Many people suffer from anxiety and stress every day. Your anxiety and stress can be heightened in different environments such as your office. You can try and get through the day and deal with your anxiety by powering through it or you can change the way you deal with anxiety and stress. Here are nine ways to beat anxiety and stress in the workplace.
Be prepared
Know that anxiety can sometimes pop up out of nowhere. Some people get anxious before a speech, some suffer anxiety before a meeting. If you know what you get anxious about you can prepare for the anxiety. If your anxiety appears suddenly for no reason you can help yourself by being ready for its appearance. If public speaking makes you anxious, practice your speech in front of friends or family beforehand. The more you practice the less anxious you will feel.
Exercise
The more healthy you are the less stressed and anxious you will feel. You can add a couple of nights at the gym to help you de-stress and feel better. Work out your anxiety at the gym. You can also take classes like a kick-boxing class or an aerobics class to help you get into shape and leave your stress behind. Also, you can leave your desk for a couple of minutes and go outside to walk around. Clearing your head outside the office will help your anxiety decrease.
Friends
Be sure you have some close friends around who you can reach out to when you feel your anxiety bubbling up. Your friends can be there to help talk you down or offer words of encouragement. You should be able to call them whenever you have an issue. You need a support network to help you get through your high-stress times. Even if they just tell you a joke to make you laugh, it will take your brain off of the stress for a moment. Friends are our best support system and they will understand what you need at the time you need it. Take advantage of the friends you have when you are feeling anxious or stressed.
Eat healthily
Another way to help yourself is to choose healthy foods. When you eat junk foods your body tends to feel tired and weak opening you up to anxiety and stress. Take the time to eat healthily and you will feel better all around.
Relax
Take some time to listen to some music or play an online game like Dimble for a few minutes to relax. You can take a minute for yourself. This will help you focus on your job and be more productive. People who take time to relax at work are more productive and less stressed.
Hydrate
Drink water instead of coffee. The caffeine in coffee will only increase your anxiety and can make you feel jittery. If you change to water it will help you relax more and hydrate you. This will help you stay less stressed.
Pace yourself
Make sure you give yourself reasonable deadlines for getting your work done. The sooner you have to complete your work the more anxious you will feel. While most companies want employees to work fast, they will appreciate your work more if you are healthy. Pace yourself and make sure you leave enough wiggle room in your duties to give yourself time to relax and feel less stressed.
Meditate
Guided meditation when you feel your anxiety starting will help you control your anxiety and anxious moments. As soon as you start to feel anxious close your eyes and count your breaths. The more you focus on you the less anxious you will feel. There are apps you can use to help you with guided meditation. Those sessions can be as short as a couple of minutes or as long as an hour or two. You should have a couple of minutes to meditate your anxiety away at work. You can also take some yoga classes. Your instructor can help give you poses to ease your anxiety and stress at work and help you get through your stressful and anxious encounters. Some sitting meditative poses can help you relieve your stress and anxiety.
Professional support
If you have tried different ways to relax and ease your anxiety and you are still anxious and stressed you can seek professional help. There are therapists and counselors out there who are willing to help you with your needs. All you have to do is reach out and ask for help.
Whether you are stressed because of your surrounding or because of certain things you can help yourself before it gets out of control. Some anxiety can help drive you to work better and be more productive, but if it becomes controlling or overwhelming you can use the above tips to help calm yourself down. Taking a couple of breaks a day to listen to music and relax can help keep your stress under control. And, if your anxiety and stress does not respond to these tips you can always seek out the help of a professional.
Originally published on Glassdoor.
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