Come in, run, do this, go there, pay attention to the details, don’t forget, do the other thing, get out. Back to start . Human culture has been drifting, since the second half of the 20th century, towards a conception much more focused on work and individual effort as ways to achieve success. Since ancient times, the basic norm was “work to live” exchanging part of your strength, time and skills for a livelihood that would allow us to have a certain standard of living. But little by little this idea has been reversed and now what we usually find is “living to work”. Even as the so-called millennials are once again aware of the importance of free time and the pleasures of life, work stress continues to be one of the most serious problems in today’s society .
Stress is the response of our body to threats or challenges that arise in our day-to-day lives through a physiological response that usually alters our way of thinking or acting. From a genetic point of view, stress was the reaction that made our primitive ancestors prepared for complicated situations and knew how to react and survive (that is why their descendants are more likely to have this type of reaction).
It is precisely this greater capacity for reaction on the part of our mind and body that stress can be highly beneficial for us. The correct levels cause an extra activation that can make us think more clearly, focus more on the details or work faster . The problem comes when stress levels are too high, we feel that we are not able to cope with the threat posed to us and our body becomes blocked. This situation, which can lead to serious illnesses and disorders, is known as distress .
Work stress is that caused by situations that arise in the workplace due to an excess of assigned tasks, lack of control or another series of situations to which the social pressure that exists around the importance of work is added. Depending on its severity, it can cause emotional symptoms (mood changes), mental (concentration problems), behavior (social isolation) or other more serious illnesses such as hypertension or depression. These are twelve effective ways to not be overcome by stress .
