How to Deal with Work-Related Stress

Do you sometimes feel stressed and overwhelmed by work demands? Well, you’re not alone. According to a 2007 nationwide poll by the American Psychological Association (APA), 3 out of 4 of those surveyed saw their work as a significant source of stress, and half of them stated that their work productivity had been negatively impacted by stress. Not only does work-related stress take a toll on your efficiency, but the APA reports that it also impacts people’s physical and emotional health by causing headaches, fatigue, digestive issues, feelings of anger and nervousness.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), job stress is the response people have when their job requirements are not matched with their capabilities, needs, and available resources. The CDC adds that the dizzying changes in the nature of work today are a major cause of work-related stress. These changes include the demand to constantly stay connected via cell phones, email, and the internet; which, according to the APA, makes it extremely challenging for people to divert their attention from work-related issues to their home and family-related priorities.

Sadhguru often teaches people techniques for addressing work-related stress during his live conferences and in the Inner Engineering online course. We’ve shared an excerpt from one of Sadhguru’s talks below, where he addresses work-related stress and how you can overcome it:

“A good morning is a good beginning to a day. But often, as the day progresses, you start losing your cool because of the nature of work and what you are doing, slowly your relaxation goes away and you start getting stressed.

It must be understood that stress is not really related to work. We often say “Oh, we are in a hospital, that is why we are stressed.” This is not true. Everybody thinks that his or her job is stressful. The Prime Minister also thinks the same way and so does the guy on the street. But no job in the world is stressful. It is your inability to handle your own systems that cause stress. You don’t know how to keep your body, mind and emotions in control. That is why you are getting stressed.

So how can you keep your system free of stress so that during morning and evening, you achieve the same level of enthusiasm, relaxation and happiness? Let me explain in medical terms. If you take my pulse, on an empty stomach, I would be in the range of 35 to 40 heartbeats per minute. That means, physiologically, my body is in deep slumber, but I’m awake to do any activity. When you are constantly sleeping, there is no question of stress.

So what you need to learn is how to keep your system relaxed. Don’t think of the things, activities you can cut out from your life. Maybe they exhaust you physically, but that’s not what leads to stress. You cannot slow down your system at the cost of activity. If you are capable of being vibrantly active and still relaxed, then it is worthwhile. If you are so relaxed that you cannot do any activity, it’s of no good. There is a whole system of making this happen – yoga. If you start certain simple practices of yoga, in three to four months you will notice that your pulse rate has dropped at least eight to twenty counts. This means that the body is running much more efficiently at a relaxed pace.”

Now that you know how the simple practices of yoga can help you reduce work-related stress, how will you incorporate them into your life? Tell us in the comments below!