Stress is part of the job for health care workers
Learn how stress affects healthcare workers and other professionals and explore tips and stress management strategies to help you avoid burnout at work.
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Stress is something everyone deals with regularly, and sometimes having a reminder to check in on your stress can help you manage the stressors in your life. National Stress Awareness Day does just that, and it comes up every November—just in time for the holiday season. Finding ways to identify and manage stress is key to your overall well-being. Keep reading to learn more about National Stress Awareness Day and ways to help you manage your stress levels.
National Stress Awareness Day aims to help individuals take the time to identify ways to reduce stress in their lives. While everyone experiences stress, it’s something that can easily affect people’s day-to-day lives. Taking a moment to evaluate how you’re feeling and develop methods to help you recenter yourself can make a huge impact on your overall emotional and mental well-being. Stress can be a good thing too, and National Stress Awareness Day focuses the looking glass on encouraging eustress (good stress) and managing the rest.
National Stress Awareness Day happens on the first Wednesday of November. For 2023, this falls on November 1. This day is different than National Stress Awareness Month, which is during the month of April. Future dates for this day include:
There are many ways to be mindful of your stress levels to help you maintain your mental equilibrium. Daily mental health check-ins can also help you reflect on your emotions and your current stress levels. Here are some mindfulness exercises you can incorporate into your day to reflect on how you’re feeling:
If you’re just starting your mindfulness journey, a journal is a great way to jot down your thoughts and feelings. It can take as little as five minutes, making it perfect to fit into your day. Journaling every day can help you find your mental equilibrium and spot trends in how you’re feeling, which is key to getting your wellness journey back on track.
Some people opt to journal first thing in the morning, while others do their journaling at the end of the day. Still, others fit their journaling into whatever open moments they have during the day. The key to this exercise is doing it every day.
Breathing with intent can also be a nice break from your day to check in with yourself. You don’t even have to leave the comfort of your desk, bed, chair, or wherever you are to take some mindful breaths. Simply closing your eyes and taking deep breaths can get you started on your mindfulness journey.
While you’re breathing, first let your mind wander before bringing awareness back to yourself. Noticing your breathing, reflecting on your body, and determining your intent for the day are all part of mindful breathing, which can give you the opportunity to check in on your stress levels.
If you want more structure for your mindfulness session, joining a guided meditation session can help you along in your journey. You don’t have to sign up for a special seminar or session, as there are numerous ways to find guided meditation sessions.
Many free online sessions revolve around different themes, such as a session that focuses on releasing tension in your body or taking a special moment to think about the stress factors in your life. What this means is that you can find the exact guided session that works best for you and what you want to get out of these sessions.
“Stress is something that everyone deals with, and National Stress Awareness Day is a great time to reflect on how you’re feeling and managing stress in your life.”
Now that you know some ways to help you identify when you’re feeling stressed out, what are some ways to help reduce your stress load? Here are some tips and methods to consider that can help you alleviate stress:
Exercising regularly can not only be great for your physical health, but it can also help you effectively manage your stress levels. Because exercise boosts endorphins, you can get an energy boost that also boosts your feelings. This can help you overcome stress or even find ways to overcome the stressors, which can improve your overall mental health.
Aside from the endorphins, exercise provides an outlet for physical responses related to stress. Many feel the fight-or-flight response when it comes to stress, and exercise provides an avenue for releasing your energy because it imitates much of how your body would feel fleeing or fighting.
Some people feel better able to tackle whatever is making them feel stressed when they’re organized. To help you organize what needs to be done, a task list can be very beneficial. This helps take a larger task that can seem overwhelming and turn it into several smaller, more manageable tasks.
Completing each smaller task can also provide a little endorphin boost along the way, as you can feel a sense of accomplishment with the completion of each task. Making progress toward completing the larger task can also help to alleviate stress symptoms, ultimately allowing you to recenter yourself and your emotions.
Communicating how you’re feeling and your stress levels to others can help you voice your concerns and can even allow these individuals to help you where they can. Whether you voice your stress to your manager, team, peers, loved ones, or friends, allow them the opportunity to take some of the burden off your shoulders. This is a skill you can also include in your profile and resume when it comes to job searching or advancing your career.
For example, if you have a large project to complete all on your own, you may start to feel stressed and overwhelmed. Speaking to your manager about the project and how it might be too big a task for a single person enables them to reallocate your team to help you out. Your team can share the tasks, reducing the burden on any one person, and can actually help speed up the project’s progress.
Unwinding or taking time for yourself every day provides much-needed relief. Doing something that brings you joy can help you mentally disconnect from whatever is causing you stress. Focusing on something else for a time can also help you when it comes time to re-engage with what was causing your stress, as you may be in a better place mentally to manage the task or obstacle.
Taking regular breaks is just as important as taking time each day for yourself. Taking a short walk, stepping away for a coffee break, or even just going to grab an ice-cold cup of water are all great ways to take short breaks. This can boost your mood and help prevent stress from building up in the first place.
Since stress affects you and your body, it’s important to take good care of yourself. This can help prevent the physical responses to stress or help you better cope with those responses. Eating healthy, well-balanced meals, getting plenty of sleep, and continuing with regular health care checkups are all great ways to care for your body and yourself.
Stress is something that everyone deals with, and National Stress Awareness Day is a great time to reflect on how you’re feeling and managing stress in your life. Aside from reflecting on your mental well-being on this single day, there are many things you can do in your day-to-day life that can help you manage your stress levels and promote your overall well-being.
Need help managing your time to reduce stress? Learning how to improve your time management skills can help you relieve some of your stress.
Want to discover some other ways to help improve your mental health? Learning how to say no and staying kind to yourself are just a few ways to enhance your mental well-being.
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