Stress and Exercise

One of the most important things when coping with stress is exercise.

Exercise helps relieve the symptoms of stress greatly and usually leaves you feeling a million times better. It can be hard to get motivated but once you get in to the routine of exercising regularly you will notice a difference in both your physical and mental state.

The reason for this is very simple. Exercise in its various forms releases endorphins in the brain essentially making you happier. Endorphins also help when coping with pain as they have analgesic properties.

Exercising also improves blood flow to your brain making sure that the correct amount of oxygen and nutrients are delivered in a timely fashion.

When working the brain hard the neurons in your brain function more intensely. As they do they produce a waste product that can build up leaving your thinking unclear and 'foggy'. Exercise helps the body rid itself of waste products and thus improving brain function.

So if you're not already convinced - exercise will also improve the condition of your heart, lungs, circulatory and vascular systems and aside from making you feel great, exercise will assist with weight loss in conjunction with a proper diet.

So get going. Don't join a gym unless you are 100% sure that you will use it enough to justify the pricing. Start simply by going for a short walk or swim once a week, then twice a week and increasing frequency and duration as your fitness levels adjust. 

For those who seek more of a challenge try something new and exciting like street dancing or pole fitness (www.twirl.ie), ballet, tap or salsa!

If that's not your cup of tea there are plenty of group activities available like Tag rugby, football, basketball, or athletics (often available through your company - see www.bhaa.ie).

Human bodies need activity and exercise almost as much as we need food and water. If your job is sedentary then you particularly need to take the initiative and get moving.

NB: If you are not used to taking exercise regularly, then it may be appropriate to take medical advice before starting an exercise program.

What is stress?

What is Stress? How Does It Impact?

Stress is a term that is bandied about a lot. What is certain, however, is that everyone will experience stress at some point in their life. How it is experienced and how it is coped with will vary from person to person.
Hans Sayle (1907—1982) - the 'father of stress research’ - is largely responsible for what we know about the human body and stress. He researched the general adaptation syndrome — more commonly known as ‘fight or flight’.
There are three distinct stages to the stress response.

• Stage 1 - Alarm When your body perceives a threat (real or imagined) adrenaline is released. This causes your body to react by cutting off circulation to less immediately important systems (digestion and reproduction) and sends the blood to areas of the body that are responsible for physically carrying you away from the threat. You'll have experienced this at some point in your life — your pupils dilate, your heart rate and breathing accelerates, adrenaline frees energy stores in your liver and blood from your spleen, sending it coursing through your veins.
  A certain amount of stress is healthy and can give you the little push you need to perform whether it be during a race or in the board room. However, if the perceived threat does not disappear, the body enters a second phase
• Stage 2 - Resistance The body cannot sustain the initial phase for more than a short period of time and so tries to adapt and meet the demands of the situation. If sufficient rest from the stressor is not received, the body depletes itself which eventually leads to stage three…
• Stage 3 - Exhaustion By this third stage, your body is at its limit. Long term damage is under way and the body is no longer able to repair itself. The initial response symptoms may appear: raised heart rate, sweating and so on, and the body’s immune and endocrine glands are damaged. With reduced immune function your body is much more open to illness and infection.

The Results of Stress

For the individual, ulcers, diabetes, cancer, stroke as well as other cardiovascular problems can manifest. Depression, anxiety, insomnia, nervous exhaustion and mental breakdown are also common.
For the organisation, issues of contagious low morale, and reduced productivity can results, with increased absenteeism commonplace.

For more information on coping with stress please visit http://www.myworklifebalance.ie/ or email info@myworklifebalance.ie

Other people...

Once you have worked out how your time is split during the day it's easier to say where the wastage is. (Time management 1 and 2)

Often times you can be distracted by other people who you do not report to. Your colleagues nice as they are can sometimes drain your time and eventually your energy as you struggle to cope with the amount of work you  have.

Learning to push back on people is one of the best skills you will develop when trying to reclaim your working day. If the perpetrators are the same people day in and day out then perhaps it's time for a conversation with them discussing what your role is and your expectations of them. This doesn't have to be confrontational and often times your colleagues have no idea that you are already under time pressures without additional work.

Time Management exercise two

Here's another really easy way to get more out of your day. Simply use a schedule broken down in to half hour slots from the time you come in and fill it in. It should look something like this.

9.00-9.30          Voicemails/Emails
9:30-10.00        Morning meeting preparation
10.00-10.30      Morning meeting
10.30-11.00      Coffee break/Begin XYZ project
11.00-11.30       XYZ project

Don't spend more than 10 minutes completing your schedule and do it the night before the day in question. When it's done print it out or hand write it and leave it on your desk to refer to for the morning time.  This can be done in conjunction with exercise one.

Try to be realistic about how long a task is going to take you. Don't schedule a half an hour for a task that always takes over an hour because you want it take a shorter amount of time! You can allow for multi tasking items also.
It will take about a week to get the schedule right as often you can underestimate the amount of time spent on particular tasks but thats really the point of this exercise.

Once you have isolated the parts of your day that take up the most amount of time you can then look at ways to reduce time wasted for one reason or another.
This exercise also helps to help you work out if your work load is too heavy or if it's not being managed correctly.  If it's the case that your work load is too heavy - having several days schedules is helpful to produce to your manager if you need to demonstrate how your time has been spent.

Best of luck!

Time Management - Exercise one

One of the major factors in achieving effective work life balance is managing your day correctly.

There are two reasons that people end up working late or taking work home

1) There is simply too much work for one person

or

2) (this one isn't as easy to stomach) You aren't managing your workload correctly.

If it's the aforementioned then you need to draw this matter to the attention of your manager. Document your conversation - either have it and follow it up with an e mail to them outlining what you discussed.  Make sure however that you have all your bases covered and that you are 100% sure that you are managing your day correctly before you have this conversation.

If you find yourself fire fighting, jumping from one unfinished tast to another you just remembered then it's likely you could benefit from a more organised day. 
Every work environment is different however there are a few techniques that you can try to help you get your day in order.

Make a list (no need to check it twice...:-) 

At the end of your work day make a comprehensive list of everything that has to be done the following day.
Empty your head of all the things that are going to drive you mad and stress you out when you leave the office and put them on paper.  Factor in your usual tasks that you will have to do for example: Check email, check voicemails, respond to both, 9:30am meeting and so on and so forth. Use numbers to prioritize what you have to do.
When the list is made. Leave it on your desk  if secure or somewhere you will see it in the morning. Go home and forget about it.
At the beginning of the following day begin working through your list beginning with the most important first.

This sounds like an obvious and simple exercise and it is but it is really very effective at a) emptying your head of potentially worrying thoughts before you leave the office and b) beginning your day with a sense of purpose. It's natural in the morning to take a little time to fully wake up - this way your tasks are all outlined before you even arrive - you just get to work once you're there.

I will post more simple time management exercises over the next week.  If you have any queries please don't hesitate to contact me at info@myworklifebalance.ie

Kind Regards,
Deirdre Casey

Work Life Balance - More than words

Anyone who has ever worked in an office environment is sure to come across a multitude of buzz words and acronyms daily. We hear them again and again and often the meaning behind the lingo gets lost. The term 'Work Life Balance'' isn't new to you but the concept might be.


Work Life Balance was something that I myself didn't fully understand until I had achieved it.
For me Work life Balance is the ability to do my work at work, to come home unburdened and to enjoy both aspects of my life equally.

For another it might mean a reduction in stress levels at work through flexitime, on site massage and an exercise programme that enables them to feel positive and be healthy.
What it takes to achieve individual work life balance is as varied as the individual. For some people work life balance can be achieved through simple steps and changes. For most of us it involves an engaged employer who sees the benefit in having a happy and healthy workforce.

Those benefits include improved employee retention, a reduction in absenteeism, increased productivity and improved team atmosphere – what’s not to like!
Over the next few weeks I will be sharing ideas on how to create your own ideal work life balance. In the meantime have a think about your own work life balance. Which area gets more attention than the other? How does the invaded area suffer and what steps do you think that you could take to create your own perfect work life balance?
Finally in the current climate where everybody is grateful to have a job there is the risk that our work aspect has taking over our life space. How many times have you come home and ranted about work to a loved one the second you get in the door? Have you often worried about deadline or issues over the weekend? Have you lost sleep about how to deal with a colleague or situation? In the last month have you stayed late or gone in early? Was any of this appreciated or noticed?
Work is danger of becoming the ungrateful husband or wife in this equation. You have slaved over the proverbial stove all day and for what? You weren’t asked to, you felt you should though and so you did.

If you find yourself in a position where you give and you give and you give – what have you left for yourself or for your family? At the end of the day you’re spent and worn out with a pay cheque that’s already spent to show for it. If the routine continues you may find yourself in bitterville. And the worst part is that your employer probably has no idea how much of yourself and your time you have given. It’s not their fault, it’s not yours or is it both? So is the onus on the employer or the employee to create a healthy work life balance?
What can you do as an employer

• Take the time to introduce work life balance policy.

• Introduce regular on site massage

• Create an employee engagement forum where the employees concerns and issues are heard

Something as simple as the introduction of an on site massage service can make a world of difference to your working environment. Massage is proven to lower blood pressure, improve concentration and productivity as well as alleviating fatigue and exhaustion. Another valuable tool is to engage the employee directly in the decision making process. Forming an employee engagement focus group is another easy and cheap way to create a happier work place.
Recently the UK Health & Safety Executive found that “Where employees are stressed because they have no say on how work is done, or need to do work that involves a fast pace and need to resolve conflicting priorities, or have a lack of recognition, understanding and support from their managers, there is a higher risk of the employee suffering a psychiatric disorder”

In order for an individual to achieve work life balance there must be an agreement between employer and employee be it formal or informal. It is an agreement based upon mutual respect and appreciation of the other as well as a baisic understanding of eachothers needs and a flexibility that allows for change of circumstances.