workplace related stress, in most cases it would probably be the fact that there is no getting away from it. It takes many forms and derives from very different sources, but one common thing for everything that stresses you out at work is that you cannot just walk away, as most of us would normally do in the face of any stressor.
Moreover, the fact that great many jobs out there require some level of concentration only further complicates the situation. It is very easy not to recognize the signals when our body tries to tell us that the stress is building up and the time has come to do something about it if you are focused on the task at hand. As a result, many of us fail to pace ourselves properly in regard to dealing with stress and end up being consumed by it, so to speak.
The other big issue in dealing with workplace-related stress is our failing to address the problem right away and delaying any action regarding the subject until we finish what we have set out to do. In other words, the proper way to relieve stress is to learn to recognize it and then to apply some technique(s) for dealing with it, depending on personal preferences. While the other part rests solely on us, the issue of recognizing has a solution in the form of – believe it or not – mobile apps. Here are some tips on how to deal with work-related stress.
Measure Your Stress
Stress Check by AIIR, AIRS or a similar app can help you to quantify and follow your levels of physical and psychological stress by examining some of its manifestations via the sensors and camera on your smartphone. It will give you an objective assessment of your stress levels and it will allow you to monitor them much better then you yourself could. These tests and their digital analysis are, for the most part, developed by clinical psychologists.
Therefore, they are the real deal. There is no mystery surrounding them, since the effects of stress are relatively easy to measure if you know what you are looking for. For a small fee, some of these apps will give you access to content that will help you in reducing stress depending on your personal preferences such as yoga videos, for example.
Of course, though they can help you in recognizing the right time to do something about the built up stress, these machines cannot relieve it in any way. You will have to take care of that yourself, but be sure not to hesitate with it, as it will be much harder to do something about it if you wait for a convenient moment. There is nothing convenient about letting stress to build up any more than it absolutely has to.
Noise
Our world is cramped with noise more than ever in human history. It follows us almost everywhere, and its harmful effects on our health are yet to be fully explored. We do know, however, that noise forces our nervous system in overdrive in order for it to filter out the distraction and enable us to concentrate on what we are doing, causing the stress to build up. Apps like dB Volume Meter, TooLoud?, deciBel and similar ones will tell you if environment you are in is too loud and warn you about dangerous levels of noise you may not even notice, seeing we are all used to living in a very noisy time indeed.
These apps use microphone on your phone to monitor level of noise in the environment and may need some tinkering in order for you to get the most accurate results. The simplest weapon for fighting stress caused by noise and the most effective one, not counting systematic solutions for noise pollution such as good insulation, is to use earplugs. Most people take some time to get used to them, but stick with it and soon you will enjoy your own blissful, noise-free environment and wonder how you could live without them.
Photo Credit: Flickr/Sergio
