A recent article from the Boston Globe cited a study in which Swedish scientists tested to see if there was any connection between on-the-job stimulus and health conditions. Their findings are alarming! According to the article, “Swedish researchers report today that workers saddled for four years with managers who were inconsiderate, opaque, uncommunicative, and poor advocates were about 60 percent more likely to suffer a heart attack or other life-threatening cardiac condition. By contrast, employees whose managers exhibited robust leadership skills were roughly 40 percent less likely to suffer heart emergencies.” Take a look at the entire article: http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2008/11/25/heart_attack_eh_boss_may_be_cause/.

Stress is a powerful and complicated condition that can affect employees both mentally and physically. Though the Swedish report demonstrates the extreme of what can happen in a highly stressful work environment, other less fatal implications can occur too. Employees who are routinely exposed to high levels of stress due to working conditions created by the nature of the job or the people leading the company are more likely to miss work, produce substandard results, make mistakes, and sometimes quit.

Monitoring and managing your stress in the workplace is important. Here are a few tips to help you manage stress caused in the work place:

• Take a deep breath – This sounds simple enough, but the conscious effort to focus on your breath will provide you with a second to realize that there are just some things beyond your control. You cannot feasibly control everything happening around you and it may be best to let it go.
• Talk it out – Sharing and expressing you frustrations is a cathartic experience. Bottling up the stress will just cause it to get worse – let it out!
• Get some fresh air – If it’s possible to get away from your desk on your lunch break, get out of the office and take a brisk walk around the block. The air, exercise, and time away from the office will help to alleviate some of the stress.

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For me life is continuously being hungry. The meaning of life is not simply to exist, to survive, but to move ahead, to go up, to achieve, to conquer. ~ Arnold Schwarzenegger