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8 tips for remote workers to cope with stress

The Silent Killer of Productivity

By jessica robinsonPublished 3 years ago 8 min read
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It comes stealthily, trespasses into your inner land of peace and then, overtime disrupts everything. Here, we are talking about nothing else but ‘stress’. We all are familiar with this term and we have experienced it too. However, during the current times, we are experiencing it more frequently than ever and that too in levels that are fairly higher than normal.

In medical terms, stress is defined as the body’s reaction to any change that requires an adjustment or response and the current situation of the pandemic requires a lot of change from us. We are now working from home, we have been advised not to go outside until and unless it is extremely important and we being social animals are having many troubles adjusting to this new normal. Moreover, the fact that the infection is life-threatening, makes us feel tense. That’s why we are experiencing extremely high levels of stress, which are far beyond normal.

Further, as we all know, a high-stress level is not good for our health. It damages our physical, emotional as well as mental well-being. It makes us suffer from health problems like headaches, migraines, chest pain, high blood pressure, anxiety, and depression. As these problems start impacting our health, our productivity naturally lowers down and we cannot stay productive while working remotely.

But, being productive at work is not an option. We have to be productive and for this, it is crucial for us to manage our stress levels. So, here are some tips for you to manage stress- the silent killer of your productivity while working remotely.

1. Kick start your day with exercise:

‘Exercise’ is good for your health. We have all heard this popular saying and mostly what we perceive from this statement is that exercise is good for our physical well-being. But, this is only a part of what the above statement means. In truth, exercise is highly beneficial for our overall well-being. It benefits both our physical as well as mental health. When we exercise, our body gets flooded with happy hormones such as Serotonin, Dopamine, and Oxytocin. These happy hormones elevate our mood, lower our stress levels and thus, help with stress management. Along with happy hormones, exercise also stimulates the secretion of endorphins in our brains. These are chemical substances that have pain relieving effects and reduce stress-induced pains. The Mayo Clinic has also validated these stress relieving benefits of exercise. So, exercise is really helpful with stress management and you should try to kick start your day with exercise.

2. Let the sunshine lower your stress level:

According to the National Center for Biological Information, your body produces serotonin when it gets exposure to the sun. Serotonin is a happy hormone, which reduces the levels of the stress hormone- ‘Cortisol’ in your body and thus, relieves stress. Along with this, the UV rays of the sun, stimulate your skin’s epidermal cells which are known as keratinocytes to make beta-endorphins, which primarily function to reduce stress. This way, sunshine enhances the production of Serotonin and beta-endorphins in your body which bring a significant reduction in your stress levels. So, you should spend some time in the sunshine every day and let it lower your stress level. But, remember to apply some sunscreen lotion before going out in the sun and do limit your time under sunshine to a maximum of 20 minutes. This will help you prevent tanning and sunburn.

3. Practice mindfulness while working:

‘Mindfulness’ is an important practice for stress management. It helps you bring your entire focus in the present moment, erasing the past and future from your mind. As this happens, your thoughts which are the primary cause of stress, get nullified and you experience stress relief. So, you should try and practice mindfulness while working. It will keep your thoughts nullified and stress won’t hamper your productivity. Now, here is a simple way to be mindful while working. If you use a laptop, try feeling the texture of the keys while typing. You can also try to listen to the sound of typing you create. Both these ways will help you do your work consciously and stay in the present moment. Although it may seem difficult in the beginning, over time it will get easy for you to become mindful.

4. Keep an indoor plant on your work desk:

This is a simple way to manage your stress levels while working from home. According to a Japanese study, about 27% of the participants experienced a decrease in pulse rate and their anxiety score after spending around 3 minutes looking or tending to the plant kept on their work desk. Isn’t it a really amazing finding? If you find yourself wondering the reasons why this happened? Let me help you with it. First of all, looking at the plant and tending to it for some time gives you a break from your office routine. Secondly, over time you develop an emotional bonding with the plant kept on your desk. So, when you tend to it, your body releases oxytocin which is a happy hormone. It gets secreted in your body when you feel emotionally connected to someone or something and has stress-relieving effects. Thus, you should keep an indoor plant on your work desk and tend to it like water and touch it gently whenever you feel stressed. This will immediately reduce your stress level and make you feel better.

5. Write your feelings in a journal:

Imagine you have a completely inflated balloon in your hand. Now, can you fill more air in it? No, you cannot until and unless you remove some air from the balloon. Otherwise, if you try to fill in more air without removing some, the balloon will burst. Similarly, your brain is like a balloon, and stress, worries, and anxieties are like air. If you keep inflating your brain- the balloon with the air of stress, worries, and anxieties it will naturally become ill. Your mental health will get severely impacted. To prevent this from happening, you need to give a vent out to some of the stressors which occupy your brain. It is only then that your brain will develop the capacity to handle new stressors every day. So, how can you vent out the stressors which occupy your brain? One of the best ways to do so is to write your feelings in a journal. Every day before going to bed or whenever you feel like, just grab your pen and write everything you wish to write in your journal. Don’t hold back anything. The day you start implementing this practice, you’ll start feeling less stressed and enjoy enhanced happiness and productivity.

6. Talk to a family member or friend:

This point is in continuation with the above point. You can also vent out your stress, worries, and anxieties by talking to a family member or friend. This will produce the same stress-relieving effects like journaling but also give you an additional benefit of getting valuable guidance from your loved ones. Sometimes we don’t know but our loved ones have already gone through the same problem we are going through, earlier in their lives. Under such circumstances, they can help you beat your stress away with their experience. So, you should not shy away from sharing your stressful thoughts, anxieties, and concerns with your friends and family.

7. Instill inner peace with meditation:

According to the Mayo Clinic, meditation is a simple and fast way to relieve stress. It helps you connect with your inner core through deep breathing and induces stress relief. Not only this, when practiced regularly meditation enhances your resilience against stress. As a result, stress no longer impacts you as drastically as it used to. Moreover, meditation is known to reduce your blood pressure, improve your mood, and enhance your concentration power. So, it is really beneficial to meditate every day and you should. If you don’t know how to meditate, then you can learn it with the help of guided meditation videos available on YouTube. The mindfulness meditation channel, Michael Sealey, and The Honest Guys are some popular YouTube channels where you can easily find guided meditation videos.

8. Take the proper amount of sleep:

In a survey conducted by the American Psychological Association, 21% of adults reported feeling more stressed when they don’t get enough sleep. Not only this, 45% of adults already suffering from high-stress levels reported that their condition gets even worse if they don’t get quality sleep. This clearly indicates that lack of sleep can elevate your stress level and vice versa. So, it is crucial for you to get a proper amount of sleep every day. As an adult, you should sleep for at least 8 hours every day. If you have trouble sleeping, you can try and meditate before sleeping or listen to calm sleep-inducing meditation music before sleep.

As discussed throughout, stress is neither good for your health nor productivity. So, you should try to implement the above-mentioned tips for stress management and keep your stress levels at a minimum. May the almighty bless you with a blissful life and stay blessed.

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About the Creator

jessica robinson

Creative content writer at "The Speaking Polymath"

Read my blogs at https://www.assignmenthelp4me.com/thespeakingpolymath

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