Why Does Work Cause Stress?

"Well," you might ask, "That's all very nice about reacting to the leopard in the tree, but why does my work trigger a stress reaction - I haven't noticed any leopards about." It seems that the brain is not very sophisticated about recognizing danger: it reacts to an angry boss, or an upcoming deadline, or an office bully in just the way it would react to the leopard: it starts to mobilize the stress hormones to either fight or run away. But in the office you can't do either one - you can't punch people in the nose and you have to come back tomorrow, even if you don't want to. This combination of perceiving danger and not being able to do anything about it triggers job stress, and it won't stop until you can either fight or flee.

More Control Means Less Stress

If lack of control makes stress worse, then it follows that being in control counters stress. "Being in control" means different things to different people. For some workers, it just means getting to decide when they take their breaks, and to have some flexibility in scheduling. For others, it means getting to decide how to get the job done: what order to machine the parts or how to process the forms most efficiently. But for all workers, getting to make decisions about how and when to do their job reduces the feeling of danger, lowers stress and improves health.

Learning Conquers Stress

Many, many studies show that one of the best things you can do to reduce your stress level is to start learning something new. Ideally, it should be something new at work, but that's not necessary. If you're feeling stress at work, taking an evening course, or even listening to books on tape helps put you back in control of your life and, as we've seen, more control produces less stress.

Social Support Helps Fight Stress

The last big thing that you can do to reduce your stress level is to build up a set of friends to support you. Studies show that, when assembly line workers are allowed to talk and socialize at their work stations, their level of stress goes down and the quality and speed of their work goes up. Similarly, if you can walk down the hall and drop in on a friend for a five-minute conversation, the social contact will start to reduce your anxiety and the stress associated with it.

What Does This All Mean For You?

We started out with the fuzzy thinking that produces notions like "good stress," and we learned that stress is inherently bad for you - very bad. We discovered that stress is not just in your head - it's making changes in your entire body. And we learned why we have stress in the first place - it's a leftover reaction to perceived danger, that gets triggered by modern-day situations like toxic work environments. And we learned at least three ways to reduce your stress level - take more control, start learning new skills, and develop a social support network. The bottom line is this: you need to take job stress seriously, because it can kill you; and there are actions you can take right now, on your own, to start lowering your stress.

About Bruce Taylor

Bruce Taylor is the owner and principal of Unison Coaching, and helps people deal with difficult tasks and decisions in their lives. Bruce specializes in helping workers cope with stressful jobs, toxic job environments, and workplace bullying. He can be reached at bruce_taylor@unisoncoaching.com
About the Author

Bruce Taylor is the owner and principal of Unison Coaching, and helps people deal with difficult tasks and decisions in their lives. Bruce specializes in helping workers cope with stressful jobs, toxic job environments, and workplace bullying. He can be reached at bruce_taylor@unisoncoaching.com

Written by: Bruce Taylor