Stress is not always destructive to the body. “In some cases, it even increases the adaptive abilities of the body, contributes to the development of a creative approach to solving any situations at work,” believes Vadim Demchenko, business coach at CASE. - Such acute situations include, for example, an extracurricular project associated with a promotion, new functionality, minor troubles with colleagues. On a ten-point scale for assessing stress, they equate to 3-5 points. But if at work you constantly experience problems and pressure, then the stress level approaches 10 points. For comparison, we experience about the same tension after losing a loved one.
If you work in a "high voltage zone", you can act in two ways: flee (read - quit) or try to minimize the consequences of this stress. Together with our experts, we have analyzed the most common stressful situations that you can face at work.
Stressful situation 1. You are entrusted with something that is not in your competence
To bring coffee instead of a secretary, to clean the office space for a cleaning lady - in some companies, both the chief accountant and the head of the department can be puzzled by such requests. But there is another extreme - when an ordinary employee is entrusted with the mission to make a fateful decision for the organization, which actually does not fit into his functionality.
Your actions. First of all, pay attention to the type of orders. They show respect for you. Perhaps by trusting something extremely responsible, the leader sees your potential. And if you are regularly given assignments that are significantly below your competence, you should think about how you have shown yourself in your position as a qualified specialist.
“Often people do things that are not their own, because they fall into the delusion: if you follow all the instructions of the authorities, then this will help win his favor and get a promotion,” says Eka Kadagidze, psychologist, gestalt therapist. - Practice shows that they usually promote those who respect professional and personal boundaries. Learn to label them in a way that is comfortable for you. It doesn't mean being rude and uncomfortable."
For example, if we are talking about assignments below your competence, you can use the phrases: “I think this task is for a secretary / specialist. It would be wiser to use my time for ... ". When it comes to decisions that are beyond your competence, convey to management that you are ready to perform this task, but do not take responsibility for the result, since this is beyond your job responsibilities.
And another helpful tip. « If you are trying to defend your positions, pay attention to your posture. Proudly straightened shoulders will give confidence to your words, - says Vadim Demchenko. Practice at home the pose of confident presence. Stand up, neck stretched up, chin slightly raised, chest open. It is very important not to cross your arms in front of you, not to cover your stomach with them: this is your place of power. The knees should be soft, the feet completely on the floor.
Stressful situation 2. You are not accepted by the team
You can convince yourself for as long as you like that you come to work to earn money, and not to communicate. But if you feel like an outcast in a team, then you don’t want to think about your financial condition either.
Your actions. “When a person says that he is not accepted by the team, it is more often not about actions, but about feelings,” Eka Kadagidze believes. . - For example, you want to gain the favor of all colleagues - in this case, it is reasonable to build relationships with each person individually. Struggling to get close to co-workers? To begin with, take a closer look at how they interact with each other: maybe excessive closeness in your team is not welcome. Perhaps you yourself do not like someone, and you are trying to project your dislike on others. In this case, it is important to understand that you do not like this person, not you. This approach will take you out of the victim position and help you choose the appropriate way to communicate, for example, respectful-polite.
And another helpful tip. “The barrier between you and the team may be related to your communication style,” says Svetlana Shnaidman, coach, master of NLP, holder of a master's degree from Weizmann University in Israel. “Wanting to get closer to a colleague, you can tell him some interesting story from your life, and facial expressions will betray fear or arrogance.” Think about what qualities in this person annoy you the most and why. If equal relations in a team are important to you, train facial expressions in front of a mirror, learn to smile and practice a politely neutral tone of voice.
Stressful situation 3. Your boss is a boor
Dust up to the ceiling, caustic remarks or silent contempt - there are a great many ways to express disrespect for your subordinates. Many managers masterly use them, believing that the salary will more than cover the psychological costs of such treatment.
Your actions. To tell the truth, the chances that you will prevail in this situation are not very good. “The reality is that when it comes to the boss, then either you will have to endure humiliation and aggression, or be ready to leave your job if you try to stand up for yourself,” says Eka Kadagidze. “What is important to do in this situation is not to enter into an aggressive reactive relationship and not wait for the situation to change painlessly.”
And another helpful tip. If you have to work in such conditions, it is important to minimize the effect of stress on health. Physical activity can help with this. “Thanks to it, the body quickly utilizes biologically active substances that are released during stress,” explains Vadim Demchenko. “Immediately after an unpleasant conversation, you can do 15-20 squats or walk for 5-7 minutes at an average pace.”
Stressful situation 4. You are in limbo: the company can be closed, you can be laid off.
This is one of those working situations in which the experience is normal and natural. The main thing is not to increase stress by excessive demands on yourself.
Your actions. To reduce anxiety, start looking for a new job in parallel, go to an interview. This behavior allows you to highlight the area that you can influence, keeps you the authorship of your own life.
And another helpful tip. “If you are afraid of losing your job, go through this fear to the end,” advises Svetlana Shnaidman . “What will happen to me if I get fired? I will have to save. And then? I'll move in with my mom. So? You will have to agree to any job, ”etc. As soon as you go through the most severe scenario with your fear, having reached the mental end, you will relax, and the degree of your anxiety will decrease by itself.
Stressful situation 5. Your work involves stress
Customer service, call centers, collection agencies - work where you often have to communicate with people is associated with great stress. Accumulating, it can become a trigger for serious nervous disorders.
Your actions. It is important to understand that the entire work cannot be stressful. Most likely, some part of it causes increased anxiety or nervousness. “For example, if you are a collector, then you need to leave a minimum of space for improvisation in your work,” Eka Kadagidze gives an example. . - Do not try to find the right words “in the midst of the battle”, think over all the phrases and scenarios in advance. This will allow you not to personally get involved in the situation.”
And another helpful tip. Make it a rule to start and end your day in a calm environment. For at least half an hour after waking up and an hour before bedtime, give up gadgets, listen to calm music or sounds of nature, do yoga, do some breathing exercises.
By learning how to deal with difficult situations at work, you will significantly reduce the impact of stress on your body.
Each of us sooner or later gets into stressful situations, but not everyone knows how to deal with stress.
cause of stress any problem situation can become - dismissal, failure in personal life, trauma. And as the saying goes, "Trouble does not come alone." And life is not limited to only one problem. How to survive a series of such events?
If you do not start to act, then stress can develop into depression, and then, in especially severe cases, you can no longer do without professionals and medicines.
It is necessary to gather all the will into a fist and adequately survive the stress until it turns into a real swamp of hopelessness.
Are you really stressed?
Before you deal with stress, you need to make sure that you have it. Let's move on to its symptoms.
- The first will be more likely to cause stress - prolonged exposure to an irritant.
- Shock reaction to what happened. It manifests itself in increased heart rate, sweating, turning off the brain.
- It may well be that the realization of the situation came to you a long time after what happened. This is quite normal - in severe stressful situations, the body turns off the brain so as not to suffer large losses.
- A person under stress is disturbed by a feeling of anxiety. It can be both unreasonable and arise due to the slightest problems. The cashier at the supermarket did not politely answer you and made a whole scandal out of this? Think about your state of mind.
- Stress is evidenced not only by a decline in vital activity, but also by its rise. In conditions that threaten vitality, the body mobilizes resources, which is aimed at preserving life by any means. Pay attention to your condition. If you are as full of energy as ever, able to work without fatigue for hours on end.
- Behind the rise, expect a decline in strength. It will come abruptly without warning. Remember that it will be much more difficult to survive stress in a decline than in an upsurge.
These conditions have similar symptoms and causes, but distinguishing them is quite simple.
Depression is a chronic disease accompanied by clinical symptoms ranging from changes in brain chemistry. The state of despair becomes normal and does not leave the patient for one second.
Stress, unlike depression, is temporary. It can even last for several days. Its appearance is accompanied by such health disorders as increased blood pressure, headaches. Stress can turn into depression. 
Modern classification identifies two forms of stress - positive stress and negative. In the first form, a large release of serotonin is produced, which causes increased vivacity, a boost of energy. The second has opposite symptoms and has a negative effect on human immunity.
Another significant difference is that stress can go away without outside help, but depression, especially in its extreme manifestations, can go to extremes without intervention.
The following comparisons will help you better distinguish stress from depression:
- Stress is nothing more than a reaction of the body, depression is a mental illness;
- Depression weakens a person, reduces his ability to live. Stress in moderation is beneficial.
- Anything that lasts more than a week can safely be called depression.
- Stress is easy to get rid of, but depression often requires professional and even medical intervention;
- In most cases, stress is accompanied by an increase in energy, and depression is accompanied by a breakdown.
- Accept the situation and it will calm you down. Agree that there is nothing to return back. What happened, unfortunately or fortunately, is unchanged. All further actions must proceed from the present and the future.
Surely you have had situations when, under the influence of emotions from a shock you just experienced, you took actions that you later regretted. Why repeat past mistakes? You can correct the situation only by real actions, the choice of which will be successful only for a person with a calm heart and a sound mind.
- abstract yourself. Use a little imagination - it didn't happen to you, it happened to someone else. You are nothing more than an observer. This means that your emotional experiences should be at a minimum level. Keep working, but act like a robot - complete your tasks with absolutely turning off any experience.
- Learn to switch yourself. Usually, stress in the morning prepares for us a series of thoughts that create an atmosphere for the whole day. Come up with a ritual that is mandatory and expels all negativity from you. For example, you can clap your hands and say "Bad thoughts do not belong here, but I'll get down to business." And be sure to smile at the end of this event.
And if a friend during the day decides to visit you again, just repeat everything from the beginning.
- Complain less. This position has two sides. On the one hand, when you talk about the problem, speak out, it becomes easier. But on the other hand, the more you talk about the problem, the more often you return to it, relive it.
Decide for yourself that you are fine. Answer any questions about your life only in a positive way. The main thing is to believe that everything is really good.
- Learn to find the positive in everything That's the only way to deal with stress. This is especially true of stress caused by a breakup.
In love dramas, people make two main mistakes: the first is an attempt to return a soul mate. Before taking action, consider whether it is necessary to resurrect something that has already “died”. Will the effort paid off? It is best to let everything take its course, and then life will put everything in its place.
The second is “My life without this person is over.” But in fact, you know that life went on as usual, and will continue to do so. Please note that the singing of birds outside the window does not stop depending on whether this person is in your life or not. 
Treat the breakup as an opportunity for self-development. Just imagine how much free time you now have and how much you can realize. Direct yourself and all your energy to work, study, new hobbies. Do you have a dream that you never had time for? Here is a great opportunity to make it happen!
Consider the past relationship as an experience, based on which you will build further communication with the opposite sex.
- Be in the community. Put yourself in the best view and go to crowded places - parks, shopping centers. Observe people, find positive moments in the crowd and concentrate on them. Be it a laughing child, a kissing couple, or a funny young man. The main thing is to get a charge of good emotions.
Don't forget to smile! It is in the creation of a smile that the muscles take part. Which are responsible for a good mood and favorable vitality.
- Salvation in routine. Oddly enough, but ordinary homework can be a great helper. Write yourself a plan of affairs for the day, daily increasing the load.
General cleaning is a good therapy. Imagine that with all the rubbish and garbage that you take out of the house, you throw out all the negativity from yourself. It is also very important to remove as far as possible all the things that in one way or another remind of the events that have occurred.
Praise yourself at the end. “I am a big / big fellow. Now my house is clean and tidy, everything has its place.” As in the house. So in the mind, everything should be put on the shelves.
- cry. Did you know that according to statistics, the life expectancy of women is higher than that of men? And all because. That women regularly throw out emotions through tears. The rules of modern society prohibit men from such manifestations of feelings, and very in vain.
- Pets. Animals can easily help to survive stress. Pets like cats and dogs can sense that something is happening to their owner and show their support by whimpering, meowing, or even poking at you with their paws.
If you still do not have a pet and you have decided to take such a responsible step, then do not hesitate to go to the nursery for homeless animals. When you save a little life from death, it will be grateful to you and devoted to the very end. 
- Get emotional from strangers. Challenge yourself to greet 10 random passers-by with a smile or casual words. As soon as you get an answer, you will immediately understand why to do this.
- Favorite hobbies will help to survive the bad. Do what brings you pleasure. Charge yourself with positive emotions that will push out the negative. Allocate time in your daily routine that you will spend only on what you want to do.
- Learn to breathe properly. Breathing is the basis of life. Sufficient enrichment of the brain with oxygen will help you survive any event.
- Rest. Relax your muscles, especially your facial muscles.
- Allow yourself to think in any direction, develop any thoughts. No matter how ridiculous they may seem at first glance. And the most interesting, from what is born in the head, you can write down.
- Free yourself. This can be done by getting rid of clothes. The feeling of nakedness gives freedom. You can, for example, do this before going to bed. Undress, take a deep breath, feel how easy and good you are. With such sensations, sleep will be stronger.
- Imagination will help to survive stress. Imagine that everything that happens is just a dream. A little more and it will be over. Periodically breaking away from reality is useful, but do not flirt and do not lose touch with reality.
- Make gifts. Get a couple of dozen trinkets and present them to people you like. This procedure will charge only positive.
- Keep track of your mood- direct it in a positive direction every moment of life.
Remember that everything depends only on you and your desire.
Stress can negatively affect the body, so first you need to calm down and accept the situation. Realize that this has already happened and you can not change the past. But it is quite possible to influence the future. After the emotions pass, you can start looking for the right option to resolve the kurtosis.
Stress negatively affects the body
Psychophysiological stress in the family
How to cope with stress in the family:
- Switch your attention to your family. Talk to your mother or father, go to the cinema, theater with them. Just walk around the city and talk about abstract topics, remember your childhood. Look around and pay attention to pleasant little things: beautiful flowers, good weather, sunshine. Feel the presence of a loved one nearby. Stress will recede and it will be easier to survive it.
- Arrange an unexpected holiday for the child. Take him to the circus or the zoo. Invite his friends over. Cook something tasty for them. Get involved in the game with them, take up drawing, assembling the constructor. Invite your child to update his room, decorate it with new accessories that he chooses. In the process of communicating with children, you will get a lot of positive emotions that will block emotional stress.
- Grab a pen and paper and describe your problem. Write everything that worries you at the moment, in detail: the situation and the reason, your emotions. Remember, this is not a work of art, but an outlet of negative energy. Feelings and words that for some reason cannot be expressed aloud will be taken over by paper. Don't care what form it will be in. After you finish the work and put the written sheet on the table, imagine that the problem has moved from the body to the paper. Now it must be destroyed. Burn the leaf or tear it into small pieces and discard. This psychological method is sure to help you survive a stressful situation.
- Get on with your daily activities. Home monotonous work will help out a lot during a period of emotional overstrain. Make a plan for work for the week or for the day, do a spring cleaning or a big wash, audit your kitchen, garage or workshop. During your working life, imagine that along with the garbage, everything bad leaves your life. This makes trouble much easier to deal with.
- Be tolerant of family members. Try to ignore their shortcomings. If you want to speak, first count to ten and take deep breaths in and out. This breathing practice is very calming.
- The problem needs to be analyzed. Try to understand why this stressful situation happened, what is the reason for the contention. It is possible that the issue can be resolved peacefully: to ask for forgiveness from each other for intemperance. This position will help you understand exactly how to survive stress and build relationships.
Be sure to believe that everything will end well. Thoughts are material.
Quiet, pleasant music and a warm bath will help you relax. Light a candle and look at the flame for a while. Fire and water perfectly restore mental and physical strength.
How to deal with stress after losing a loved one
After the loss of a loved one, it is better not to be alone. It will be more difficult to cope with grief on your own, so do not refuse the help of loved ones. Take light sedatives - valerian or motherwort.
Let go of your feelings, cry. Talk to family and friends. Remember the bright moments of communication with the departed. Consider that such losses are inevitable, but life goes on. And remember - it takes time for the pain of loss to subside.
It will be much easier if you connect with others who have experienced the same grief. This will give you strength to get through the tribulation period.
Loneliness is not an option after losing a loved one.
How to learn to deal with stress
Some tips to help you deal with stress:
- Look at the situation from the other side. You do not need to constantly mentally scroll through the events that caused stress in your head, the situation may worsen. Try to “dress” the circumstances on someone you know, look at the situation from the outside, and then give advice on how to resolve it. The sooner you do this, the better.
- In some cases, you should not share your grief with everyone. It won't help get rid of it. This is a personal pain, and you will have to decide how to survive stress on your own. Learn to put a smile on your face and feign the absence of problems. After all, talking about stressful circumstances, you again experience negative emotions.
- Focus on the positives. Finding yourself in a tense relationship with a person who caused negative emotions, draw a conclusion: a close, trusting relationship with him is no longer possible. This will make you think, and next time you will be more selective in choosing friends.
- Don't get used to being alone. Do not sit within four walls. Change your image, buy a new thing, dye your hair, meet new people, then there will not be enough time for stress.
- Take care of things that you put off until later. View old, favorite photos. Such an activity will help you immerse yourself in the past and cause positive emotions. And objects reminiscent of a recent experience, throw away or put away.
- Share with a loved one. Share grief with a friend, "cry into her vest." Maybe she will tell you how to survive stress. It is more difficult for the strong sex. They were taught from childhood: men don't cry. The way out of negative energy can be given by going in for sports. Fatigue will allow the body to switch.
- It's good to have a furry friend at home. When there is an animal nearby, it is much easier to withstand stress. Four-legged helpers always accurately guess the mood and help to survive a difficult moment, even just being nearby. It is worth considering and getting a pet.
- Do not forget that life consists of pleasant events. Celebrate good moments: recognition of merit; receiving a gift that you have long dreamed of; unexpected meeting with old friends.
- Take time off or leave. A change of scenery is beneficial and a good distraction from current problems.
Vacation is a great stress reliever.
Watch your nutrition. Eat more vitamins and limit the amount of unhealthy foods, especially salt. Its excess affects the work of the adrenal glands, which can increase the release of stress hormones.
Get some sleep. Sleep well restores strength and helps to survive stress.
Go in for sports, yoga or increase the time of walking in the fresh air. People who lead an active lifestyle are better adapted to stressful situations. In addition, sport teaches a person to breathe correctly. This is the best sedative.
If the process is delayed, seek help from a specialist. In severe cases, the doctor will prescribe sedatives.
Anger, envy, resentment will bring nothing but illness. They destroy the body and soul. Believe in the good and remember, a bright streak in life will definitely come.
Increased nervousness or, conversely, a breakdown are symptoms of nervous strain. How to survive stress is described in numerous sources in medicine and psychology.
Causes and types of stress
The causes of overvoltage can be different. The simplest is excessive exercise. They are exacerbated by lack of sleep and eating disorders. This type of stress is called physiological.
The next type is psychological. It is associated with problems in relations with other people, inability to establish contact, conflicts in the team. Such situations can develop not only at work. Many people suffer from the fact that they do not know how to survive stress in the family.
A related concept is emotional stress. Often it goes hand in hand with the psychological. It is associated with the experience of violent emotions. The peculiarity of this type is that it can be caused by both negative and positive experiences. The reaction of the body in this case is expressed in the inability to concentrate, an increased rate of speech, trembling in the hands, sweating. Reactions such as vomiting or loss of consciousness are possible.
Information stress is associated with the fact that a person is not able to make a decision due to the abundance of information or, conversely, due to its absence. This type is often accompanied by increased excitability, headache, craving for nicotine.
The cause of managerial stress is the inability to bear responsibility or too much anxiety about an overwhelming task taken on. This type is typical for people with a hypertrophied sense of duty. Trying to fulfill his obligations, such a person is able to bring himself to nervous exhaustion.
The reasons for this reaction of the body may be different. For some, this is work-related stress. People often suffer from the monotony of the tasks they perform or, conversely, from the need to switch to new tasks too often. This group of causes includes lack of rest and sleep disturbances.
In second place is the unfavorable atmosphere in the team. Especially harmful is the latent conflict, which exists unnoticed by others. In this case, the tension between employees is exacerbated by the need to hide the conflict.
Conflict atmosphere is also facilitated by competitive conditions, which are often specially created in the workplace at the initiative of management. Rivalry gradually leads to nervous exhaustion.
Another source of overvoltage is the conflicting demands of superiors. Often employees are put in a situation where they have to tell customers one thing and do another.
Personal causes are among the most traumatic. They are associated with the loss of a loved one, troubles in personal life (divorce or separation), illness. In complicated forms, the result of such trauma may be apathy, addiction to alcohol, refusal to eat, suicidal thoughts and suicide attempts.
Stress, like any other reaction, is manageable. People differ in different susceptibility to difficult situations. Some are able to endure hardships because they have good adaptability. Others become hysterical or depressed.
Everyone needs to learn how to survive severe stress, since such a reaction of the body can occur at a time when a person is least prepared for it.
There are many ways to deal with a stressful situation. The approach should be chosen depending on the type of personality and character. Choleric and sanguine people are suitable for active actions. It is especially useful to switch to another type of work or leisure. The main principle is fundamental changes.
Melancholic and phlegmatic people will suit a decrease in the pace of activity. Quiet rest is optimal: fishing, walking, reading, staying in the fresh air. These methods are especially effective if you follow the daily routine and diet. The main principle is peace of thoughts and feelings, the absence of emotional "outbursts".
How to strengthen the nervous system
In a difficult situation, the body needs more energy. However, this only applies to spiritual energy. You should not "jam" experiences with chocolate or pastries. Apathy is accompanied by suppression of appetite only on the first day. Then the appetite returns to normal, and there is a risk of gaining extra pounds.
There is a stable stereotype that nervous overexertion stimulates metabolism due to the release of adrenaline and increased blood circulation. However, it is not. On the contrary, with strong experiences, metabolic processes in the body slow down. Therefore, it is necessary to deal with stress in advance. Methods should be psychological and not related to increasing the calorie content of food.
You should take care of a healthy lifestyle and daily routine, ensure proper sleep and moderate physical activity. It will strengthen the body and transfer physiological stress.
According to American Psychological Association stress can cause headaches, muscle tension, chest pains, indigestion, lack of motivation, fatigue, anxiety, restlessness, distraction, irritability, depression, drug problems, social withdrawal…
Do not rush to panic. Inc.com assures that stress can be avoided even in today's hyper-stressed business world. Here are six simple tricks:
1. Create an oasis for yourself
If earlier people at the very least adhered to the work schedule from nine in the morning to five in the evening, then in today's business world the 24/7 mode is considered the norm. Without further ado, it is clear that such loads provoke many reasons for stress.
A surprisingly simple way to overcome overvoltage is to turn off your mobile phone and computer not only during sleep, but also for an hour before and after sleep. It will be difficult at first, because the habit of checking email will not disappear just like that. It also takes self-confidence to make it clear to the boss, colleagues and clients that you are not available during these hours. And yet do it.
2. Find "tidbits"
Too long a list of tasks can also cause stress, because it gives you the feeling that you will never "rake" it.
Rank the tasks by difficulty (“easy”, “medium”, “hard”), and then by the degree of potential benefit (“large”, “medium”, “small”). You may find only a dozen tasks that are relatively simple, but the most rewarding in terms of return. Grab those "tidbits" first.
In most cases, you will achieve 80% of your goals by doing 20% of the work (yes, Vilfredo Pareto again). In addition, ignore tasks that are difficult to perform and do not promise a noticeable effect either for the company or for you personally.
3. Redistribute the workload
Unreasonable expectations can provoke severe stress, and it does not matter who is the source of expectations - yourself, the boss or customers.
The cure for such stress is a dose of reality. Estimate how long it will take you to solve the problem, how large the amount of work, and, based on the data received, decide what you are really going to and can do. If you are expected to do A, B, C, D, and you only have time for three tasks, then ask your boss to pick the most important tasks.
4. Unplug from the news
The media, like any other business in the entertainment industry, makes money by provoking the audience to emotions. Almost all news, excluding business news, evoke negative emotions in people: anger, fear, anxiety, apprehension, disappointment.
It seems to us that the news distracts us from work stress, but in fact they only increase the overall tension. It's like drinking beer with a hangover: it seems to help, but then it only gets worse.
Therefore, as soon as you hear or see news that may make you angry or upset, change the channel or go to another page. Provided, of course, that this news does not concern you personally.
5. Step away from what you can't control
There are things that you simply cannot control: the economy, transportation, other people's emotions, customer behavior, and so on. It is useful to observe such events and predict their outcome, but as soon as you decide to deal with them, you doom yourself to stress.
By worrying about these things, you cannot change the course of events one iota. Just waste your energy. Change what is within your power and ignore what is beyond your control.
6. Avoid irritable people
You may not notice it, but our psychology is designed in such a way that we project the moods of the people around us onto ourselves (this is the result of the work of the so-called “mirror neurons”). In other words, you can pick up stress from other people. Although sometimes it's just not possible, you should stay away from tense people.
How do you relieve stress at work?