The Reality: Increased Stress, Lack of Wellness Prep
Focus on workplace wellness, stress and mental health is an important conversation to have in today’s world. With professional stressors, financial stressors, living in such uncertain times given the pandemic, and other global challenges, stress is on the rise. In fact, the American Psychological Association found that 2 in 3 adults said they experienced increased stress in 2020.
The common response to stress can be to look for outside fixes. Changing jobs, hiring new employees to take on the extra work, or ignoring it altogether. While these may seem like solutions in the short term, they are ineffective in the long run and we often see ourselves increasingly stressed again over time. Long-term stress and wellness management means developing your own resilience abilities before looking for external solutions, so you can turn transitions, difficulties, and problems into possibilities. Here are 5 ways to do that:
1. Know When You Are Stressed
It’s important to identify the signs of stress and anxious behaviour early on, in order to be better equipped to deal with the oncoming stress. Stress is not only mental but there are numerous physical signs as well. The veyetals mobile app allows you to measure and monitor your stress levels, blood pressure, and other vital signs using just your smartphone in under a minute. The app also has the ability to save and view data in weekly and monthly charts. Having a visual of your stress and an easy way to determine how stressed you really are will help you better identify what signs you need to be aware of.
2. Change The Way You View Stress and Wellness
There are good stressors and bad stressors, once we recognize this we can better use this knowledge to manage it day-to-day. Rather than focusing on completely eliminating your stressors for example, take a step back and identify what it is that is causing you anxiety and use it to better prepare yourself for the task ahead. More importantly, identify the early signs of burnout or intense stress. And note when these signs become more apparent and frequent so you can manage them more easily.
3. Learn To Accept Things Outside Your Control
It’s critical to be able to distinguish between what you can and cannot control. It’s easy to believe you can’t improve your situation when you’re overwhelmed. Ask questions like “In this situation, how close am I to the primary cause? Do I have the abilities, knowledge, or resources, to change my circumstances?” Make a list of everything that is within and beyond your control. And most important: Recognize that even when you can’t control something, you can choose the way you perceive it.
4. Understand The Underlying Causes of Your Stress
Take some time to reflect on your own situation as well as the bigger picture and global contexts in order to better understand the core causes of your stress and possible solutions to alleviate and prevent it in the future. Did you, for example, grow up in a household or culture that avoided dispute or conflict? If that’s the case, you’re more likely to feel uncomfortable and stressed in aggressive circumstances. Be conscious of your patterns and instinctive responses, and seek additional help if you need it to develop skills to deal with conflict more effectively.
5. Take Action to Increase Wellness
When we are stressed we often find ourselves wondering why this is happening to us. However, it is important not to let this feeling of helplessness overwhelm us. Instead, think about what we can learn from the experience and find ways to better manage our emotions if something similar happens in the future. Experiment with new solutions and behaviours. Good wellness, and managing stress are skills we must cultivate and build, and it takes time and effort.
About Us:
veyetals, a wellness app developed by MarkiTech (Markitech.AI ™), in collaboration with Queen’s University Computer, Vision and AI Lab, uses a real-time health monitoring system to measure various biomarkers (such as heart rate and heart rate variability, oxygen saturation, respiration rate, mental stress, blood pressure, and temperature) within 90-95% accuracy levels using your smartphone’s camera. veyetals is easy to access, use, and track information on, making healthcare more accessible to at-risk populations without the need for costly medical devices.
Our cloud based, lightweight API allows veyetals to be integrated with the healthcare apps and platforms that matter to you most. The app is interoperable with other healthcare management systems including, but not limited to, SenSights.AI. veyetals drives information sharing with other health management solutions and further enhances the continuum of patient care.
Download our free app here!
Follow us on LinkedIn at veyetals for more updates.
Credits: Harvard Business Review, American Psychological Association
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