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Your Mental Health

Dec. 21 2023 Safety By Pattison Agriculture

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It's important to maintain your physical and mental well being, especially at work. Anxiety and stress can lead to serious risks and accidents, as well as influence your physical and emotional health.

How do I know if I am stressed?

Being able to identify excessive stress is important. Signs and symptoms of excessive stress include:

  • Feeling anxious, irritable, or depressed
  • Apathy, loss of interest in work
  • Problems sleeping or fatigue
  • Trouble concentrating
  • Muscle tension or headaches
  • Stomach problems
  • Social withdrawal

Getting stressed out at work happens to everyone, and it’s perfectly normal. However, if you experience any of the listed symptoms above, you should take responsibility to work on it. Keep these ideas in mind to keep your work life manageable and reduce potential anxiety and stress:

  • Educate yourself. Learn to recognize the symptoms of your anxiety and how to handle them if you experience any at work. Avoid pitfalls by identifying negative habits and attitudes that add to the stress you experience at work.
  • Practice time management. Make to-do lists and prioritize your work. Schedule enough time to complete each task or project.
  • Be realistic. Don’t over commit or offer to take on projects if you don’t realistically have enough time. 
  • Ask for help. If you’re feeling overwhelmed, ask a coworker for help. Later you can return the favor. 
  • Communicate. Learn better communication skills to ease and improve your relationships with management and co-workers. Speak up calmly and diplomatically if you have too much to handle. Your supervisor may not realize you’re overextended.
  • Stay Organized.
  • Avoid Toxic Coworkers.
  • Set Boundaries.
  • Be Healthy.

What can you do outside of work to reduce stress?

  • Set aside relaxation time. deep breathing activate the body’s relaxation response, a state of restfulness.
  • Spend time with people you care about. 
  • Eat a healthy diet.
  • Get plenty of sleep.
  • Make time for YOU!
  • Talk to someone. 

We all respond to stress differently so, there isn’t one solution to managing stress, but if you feel like the stress in your life is out of control, it’s time to take action.