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 [1], fertility problems, disruption of normal blood sugar control, and psychological dysfunction such as anxiety and depression [2].
• Prolonged suppression of the immune system, resulting in high rates of disease, recurrences of latent conditions, and increased susceptibility to cancer [3].

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 [4], 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.