Why It’s Important to Master Stress

Stress can impact your short-term and long-term health, as well as have a negative impact on work performance and relationships.

Impact on health

Persistent reactions to stress can lead to:

• Health conditions such as high blood pressure, heartbeat irregularities, insomnia, fatigue, digestive disorders, fertility problems, disruption of normal blood sugar control, and psychological dysfunction such as anxiety and depression.
• Prolonged suppression of the immune system, resulting in high rates of disease, recurrences of latent conditions, and increased susceptibility to cancer.

Impact on job performance

Do you feel stressed out at work?

Stress can impact job performance in a variety of ways, including:

• Physical symptoms that recur on work days (for example, upset stomach, headaches)
• Difficulty making decisions
• Dread of work days
• Wanting to avoid or leave work
• Emotional swings at work (for example, anger outbreaks or feelings of helplessness)
• Procrastination
• Inefficiency. Studies show that people under continual stress become less efficient and make more errors, even while they think they are still operating at maximum efficiency,

Stress can lead to burnout--emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and a sense of low personal accomplishment that leads to decreased effectiveness at work. For example, in a recent study from the Mayo Clinic, as many as 30-60% of practicing physicians are experiencing burnout A similar pattern of burnout is undoubtedly found in many other occupations. These statistics demonstrate the importance of stress management in the workplace.