6 ways to combat stress at work

Every place of work is totally different, and the nuanced challenges each person faces mean that there’s no silver bullet for addressing stress at work. Of course, there are all sorts of tips around productivity, communication and time management that can go a long way to easing pressure and stress. For example, 78% of people said that work stress (eg. deadlines, workloads, understaffing) was the main issue causing mental wellbeing problems at their organisation (AXA Study 2020). Tight organisational processes and adequate resourcing can go a hell of a long way to easing a lot of pressure that creates stress and overwhelm at work.

But we’re not going to talk about productivity, communication and time management here. Because we trust that you're awesome and self-aware enough to play with these aspects of your working day to find solutions that work for you. Instead, we’ll focus more on the human experience. Because that’s the one common factor, no matter what type of job or role you have: you’re a human! So let’s focus on human behaviour and six ways that you can combat stress at work.

We are going to look at tips around managing stress using your mind AND your body. This is because stress is experienced by your physical body and felt through your nervous system. We want to consider physical or somatic techniques, alongside business leadership and self-management tips for the mind. To focus on the shit that really works.

Tips for managing stress - the body

There are ways you can support your physical body by processing stress as a physiological response. And there are ways in which we can end up marinating in stress but not realising it!

1. Shake it off

When animals are recovering from a stressful event, they often shake. We even use the phrase “shaking like a leaf” when facing something frightening. This shaking or trembling comes from the limbic brain (the part of the brain that creates emotions) as signals to the body that the fight-or-flight system can turn off as the danger/threat has gone. This involuntary movement is your nervous system’s response in its final stage of releasing a traumatic experience from your body. It also dissipates the stress hormones - like cortisol and adrenaline - throughout the body.

When we keep the body still and suppress other forms of emotional expression (e.g. crying) we are actually interrupting a body process. It’s like stopping yourself from going to the toilet, or even sneezing… In fact, you can even think of crying like sneezing! It’s a body process. So it is very healthy to help your body dissipate and release emotional residue and tension by shaking. Find a quiet spot, a damn good tune and shake like nobody's watching! Your body always wants to go back into balance, back to homeostasis. You can help it out by MOVING! As our friend Taylor Swift once said, shake it off.

If a voice in your head says: “that sounds stupid - I am not doing that”, know that you’re not doing it for “you”. You have an animal body. It has its own physical needs. Why not give it a whirl and have yourself a twerk break instead of a tea break? Let go of the inner-critic and give your beautiful human animal body more of a chance to express itself! Help to move, distribute and dissipate those stress hormones, and allow your nervous system to recalibrate with a damn good shake.

1. Belly breaths

When feeling stressed, our breathing often becomes shallow. Our shoulders are hunched up by our ears, our posture slouched forward. Our lower ribs may sink down into the belly. Because of societal expectations and pressure around how our physical bodies look, many people often - consciously or unconsciously - hold the belly in. The combination of these factors creates dysfunctional breathing. The resulting shallow breaths, breathing just into the top lobes of the lungs - especially through an open mouth, rather than the nose - actually mimic the body in a flight-flight-freeze response. 

The great news is that, just like with shaking, you can support your body with easing stress and switching into a restful state. And this is with belly breathing. Check out this 15-minute guided meditation on Insight Timer to help you practice deeper belly breathing. Deep and slow belly breathing switches on the body’s rest and digest state - the parasympathetic nervous system - whereas shallow breathing switches on the body’s stress response - the sympathetic nervous system. 

The diaphragm connected to the lungs is often cited as the most dysfunctional muscle in the body. Don’t be disheartened if deeper breathing is a bit uncomfortable at first - just like exercise can create burn in your muscles, deeper breathing can create discomfort around the back, stomach and in between the ribs. Go slowly, lie down and listen to your body. It’s ok and normal to feel light headed or for emotions to rise up. Or seek out the support of a trained breathworker or online experts such as James Nestor and Patrick McKeown to help you explore deeper functional breathing.

1. H-A-L-T 

You have an animal body. It has its own physical needs. Poor decision making - that can create more stress - is likely when you are H-A-L-T. That is: Hungry, Angry, Lonely, Tired. In other words, have you been tending to your basic needs? You may be familiar with Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, but we can go even more simplistic here and address the fundamentals. These include tending to your animal body’s basic needs of food, water, human connection, safety, emotional support and rest.

If you are running at a calorie deficit, or you’re eating things that your digestive system struggles with, or if you’ve not drunk enough water, or had too much caffeine, or if you’ve been suffering from poor sleep, all of these things can magnify a stress response in the body. This H-A-L-T model is from AA and highlights how we can support ourselves day to day by ensuring we meet our basic needs. HALT is explained beautifully in this Spirit of Success podcast episode with entrepreneur Ajani Charles.

Tips for managing stress - the mind

Our minds are incredibly powerful. And with anything that is very powerful, if we don’t know how to use it properly, it can create problems. There are thinking patterns - such as speculation, judgement, projection, assumptions and rumination - that are unhelpful and create more stress. So let’s explore ways you can use your powerful mind to help dissipate stress, rather than fan its fires.

1. Venting

Ah, the glory of an uncensored, non-judgemental rant. Disney’s Frozen style, let it go, let it go! Let that wounded part of you be heard, feel your anger, resentment, rage or bitterness. Until you get it out of you, it’s just going to stay inside. If you want to cry and move whilst venting, all the better! This is a powerful way to ease stress that may build up inside the mind.

That said, what is very important here is finding a safe and conscious way to vent. For example, if your boss is stressing you out, it’s probably best not to have said bitchfest at them… Find a space holder - a friend who’s a good listener, or a therapist, coach, or mentor to support you with a conscious vent. It is important that this person can hold space in a non-judgemental way and also help you glean insights from the situation and not get stuck in a victim narrative. 

If you don’t have a person like that you can trust, find one. Expand your network, find and connect to people who you respect and are doing things in life that you want for yourself. Speak to them. You can also try writing down your thoughts (just make sure you delete them or keep them somewhere safe...) Struggling in silence deepens the suffering and stuckness. 

1. Reframing

If you end up ruminating - repeating the same stories again and again without moving past them - you are firing and wiring those same neural connections in the brain. This will keep your thinking about a situation fixed, and so you are likely to stay stuck. In this case, talking about a situation again and again is like trying to get your face clean by rubbing mud all over it. It’s time to find a fresh perspective! 

How can you shift your thinking about a situation? For example, maybe it’s not really about you - how are you making this situation about you? You can also try zooming out - e.g. ask yourself “in 5 years’ time, will this really matter?” To paraphrase the late great author Douglas Adams, in the grand scheme of life, the universe and everything, does this really matter? Probably not. But not in a way that’s nihilistic or uncaring about how you’re spending your time. It’s a case of being curious and honest with yourself about how you may be getting worked up and giving more energy to something than it deserves. 

You can also ask yourself - being honest and also compassionate - how are you contributing to this situation and making this more stressful? This is not about blaming yourself but seeing where there may be ways that - unwittingly - you are creating more stress for yourself that you realise. Go gently with this line of enquiry, as it can be triggering. But it is also a way to empower yourself to change unhelpful behaviours that you may have picked up along the way. Find someone to share these thoughts with who can raise your spirits and help you navigate this.

During the reframing process, you begin to see that your challenges are actually just steps in your awakening journey and, therefore, part of your personal evolution.

1. Self-talk

How do you speak to yourself? Notice where you are affirming narratives that create more tension: “I have to keep working” “I’ve got to get that TPS report done” “I should check my emails”  “I need to be more disciplined” “I should have known better”. Perhaps.
Many of us have a fierce internal critic. And although we can hold ourselves to high standards, we can end up creating a lot more pressure through overthinking and negative self-talk. 

In fact, self-talk is very revealing and worth exploring. For example, you may be operating with an out-dated view about the conditions needed to be successful at work. These are reflected by the pressures we place on ourselves: hustle, grind, working long hours, always-on culture. The majority of us are still operating within an outdated system that’s no longer fit for purpose. Many people also have unhealthy subconscious beliefs driving  their ambition: of not feeling good enough, or needing to compete with others. These wounded narratives fuel hustle culture and burnout.

By getting curious about your self-talk, you can discover more about what’s driving you. And you can also change your self-talk.

Try softening the language you use - how would you speak to someone you love? Or a small child? Would it be with the same words and tone? Or would there be more patience, understanding and support? It can take time, repetition and patience to shift self-talk. But it is revolutionary in building up self-worth and learning to manage stress.

So there we have it! Six ways that you can support your mind and body in combating stress at work. It is deeply empowering to own your own emotions and take responsibility for where you are at. 

That said, please know that you always have a choice. You do not need to stay in a situation, environment or relationship that continually creates high levels of stress and anxiety for you. Toxic workplace cultures are products of wounded patriarchal systems that are designed to maintain the status quo. 

Perhaps the stress you feel is your inner-knowing that this situation is harmful at some level. Trust your gut. Your animal body may be telling you what is not in alignment through stress. So it’s not so much about combating stress to “be better at work”, but rather embracing more of your humanness and honouring your basic needs. Because we only get this one life. And your beautiful mind and body utterly deserve every happiness. Let’s shake to that!

Do you have a technique or tip for managing stress at work? Let us know - share your wisdom in the comments. We all can learn from each other’s journeys and lived experience.

Author: Briony Gunson, Mindset Coach, Meditation Teacher and Trauma-Informed Breathwork Facilitator. Check out her work at BrionyGunson.com