Dealing with Stress

Stress affects different people in different ways, but what is it?

The HSE defines stress as “the adverse reaction people have to excessive pressure or other types of demand placed on them”. Pressure is part of all work and helps keep us motivated. But excessive pressure can lead to stress which undermines performance, is costly to employers and can make people ill. Work-related stress is a major cause of ill health. That means sickness absence, high staff turnover and poor performance in your organisation.

Stress has been around for a long time and isn’t something that has been invented just for us.

So what is it? Back in the days of our early ancestors we developed the ability to react to dangerous situations by either fighting or running away. The way that our bodies react in this situation is to release copious amounts of the hormones adrenaline and noradrenaline.

Initially they can have the affect of improving performance and they ensure that we have the best chance of surviving and living to fight another day. However, the excessive release of these hormones can then trigger adverse reactions.

If you would like to find out more about dealing with stress, read our white paper or take our stress survey