Keep your cool this on Stress Awareness Day: The importance of Stress Management….

Stress is everywhere. It is one of the most common conditions experienced by people in the UK today. It is known to contribute to the more serious physical illnesses, as well as being a cause for obesity, itself rapidly growing in numbers. People going to work whilst suffering stress contribute to poor performance of businesses and services, and can be a contributor to poor care, errors, and disasters caused by lack of concentration. The financial cost to the UK has been estimated at £60 billion or about £1000 per man, woman and child.

Most organisations tackle stress at the wrong end. They wait until someone becomes ill, and then start to provide services to improve their health. This is too late. Stress is largely preventable, as it is mainly caused by events and poor behaviour that triggers a stressful response. Eliminate these events and poor behaviour, and people do not need to experience stress.

National Stress Awareness Day (sponsored by The International Stress Management Association UK) which takes place on 6th November, helps raises awareness about stress, how to prevent it and how to manage it once it occurs. The emphasis is on promoting psychological wellbeing of people at work so that they can perform at their peak – ‘If you feel well you perform better than if you feel ill’. It’s about how people feel. People who feel great can often concentrate more effectively on what they want to do, and this is performance.

Stress is a natural reaction to psychological and physical threats. In small doses stress improves our performance, helps us stay focused and protects us from exhaustion. Unfortunately in today’s hectic, achievement driven world, almost every individual experiences larger doses of stress, several times per year. Stress has become synonymous with modern living.

Constant stress causes an inner alarm system to remain switched on and we find it increasingly difficult to switch it off. When not assessed and managed, stress will begin to take a toll on the quality of our life, work and relationships. Eventually it may lead to serious illness affecting key organs such as the heart or liver.

There are many non-drug based ways of dealing with stress. Within the NHS the current buzzword is ‘mindfulness’, a meditational counselling approach. In complementary health clinics there are a number of mind/body holistic approaches such as acupuncture, homeopathy, counselling, massage, nutritional therapy, and hypnotherapy. In their own ways these therapies have a calming and strengthening effect on the mind. Reducing agitation and exhaustion is usually the first step to regaining health.

Directors Andy Roscoe and Kieren Spencer are happy to discuss the different options available for dealing with stress and throughout November they are offering a FREE 10 minute consultation.