Develop skills to manage stress
Sunday, December 27th, 2020
LETTER: While stress is a common feature of modern life, defining stress, its causes, symptoms and effects is very complex.
It is often characterised as a primitive reaction to modern organisational and social factors, known as stressors.
Under normal circumstances, people should be able to find ways to balance and respond to new situations. As stress is not necessarily negative, one should remember that a moderate level of stress can be motivational and instrumental in adapting to new situations.
To be healthy, one has to be balanced. A healthy individual is one that can positively interact with other people and the environment. Stress is, therefore, both normal and necessary.
Unhealthy levels of stress at work and in the family may lead to a number of disorders and illnesses including chronic fatigue, depression, insomnia, anxiety, migraine, headache, emotional problems, allergies and abuse of tobacco and alcohol and drugs.
Stress can contribute to hypertension, heart and cerebrovascular disease as well as to peptic ulcers, inflammatory bowel disease and musculoskeletal problems. It may also alter immune functions which may in turn facilitate the development of cancer. Taken together, these disorders may be responsible for a large number of diseases, deaths and cases of disability.
All of us are affected at one time or another by stress. Although occupational stress is by no means a new phenomenon, it is becoming increasingly globalised and affects all categories of workers, including both blue and white-collar workers as well as families. It has an impact on society as a whole. Although stress at work is most frequently considered a problem of industrialised countries, workers in developing countries are also undoubtedly affected.
Because stress is so widespread, it has a very high cost for individuals, companies and organisations and for society. For the individual, in addition to the devastating impact of the serious health impairments referred to above, the loss of capacity to cope with working and social situations can lead to lower levels of success at work, including loss of career opportunities and even employment. It can give rise to greater strain in family relationships and with friends. It may even ultimately result in depression, death or suicide.
For the company or organisation, the costs of stress take many forms. These include absenteeism, higher medical costs and staff turnover, with the associated cost of recruiting and training new workers. It has also been shown in recent years that stress takes a heavy toll in terms of reduced productivity and efficiency.
It is now widely acknowledged that stress at work is a very common problem and that it has a very high cost in terms of workers health, absenteeism and lower performance.
Yet, it has been proven time and again that effective solutions exist for the prevention of stress at work. The best of these offer a very good return in terms of reduced absenteeism, better health, improved efficiency and productivity and lower medical and other benefit costs.
Work stress is an increasing health hazard to workers all over the world. In fact, the World Health Organisation reported, “about 50 per cent of the entire working population are unhappy in their jobs, and about 75 per cent of those who consulted psychiatrists are experiencing problems that can be traced to a lack of job satisfaction.
However, research evidence on work stress around the Asian region, is generally still minimal. There should be more research into stress and the prevalence of mental disorders amongst Malaysians.
Research evidence suggests a clear link between excessive levels of stress and sickness. The most significant cause of all illness or disorder that cannot be explained at the molecular level is stress. Stress-related disorders are not obvious, unlike physical disorders, but the impact may be as detrimental, if not more. We should equip our workforce on how best to cope with stress.
We need to develop skills to manage stress. Such skills include how to manage anger and conflict resolution, think positively, time management, addressing problems and finding solutions. Another effective way is by practicing relaxation. The use of relaxation should be promoted to organisations as well as the Corporate Sector.
Stress beyond a minimum level can threaten the wellbeing of any worker. It triggers automatic, persistent attempts at its resolution and forces one to do something about it. Some people suffer in silence, some act out, some decide to end their life.
Therefore, we should practise skills to handle stress so that we are more able to cope with stress when it comes knocking at our door.
by TAN SRI LEE LAM THYE.
Read more @ https://www.nst.com.my/opinion/letters/2020/12/652501/develop-skills-manage-stress