20 Jan 25 Effective Ways to Reduce Stress at Work

The 2021 Gallup report on the State of the Global Workplace shows that US and Canadian workers lead the way worldwide when it comes to experiencing high stress. The advent of the pandemic has had a huge impact on the well-being of employees everywhere. In 2019, the record for daily stress experienced by workers was set at 38%. In 2020, it broke new ground at 43%.

62% of those reporting high stress during the workday were women. Remote work and schooling contributed to the increase in pressure on women on a global level. In comparison, 52% of men reported feeling high stress at work. Those under 40 years old were another group hit hard by high-stress levels at work: 64%, as opposed to 51% of their older peers.

The increase of stress at work can increase the risk of employee burnout and disengagement. This can result in mental health problems, illness, lack of productivity, and increased discontent. To avoid the ravages of stress, especially in such fraught times, it becomes imperative to do as much as possible to reduce stress at work.

The majority of workers report feeling stressed at work. A survey by Everest College showed that as much as 83% of American employees experience this in their jobs. Taking measures to combat the effects of this ordeal can lead to a better and healthier lifestyle across the board.

No matter what else is going on in the world, here are some ideas for reducing stress at work. These will put you in control of your experience and will alleviate the impact stress can have on your body and mind.

Practice Mindfulness

Many industry-leading companies around the world are reaping the rewards of investing in mindfulness at work. Mindfulness has become even more essential since 2020. Almost 40% of Americans have stated that the pandemic has taken a huge toll on their mental health by increasing their stress levels.

Stress can have numerous consequences on the body and the mind. It can lead to cognitive disorders and increase the risk of Alzheimer’s and dementia. There is also a further risk of inflammation and chronic cardiovascular conditions.

This is why companies like Google make mindfulness a priority. The tech company offers multiple courses that are designed to boost employee well-being through mindfulness. The most popular one, Search Inside Yourself, has been included since 2007.

Participants in the course have reported feeling more relaxed and more prepared to deal with stress in healthy ways. They are also taught to understand the importance of mindfulness and how necessary it is to make time to practice it, even on busy days.

Engaging in mindfulness can make a huge difference in your day. Other companies have understood this lesson and make sure to have mindfulness programs available to their employees.

Aetna, for example, has had the Viniyoga Stress Reduction and Mindfulness at Work programs since 2010. General Mills has had several since 2006, while Intel has had one since 2012.

Mindfulness is an easily accessible way to reduce stress at work. Being aware of what your workplace has on the agenda in this aspect will help enable and educate you on how to include mindfulness in your schedule.

Put Breaks on the Schedule

The most impactful way of reducing stress at work is to make sure your routine doesn’t overwhelm you. Regardless of the number of goals you have on your plate during the day, you should always stick to a schedule.

Leave space for flexibility if you have to make any last-minute adjustments to your workload, but always make sure to include breaks on your schedule and adhere to them. It is easy to forget about taking breaks at the correct times when there is a lot too. Despite this, they are a necessary part of the day.

Taking breaks will allow you to disconnect from the job at least for a few minutes. Make sure to enjoy your full lunchtime and do no work when you have consciously decided to go on break. There should be no interruptions and nothing that gets in the way of you enjoying some free time to get some fresh air or partake in a nutritious meal or snack.

Certain workplaces have allocated slots for breaks. Always remember to take them, even if there are tasks that run over. You are entitled to a set amount of time for your breaks and should always take the entirety of it, no matter what is happening.

If you are in control of your own schedule, be aware of what you are entitled to in terms of breaks and the healthy way to enjoy them. Include them in your schedule at the times that suit you, and always take them.

The job will still be there for you when you return from your break, and you will have renewed energy for it. You will also be less overwhelmed by the remaining tasks and will see a drastic reduction in stress levels. The positive impact of breaks has a lot to do with making it through the workweek as successfully as possible.

Eat Well

Stress can lead to the oxidation and inflammation of the body. It can also have a huge impact on nutrition and leading a healthy lifestyle through following the right diet. For example, the way stress reduces time makes it easier to just order food out instead of making it.

When trying to reduce stress at work, it is imperative to make a conscious choice to prioritize specific needs. Having a healthy, balanced, nutritious diet and sticking to it as much as possible will get you positive results at work while keeping you in the best frame of mind.

Meal prep and cooking puts you in control. You can choose what to eat and how to eat it. You can pack lunches for work and arrange the rest of your meals and caloric intake around that. Making sure to have snacks and ingredients to hand that are energy-boosting will give you extra allies to face your routine.

Breaks are important to keep on your schedule, but you should also stick to the schedule when it comes to meal preparation. Whenever you have a few hours of free time, like on the weekend, make yourself a plan for the week ahead.

Planning your weekly food shop and your cooking around what will most benefit you during the workday isn’t as arduous as it might seem. Work with easy recipes that don’t take up too much time. Include your favorites so that you have something to look forward to and are less tempted to get takeout. Opt for anti-inflammatory and energy-boosting foods.

Here are some ideal components to keep in mind for your nutrition needs:

• Omega-3: These increase blood flow and have anti-inflammatory properties. You can find them in salmon, tuna, mackerel, and sardines.
• Vitamin E: This has excellent anti-inflammatory and immunity-boosting properties. You can find it in pumpkins, almonds, and sunflower seeds.
• Polyphenols: These are micronutrients with amazing antioxidant properties. You can find them in berries, herbs, and nuts.

Make Time for Fitness

Regular aerobic exercise is one of the most useful weapons in the war against the ravages of stress on the mind and body. Even twenty minutes’ worth of a daily walk can have a massive impact on keeping stress levels at a minimum.

While it can be hard to juggle regular fitness activity with a demanding schedule, you should try to do it as much as possible. The most useful way you can establish this part of the routine is to learn exactly what you can achieve through work itself.

Many workplaces have gym facilities that you can use on your breaks or before and after your shifts. Others offer discounts for gym memberships or fitness classes. If you work somewhere near a park, you can use some of your lunch break to take a walk.

Regular exercise will reduce the impact of stress on your body while helping you relax and increasing your blood flow. Stress triggers a neurochemical reaction in the brain that produces detrimental adrenaline and cortisol levels. In comparison, exercise allows the release of endorphins, which will boost your mood and provide natural anti-inflammatory properties.

Most types of exercise are ideal for including in your daily routine, but jogging, walking, and sessions on the elliptical or the treadmill are some of the most popular and most accessible options. If you have a highly demanding and stressful job, you can use workout sessions as a cathartic way to burn calories and negative emotions at once.

Yoga is always recommended as a part of your regular exercise. It has a huge positive impact on the body and the mind and can easily adapt to your routine. It also includes beneficial stretching and breathing exercises that can be done in short bursts at any time of day.

Opt for Healthy Choices

While you can’t always control the stress you experience at work, you can control the way you respond to it. This is an effective way to combat the negative impact of stress in a way that empowers you. It also has the benefit of helping you reduce these stress levels long-term by teaching you how to react to them.

It can be easy to cope with stress by opting for unhealthy options. Fast food meals are one of the most popular ways of dealing with stress at work, as is drinking alcohol. While these may seem like options that offer some immediate relief, they serve no purpose in reducing stress levels on a long-term basis.

They can also make you feel worse and increase the overwhelming pressure on your body and mind. Have a system in place before you experience rising stress at work. This will make you ready to take it on in the healthiest way possible.

Include breathing and stretching exercises during your day to keep you less tense. This will help prevent physical pain and negative emotions while keeping you focused on yourself. Have healthy eating options at the ready after a grueling day at work, especially for the times you predict an increase in stressors. If you have no time or energy to meal prep and cook, healthy alternatives are always available.

Services like HelloFresh will provide you with easy, fresh, and nutrient-rich foods whenever you wish with no long-term commitment. The delivery caters to your particular preferences and includes detailed recipes as well as pre-portioned ingredients.

Try to avoid alcohol consumption and drinking caffeine past the early afternoon. Practice sleep hygiene and always make sure to get a healthy amount of sleep. All of these steps will help empower you in the battle against stress.

You will be ready to face everything work might throw at you, and you will respond to it in healthy ways. Ensuring the balance of life at work and life outside work can also help reduce stress levels and create positive responses to negativity.

Keep Boundaries in Place

Establishing boundaries between your professional and your personal lives is always a good idea. It is also essential to reduce stress levels at work and keep you feeling more balanced and ready to take on any challenge thrown at you.

No matter how intense the workweek is, you have to keep your work separate from your life away from it. If possible, do not bring work at home and complete everything you need to finish at the office.

Responding to emails, phone calls, or texts related to work while off the clock counts as bringing work home. Make sure that everyone is aware that you are only to be approached about work if it is an emergency. If not, they should expect you to reply only once the next workday starts.

Treat your days off as sacrosanct. If you respect your time off and your boundaries, everyone else will respond to that. Sticking to these elements will also help you feel less stressed and overwhelmed during the workweek.

You will be more equipped to handle what work has to throw at you when you have a healthy separate personal life to return to once you are done for the day. You are not paid to work more than your established schedule.

Work meetings and conversations should only happen during business hours. Do not allow work to encroach upon your time off, especially during the most intense times. It is essential to your health and to your productivity to have time away from work that is not affected by it.

Take Time Off

American workers tend to take less time off than they are entitled to. According to a US Travel survey, 768 million vacation days were left unused in 2018, which amounts to 55%. This trend is worrying because it is essential to take allocated time off to ensure that stress levels are kept at a minimum.

Always check what your PTO is and take the full amount during the year. You may have more or less control over when to spend this PTO, but you should be able to have a say in when to spend the bulk of it.

Your time off allocation is there to help keep you healthy. No matter how hectic the workplace gets, you should take the full extent of your PTO. At the beginning of a new work year, sit down with your PTO allocation and plan the rest of the time around it.

When the time comes to take time off, everyone will know that you are due to leave, and they can adapt to it. Apart from emergencies, you should never alter your time off to suit the needs of the workplace.

Your mental and physical health at work is aided by having the right time away from it. If possible, you should travel during your time off. Seeing new sights and experiencing new things will help break the monotony of the routine and keep you engaged and stimulated.

There is an ongoing trend to always be ‘on’ at work, to always be engaged, present, and productive. This culture can make people feel guilty or overwhelmed about taking time off. There is a sense that perhaps they would be failing in their role if they were not there at all times to perform it.

This sort of thinking is extremely detrimental to the health of employees but also to the success of companies. Productivity can be massively affected by a lack of full PTO, and not taking required time off away from work is a leading cause of burnout.

The knowledge behind the impact of a lack of adequate PTO on employees and companies has led many big names to offer unlimited options. For example, Netflix has an unlimited vacation policy to make up for the demanding evening and weekend shifts.

Linkedin includes unlimited vacation time in addition to 17 paid days off a year. It is clear that work-life balance is essential in reducing stress. Your time off is your right and should always be enjoyed in full.

Communicate With Leadership

It can be very easy to become overwhelmed due to work-related stress. However, few people communicate this feeling to the relevant parties out of fear or a sense of inadequacy. Employees need to be able to easily communicate with those in leadership roles at the company in general, but especially when stress is at a high.

Businesses can forget to check in with the individuals working for them. This doesn’t mean that you should allow them to pile on work and stress until burnout occurs. Companies are normal to experience more demanding times with increased stress levels.

This makes it even more necessary for those in leadership roles to know how to manage these situations. When you feel overwhelmed by tasks, workloads, or anything else to do with work, ask for a formal or informal meeting with supervisors and managers.

They will be informed of how the increased stress is affecting employees, which will, in turn, affect the work itself. You will then get better support which can extend to other team members experiencing the same issues.

It is the responsibility of those in leadership roles to make sure that everyone has a smooth working experience. While stress is impossible to eliminate from the work routine, it is necessary to manage the level adequately by keeping employees feeling supported.

Burnout and other stress-related illnesses can cost companies huge amounts of money in lost productivity. If you are worried about speaking up, know that they are aware of these costs too.

Have a Support Network

It is incredibly hard to battle stress on your own. This is why it is necessary to have a support network ready to be there for you whenever required, especially in times of increased stress. Employers should have resources available for support at work. This includes promoting wellness resources, creating employee networking opportunities, and offering an employee assistance program.

If you’re feeling significantly overwhelmed or are looking for more specific support, your company should also make referrals to mental health counseling easily accessible. Going to a counselor will help you feel supported in ways that can instantly change the way you approach your mental health, especially when stressed.

Counseling can teach you effective coping methods and mechanisms that you can keep in mind whenever you are affected by work stress. It can also help you get access to further support, like group therapy sessions or wellness activities.

Beyond work, you should have a personal support network to go to whenever the stress of the job becomes too much. It is essential not to suffer through it all alone. Speak up about how it affects you, especially if you are starting to see the unhealthy impact stress can have on you.

Go to friends and family whenever necessary and confide in those you trust. They will be able to take your mind off the stress you experience at work by reminding you of everything that relaxes you.

Allow your friends to take you to the movies or out for dinner. Disconnect as much as possible and rely on those who have your back at all times. Combining this with professional support will help empower you with the correct ways to reduce stress levels.

Avoid Stressors

Regardless of the fluctuations of work routines, there are specific stress triggers that you may encounter during your routine. Not all of these can be avoided, but it is extremely helpful to keep them at bay whenever possible.

This will help you reduce the impact of increased stress levels while helping you recognize what has a negative impact on you. It is empowering to recognize what causes undue stress and stop it before it can do so.

There are many common stressors that can arise at work. Worrying about a low salary, for example, can have a huge impact on your feelings and can easily make you feel overwhelmed. While you don’t have much control over this aspect, you should communicate with those in leadership roles about how this is making you feel.

If a job is not paying enough to keep your well-being a priority, then it may not serve your best interests. Options can be found. Ideally, if you notice that you will not be paid according to your duties during the interviewing process, you should move on to another offer when possible.

If you already have the job, discuss it with your superiors and see what they can put on the table. Apart from wages, other stressors can include:

• Excessive workloads
• Lack of progression opportunities
• Disengagement
• No social support
• No consideration during decision-making

The detrimental impact of these stressors can usually be avoided through direct communication. However, if the company refuses to support you in reducing the impact, they can have on you, that may indicate that something needs to change going forward.

Learn to Relax

Relaxing is an essential part of knowing how to reduce stress, but not everyone knows how to do it effectively. Take the time to familiarize yourself with how to relax. This will help you find the ways that work best for you. These can be adapted depending on whether you’re at work or at home.

When you go to work if you feel like you’re getting stressed, resort to the relaxation techniques that have been proven to help you. Do some quick and easy breathing exercises, roll your shoulders, pace around the office.

If you can, have a coloring book on hand or doodle on some unneeded stationery. Listen to some music if possible, or take a walk outside for some fresh air during your break. Watch your favorite media or do some quick yoga when you’re at home.

After a very stressful day, come home and take a long bath. Light some candles, treat yourself to a delicious meal or have some friends over. There are plenty of relaxation methods to suit anyone’s taste.

Try a few of them out in different settings to ensure how effective these are for you. This way, you will be able to deploy the best ones depending on the scenario you are experiencing.

It’s also a great idea to form friendships at work so that you can go for a joint break or a hot drink together and unwind no matter how long the day has been.

Prioritize Goals

The only way to ensure that you will never be overwhelmed by your schedule is to organize it efficiently, keeping priorities at the top. In most highly demanding jobs, there will always be new goals and new tasks added to the ongoing list.

It can be hard to navigate a list that just keeps growing, and it can spike stress levels very quickly, so it’s best to know how to handle it. At the start of a new week, sit down and face everything you have to get done by the end of it.

Create your schedule according to priority level. This will ensure that no matter what gets added to the list during the week, you will be getting the most important things done. The tasks that can be sorted with less urgency when things have calmed down will not clutter your workload.

Effectively organizing your goals will help you feel in control even if there are sudden additions to the workload. Working within a team will also keep each member aware of what they need to be getting to as soon as possible.

This will ensure that everyone is working efficiently and with as little stress as possible. As unexpected additions are made to the list, prioritize them too. To make the best of how you tackle your work goals and targets, you can divide your workday into segments that allow for deep focus.

Communicate With Your Team

Most jobs will have you working within a team, at least for some time. Establishing a harmonious work environment with the other members can have a massive impact on reducing stress levels.

While most work weeks can be highly stressful, sharing that with a team can really take the pressure off you. To ensure that you use your team as an effective support system, communicate with the rest of the participants at all times.

If you feel like you are getting overwhelmed or pressured by the workload, reach out to the rest of your team and ask them for support. Be sure that they know you are available to do the same for them.

A team is successful through the results garnered by each individual, but it is usually judged as a whole by those in leadership positions. Working together as a team will have beneficial results on your well-being, your workload, and significantly reduced stress.

Share your worries and your triumphs with your team. The difficult days should be shared too because it will be easier to overcome them together. It is important to be able to develop as a working individual, but through learning from your team, you will achieve better results.

When you join a new team, reach out to them and get to know them. All your strengths put together will create a harmonious approach to work and will keep you all feeling less overwhelmed.

Encouragement Instead of Criticism

Workplace culture can easily be swept away into providing only criticism rather than encouragement. Many of those in leadership positions may seem to focus on negatives and on how to improve instead of boosting their teams with support.

While it can be difficult to avoid falling into the patterns you witness at the top, you should do your best not to repeat them. This is especially important when working within a team or when you are managing others.

It can be highly stressful to be a part of a demanding workplace where the successes and failures of the business will affect employees. This is why it becomes essential to focus the narrative on encouragement instead of disillusionment.

When targets or goals aren’t met, this should be addressed in a way that doesn’t tear anyone down. Creating a positive work culture is within the grasp of all those involved in it. If you have concerns about how supervisors and team leaders handle this aspect, you should speak up.

Within your team, you should always keep the focus on building up, no matter how stressful the day or the week can be. This will have an immediate effect on how overwhelming the workload and the scrutiny will be on each person involved.

If you are looking to progress within a company, you should realize from early on that a positive way of approaching the negatives will help everyone.

Let Go of Negative Emotions

An overload of stress at work can have long-lasting effects that might linger. It can also easily foster negativity, which can, in turn, lead to prolonged feelings of anxiety and second-guessing.

After prolonged exposure to stress, you may find yourself over-analyzing situations and experiencing lingering feelings of negativity. You may see a boss’s curt greeting as proof that they are ill at ease with you or a co-worker’s silence as a sign of distancing.

If more stress gets piled on to the workload in this context, you may find yourself more easily overwhelmed than usual. This can make you feel like the tasks you need to complete are impossible to achieve, and it may make you less communicative.

This situation can be a vicious cycle that creates further long-term stress. Whenever you find yourself in such situations, you should take a moment to analyze your thought processes. Acknowledge the root of what is causing these thoughts and try to move past them.

Holding on to negative emotions and thought patterns would create even more stress. You can reduce this by removing the focus from them. If you need further support in dealing with them, you can talk to a counselor or a therapist.

To prevent this cycle from spinning out of control, you should always increase your self-care rituals after a period of intense stress at work.

Remember to Breathe

It may sound redundant, but knowing how to use breathing to combat stress can help you get out of overwhelming situations. Breathing is something that instantly reacts to increased stress levels. Your breathing may become more erratic shallow, focusing on the upper area of the chest.

You may find yourself having to make a conscious effort to take deeper breaths, but more often than not, you’ll be busy dealing with hyperventilation. Controlling your breathing is a fundamental way of reclaiming ownership over your body’s responses.

It will also immediately help reduce the stress of having to experience the additional anxiety of the physical response. When going through a physical reaction like this, it is important to stop it before it prolongs the hardship.

It is always good to learn some simple breathing techniques ahead of time, but here are the straightforward things to keep in mind:

• When you are stressed, you forget to breathe through your diaphragm. If this happens to you, take a moment to collect yourself and start consciously using your diaphragm to control your breathing.
• The best method to reestablish control over this and relax is to engage in deep abdominal breathing. To do so, you will need at least ten minutes of undisturbed quiet. The aim of the exercise is to reroute the focus of your breathing from your upper chest to your abdomen. Place your hands on each area and guide your breathing until you take deep gulps of air.

Learn Meditation

Meditation is one of the most effective ways to reduce stress. It has the added benefit of being accessible anywhere and at any time.

Once you learn some meditation techniques, you will be able to use them when you need them most. This can happen even in the middle of a hectic workday.

Learning these methods is a simple process. Your workplace may even offer intro sessions to meditation sessions. The employee support network should have information about this on the intranet.

If you go to counseling, you can ask to be referred to specific methods that would be the most beneficial to you. Meditation can help you prevent stress and teach you how to cope with it.

There are several types of meditation that you can engage in whenever you need them. You should try a few different ones to see which one best suits you. There are types you will be able to do anywhere, while some will require a quiet space and time.

Mindful meditation can be done anywhere on your own. Its role is to support you in dealing with an intense workload or pressure caused by stress by making you focus on the present. Guided meditation is a more involved process that can help you maintain stress levels.

You will usually be led through the various steps of this type of meditation by a teacher. Mantra meditation can also be done on your own and will help you in the middle of stressful situations.

It involves repeating a calming word or sentence that will ground you and prevent anxiety from building up. There are many other types of meditation that can be part of something else, like yoga or Tai Chi.

No matter your needs or your time, there is always a type of meditation available to you.

Take Care of Your Mental Health

Another important aspect in the fight against stress is your mental health, which is one of the first affected by an overwhelming time at work. While stress can’t always be avoided, the shape you are in will decide its impact.

During stressful times, you should increase your time to protect your mental health. To be better prepared for these times, you should always make sure to put your mental health first.

The leading cause of stress-related lack of productivity and increased absenteeism at work is employee burnout. Your mental health can be significantly hurt by ongoing stress. You should always make sure to know what resources you have available at work.

Taking care of your mental health when you’re away from the office will help you get through whatever waits for you there. You should create your own rituals and stick to them. Ask for the help of a counselor or therapist. They can provide you with specific methods and coping mechanisms.

Keep a very clearly defined work-life balance. This will help prevent stress at work from snowballing into being all you can be aware of at all times. Communicate with friends and family and engage in your hobbies during your free time.

If possible, choose to work for companies that are established mental health advocates, putting employees’ well-being first. For example, EY, which you may have heard of before as Ernst & Young, was a leading company in putting the focus on employee mental health. It has a dedicated mental health assistance line that employees are encouraged to use.

Unilever offers in-person workshops and extensive training for management. It also has an employee app with plenty of mental health resources.

Make Sure You Are Comfortable

It is essential to your well-being to be as comfortable as possible in the space you occupy, whether at work or at home. This can go a long way in helping you cope with stress. No matter where you work, your job should provide you with comfortable equipment.

If you work in an office, an ergonomic chair is essential. If you have any special requirements, like a vertical mouse, make sure to request one. The more comfortable you feel at work, the less risk there will be of getting overwhelmed by negative emotions.

Physical discomfort experienced on an extended basis can contribute to mental health decay and increased stress levels. It can become a stressor on its own if left unattended and should be avoided whenever possible.

If you have a home office or if you get to have a say in the equipment you use for work, make the most of it. A comfortable desk chair is essential. It will ensure that you are getting adequate support for extended working sessions.

While the most comfortable chairs don’t come cheap, you will be investing in long-term adjustability, ergonomic support, and breathability. If you have to be at a desk during your working hours, this is how you can ensure your comfort.

There are numerous companies that make office chairs of all types, but some have been tried and tested and continue to be at the forefront. If you’re looking for a high-quality chair, look for what’s on offer at companies like Steelcase, Herman Miller, and HON.

You will find a wide array of office chairs with plenty of features. Choose the one that adapts best to your job and to your needs. You can also pick keyboards, screens, and whatever other equipment you engage in for hours every day to ensure your comfort.

Stay Away From Toxic Workplace Behaviors

During times of ongoing stress, it can be easy to get swept away into negative emotions and behaviors at the workplace. You may have some animosity toward co-workers or people in leadership positions. You may be too attached to the office rumor mill and too quick to criticize.

These are human responses to working with other people that are exacerbated during periods of high stress. If you notice that you are engaging in these behaviors actively in a way that perpetuates a toxic work culture, you should take a step back and re-examine what you are doing.

It can be exceedingly hard to have a positive outlook and influence at work if you are feeling frayed and overwhelmed. You should always make sure that you are taking care of yourself first so that your responses can be your own instead of reactions to stress.

If you feel overwhelmed by the stress you are experiencing at work, take steps to receive support. Avoid letting it spill into the workplace and creating an uncomfortable environment.

There are always people around who may increase the stress factors with their behavior. It can be hard to confront them about it in a productive way, but as long as respect is upheld, the situation can be solved.

If one of your team members seems highly stressed in a way that is taking a toll on them and on others, interact with them. Help them also step away from their behavior by addressing what is causing it and how to resolve it.

This will create a harmonious work culture and help all team members acknowledge that it is sometimes necessary to take a step back and reevaluate.

Disconnect During the Commute

The commute is a transition period between work and home but is still your time. Take advantage of it to either prepare you for the day ahead or unwind after work. Whether you’re driving or using public transport, this is a time that you can spend on hobbies and mindfulness.

If you like reading, you can use this time to catch up with your favorite books. You can engage in traditional reading if you’re not driving, or you can listen to audiobooks if you prefer them or if they suit your needs better.

You can use services like Audible to enrich your audiobook experience or subscriptions like Kindle Unlimited to keep you supplied with ebooks.

If you use music to relax or to get motivated, you can put on your favorite playlists that suit your mood on Spotify or Apple Music.

You can also use this time to catch up with the news or local events on the radio. Podcasts are another popular way of spending commutes. They can help you learn about new topics, revisit favorites, and listen to elaborate storytelling or investigative journalism.

You can find your preferred podcasts on various services, from Apple to Google. Commuting can be used for some meditation or even to have a call or a texting session with friends and loved ones. This is your time, and you get to have full control over how you spend it.

Start the Day Well

There are many factors that can contribute to experiencing extremely stressful mornings even before you get to work. If you are already feeling overwhelmed by the time you start your job, your day will suffer from it.

It can be hard to control the chaos at the start of the day, especially if you are a parent or if you have other responsibilities to manage before you are on the clock. This is why it is essential to try as much as possible to ensure a good start.

The beginning of your day should be prepared from the night before. Getting enough rest will go a long way in contributing to the success of your routine. You should then make sure you have enough time to enjoy a nutritious breakfast.

Planning only enough time to run out the door with enough time to get to work will make you feel harried from the get-go. Include time for you in this process, even if it’s just to take a short shower and enjoy a smoothie or some oatmeal.

Balance the Different Aspects of Your Life

As you’ve seen, balance is essential in helping you reduce stress at work in significant ways. There are many ways you can ensure you have control over this aspect of your life. At work, you should not take on more responsibilities than you need.

Play to your strengths, and delegate everything that is outside your expertise to the relevant people. You do not have to make yourself indispensable at work by taking on the jobs of others.

At the start of the day, take a look at what you need to achieve by the end of it. Then, schedule the tougher tasks on your list for peak energy times, and leave the rest later. Being aware of your own biorhythm can help you achieve your goals with less stress.

At home, make sure to disconnect from anything to do with work. Keep your boundaries and set hours in place to help you achieve a healthy balance. This will significantly reduce the stress you experience, and it will help you manage it when it rises.

Ignore Bad Habits

The easiest ways to tackle stress are sometimes the easiest ones to push aside. It may seem difficult to balance things like getting proper nutrition, hydrating, working out, and spending time on your hobbies. In times of high stress, you may find yourself wanting to do very little.

This is when it becomes most important to have a schedule and stick to it. Including everything on it, even the things that seem like they go without saying. Put hydration breaks in your calendar. Stick to mealtimes to create positive, healthy habits.

Go for a walk or exercise at the same time every day. Spend money you would spend on fast food on things that you love. Take control of your life and reduce the stress you experience at work by not falling into the lure of bad habits.

Keep Your Focus on Track

Stress can have a huge negative impact on your focus. Your mind will be trying to cope with the stress and will be using energy that would otherwise go on you being able to focus on your tasks. This can make stress levels spike up even higher, but there are ways to combat it.

Plan your workday ahead of time. You will know exactly what you have to do at any given moment, and even if there are unexpected additions to the schedule, you will know how to organize them around the rest.

You should also try to remove as many distractions as possible from your workspace while tending to your to-do list. This will help you keep on track and feel less stressed.