Workplace depression and anxiety is taking a toll on Indian employees seriously hampering employee health. According to an article in the Economic Times, there is a lack of adequate anxiety help and depression treatment support groups that can provide anxiety relief that is necessarily the assistance required for people who are ailing from depression and anxiety disorder. I have come up with the 5 steps to cure workplace stress. But, we jump there, I want you first of all identify the cause of your workplace stress. Then, measure your workplace stress so that you can follow the suggested remedies.
What causes Workplace Anxiety and Depression
When I ask my clients who are corporate employees, I get similar feedback from most of them. I have summed up into 6 points below;
- Employees who have 5 to 8 years work experience say ; \”I don\’t enjoy the job any more. I am just sticking around so the home loan gets the necessary financing and for my kid\’s future.\”
- Those who have between 8-10 years experience say; \”I have lost the enthusiasm to learn and progress.
- Some others feel that a team members is better than them. They feel that the person will overtake them and take the job away. They also fear losing their job.
- The ones who have over 10 years work experience feel that they don\’t want to give up the job on hand because of the salary they get.
- Few others say that the responsibility at hand is accomplished in a few hours. They spend the rest of the time in worrying about finances. So, they use that time to invest the money earned to secure their future.
- Rarely do people complain of excess work.
Measure your workplace stress
You can use this checklist of physical and psychological symptoms to measure your workplace stress levels. Here are a list of symptoms.
If you experience more than 2 symptoms, It is time you take charge of your health and consult a counsellor who can help you find ways to mitigate your workplace stress.
Do you experience any of these two physical symptoms?
Hair fall
Low back pain
Acid Reflux
Body pain and fatigue
Snoring and Sleep apnoea
Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and
Increased Triglycerides
Constipation or low bowel pressure
Do you experience any 2 of these psychological symptoms?
Waking up with a thousand thoughts
Lack of enthusiasm to maintain personal health
No interest to pursue any hobby
Feeling of restlessness and fear
Difficulty falling asleep or sleeplessness
Addicted to mobile video games, social media, substance addiction
Anger and Irritability
Thoughts about death
Marriage troubles
Aggravated stress at workplace can cause anxiety and depression. Furthermore, it may lead to thoughts of death and the person may turn suicidal.
5 Steps to cure workplace stress
These are some generic activities you can adopt. Activities may differ from person to person depending on their mental attitude and physical ability. You can ask for a personal appointment to get an activity plan that\’s right for you.
Develop a Hobby
The mind needs to be occupied healthily. Stress comes from getting involved in the mind. This prevents you from taking charge and instead, you become a slave of the mind. Hobbies help you engage the mind in what you love doing. Hobbies help reduce mental and psychological stress. The best way for this is to develop an outdoor hobby you love such as trekking, bird watching or photography.
Start your day light
It is always important to begin your day in a lighter mood. Set up a garden in your house. If you are living in an apartment, you can have a small garden in your balcony. Tend to your garden every morning sprinkling water on them, de-weeding your garden or notice a new leaf. Gardening can be extremely enriching to your mood.
Help others
Set a weekend or weekday agenda to help someone who does not have anyone lookup to. You could visit a destitute home, an orphanage or an old age home. Help in whatever way you can. I suggest you don\’t handout money and walkout. Instead, apply the mind to make a difference to their lives in someway. When you help others, you get out of your self importance and see the world as it is. You instantly feel better.
Exercise with a partner
Physical health is a necessity to stay mentally healthy. However, when you are affected by workplace stress, you think exercise but your thoughts don\’t reflect as actions. So, the easiest way to get to actions to exercise with a partner or buddy. Your buddy can be your trainer or a colleague or an acquaintance who lives in your apartment block. Exercising with a buddy helps you motivate one another to stay healthy.
Learn something new
Always look forward to learning something new today. The mind get refreshed when you apply it to learn something new. it is important to keep the mind refreshed always. One of the easiest ways of learning is to stop saying \”I know\” and instead open yourself to listening. I remember a story that I read recently.
A man bought a new pair of nike walking shoes. The shoes had rounded lace. Every time he tied the shoe lace, it would come off after a few strides. He wondered, doesn\’t the company know how to make shoe laces? Then, he decided do something different. He decided to find out different ways of tying a shoe lace. That\’s when he realised that there were other ways of tying a shoe lace than the methods he knew. The next day, he tried the newly learnt method and went walking. His shoe lace stood firm. There are literally unlimited opportunities and unlimited things to learn in this world. Learning keeps you feeling young and energetic.
Workplace stress that causes anxiety and depression are treatable without medication as long as you don\’t let them aggravate and control your life. Begin by measuring your workplace stress and imbibe the 5 steps to cure your workplace stress.
Contact a counsellor today and get a personalised plan so that you can take charge of your life and live happily.
— Mahesh Krishnamurthy
