Are you struggling and stressed out?

In this national stress awareness month I'm sharing my thoughts on that exact topic.

We are designed for short bursts of stress, seconds, not years.

How we’re designed

Our brain is a brilliant thing but one thing we’re noticing is that it’s not wired to keep up with the pace, stimulation and demands of our modern day life and work and more and more people are getting burnt out. 

Our brain is hardwired for survival and anything that threatens us triggers the fight or flight response.  The fact that we are SO good at it, is one of the reasons that humans are still here and growing. 

Our ancestors would have had the real and necessary decision of whether to fight the lion or run from the lion.  This is the origin of our stress response.  In order to maximise our chances of survival our body will re-prioritise production of adrenaline and release of glucose from the liver into the bloodstream so that we have energy instantly available to run or fight.  

Then, usually, the whole thing is settled quickly – we either get eaten by the lion or we manage to hide. In a second wave of the stress response we release cortisol and when the danger passes our bodies can rest and recover.  Our systems are designed for short bursts of stress, seconds, not years.

What that means for us today

Today, however (for those of us with the privilege of living in safe countries) we face psychological stress rather than physical. Technology and our way of living has evolved quicker than our brain and bodies. This means that the expectations of working at pace on a continuous basis are unsustainable.   Often we can’t actually fight or fly and you are not physically burning off the energy. Our stress is ongoing over weeks, months, years often without a real break.  

This means that the hormones are staying around for much longer which, over time, can have a big negative impact – both on our health and on our performance.  If these hormones are not properly metabolised over time, this leads to chronic stress which affects our cardiovascular system, immune system, memory and problem solving.  In the long term this makes us more susceptible to diseases such as cancer, strokes, heart attacks, diabetes, hypertension, depression, obesity, post traumatic stress.

My own experience of this

I know from personal experience about the impact of long term stress.  I was working a job that it was impossible to be successful at.  The expectations of what I could achieve given the environment,  in-fighting and downright sabotage from colleagues, a boss who didn’t lead,  the blame culture and back stabbing meant that it felt like a battle ground. 

Over time my ability to see solutions, remain positive were diminished and I knew my immune system was struggling because I was getting eczema on my face, trouble sleeping, feeling hopeless and then, after I left I was diagnosed with breast cancer. 

No job, salary, bonus etc is worth compromising your health over. We all need to work in businesses that support our wellbeing, not undermine it.

The shift that’s needed

Despite all this, many businesses still celebrate and applaud the late night, first one in, working to the wire, answering emails on holiday, evening and at weekends. They create an environment of challenge and fear, chastising failures and yielding power thinking this is the way to get results.  In the short term they might, but it’s not sustainable long term. 

And in addition…. still most businesses are concerned with growth, growth, growth and doing more with less.  It doesn’t add up. We need to find a balance between realistic, excellent outputs and the wellbeing of our leaders and teams that’s sustainable in the long term.

At a systems level we undoubtedly need to examine our relationships with growth and increased outputs – it’s killing us humans and it’s making the planet sick too. But most of us don’t have much control or influence over that. If you do – please get in touch!

At a leadership level are your leaders continually pushing stress onto their teams in order to deliver or promoting a balance between pushing to deliver and creating pause time before going again? Are they supporting their teams (and themselves) with healthy boundaries?

At an individual level are you setting boundaries to get head space, nutritional food, exercise, important relationships, fun and sleep?

If you found this useful sign up HERE to get my top tips for reviewing stress at work.   (Leaders… this is a great resource to share with your team)