Coping with stress at work and on the home front

By Marjorie Anglin, Ph.D.

In today’s fast-paced, high technology society, the constant emotional demands made on us in both the workplace and homestead can create chronic stress. While some amount of stress is natural, long-term unrelieved stress often leads to burnout, reduced health and wellbeing. What are some of the common work/home stressors?

Mental and emotional demands at work can lead to work overload. Mental demands are the degree to which one’s job requires constant and sustained mental effort to carry out one’s duties. Research, computer programming, creative jobs all require a sustained mental effort which can lead to stress and burnout. Emotional job demands relate to emotionally stressful situations and difficult relationships at work. Increasingly more people are being employed in the service industries and are required to expend constant amounts of emotional energy on their jobs. Consider the nature of health care professionals, for example, who constantly deal with emotionally stressful situations as they work with the mentally or physically ill clients. These professionals are at risk for burnout if they do not have an adequate coping strategy for dealing with the constant stressors on the job.

Mental and emotional demands at home can also lead to chronic stress. In the home, mental stress can take the form of constantly having to plan and co-ordinate the activities of spouse and children (i.e., helping with children’s homework, extra-curricular activities, remembering appointments). While some people are excellent at multi-tasking, the long-term effects can lead to health concerns. Emotional stress at home, on the other hand, relates to how often emotional issues happen: Personal frustrations with partners and children, general dissatisfaction with relationships, caring for aging parents, experiencing the debilitating effects of arguments. These constant stressors have a cumulative effect, so that eventually even small increments of stress can become intolerable.

Spillover effects of combined work and home stress

Research shows the effects of home and work stress on each other creates a phenomenon of the spillover effect.  For example, poor relations with coworkers can lead to poor relations with family members. This theory predicts that bringing stressors from work into the home, and reacting negatively to home situations, can lead to detrimental effects in the marriage. Similarly, bringing home stresses into the workplace can be used to predict negative consequences at work (i.e. absenteeism, reduced productivity, job loss). It has been shown that the combined effects of work-related stress on home life and home-related stress on work on a sustained basis can result in reduced health and well-being, a drain on both physical and emotional energy reserves and ultimately burnout and illness.

Effective coping strategies

Each individual has different abilities to tolerate stress; what may be stress overload for one person may act as an exciting stimulant for another. People differ in the levels of support they have to soften the negative impact of constant stresses. People also differ in their perception of their ability to cope adequately with multiple stressors. So what might serve to overwhelm one person because the situation is seen as threatening and hopeless might not have the same effect on another who assesses a similar situation as non-threatening and completely under control. Given the individual differences in coping abilities, skills and emotional support, there are certain coping strategies which are helpful to everyone in reducing the combined effects of stress at work and home: humor; self care and a positive mental attitude.

Humor

Having a sense of humor, or not to take ourselves so seriously is an excellent way to reduce stress levels. We all have this ability and with practice, it can become a handy coping strategy. Humor can keep the morale going under stressful situations and laughter is healing. Sharing jokes, making light fare of a potentially depressing exchange on the job or at home can go a long way to reduce stress.

Self care

Taking time out for one’s own self care on a regular basis is another method of coping with the effects of multiple and prolonged stressors. Effective health care measures include using relaxation techniques such as, exercise, meditation, massages, practicing deep breathing, listening to soothing music and reconnecting with nature. Scheduling specific times throughout your busy week for self care will be both rewarding and renewing.

Positive attitude

Maintaining a positive attitude comes easily to some persons but can be difficult for others. Facing multiple stressors at work and home can put one’s positive attitude to the test. However, getting into the habit of being grateful, of preparing a daily gratitude list, of finding at least three things to be grateful for on a daily basis, goes a long way to create a positive mental attitude. Making an effort to see the positive in as many stressful situations as possible will also help to reduce the detrimental effects of those situations.

While there are numerous coping strategies, the three mentioned here will go a long way to relieve stress. The important first step is to find the methods that work for you and to make a commitment to begin to reduce your stress levels and interrupt the inevitable stress-related complaints, or disorders which may avoided if timely action is taken.