70% of the UK population believe themselves to be suffering from stress, according to the results of a survey by KitKat Kubes undertaken last month.
Organised for the sixth year running by the International Stress Management AssociationUK (ISMAUK), the theme for today’s National Stress Awareness Day™ is “We can all do something about stress”. See HR Zone’s previous news story National Stress Awareness Day for details of free workshops to help businesses deal with workplace stress.
“In the six years that ISMAUK has been organising National Stress Awareness Day, we’ve seen a steady upward trend in the reporting of stress, and these figures are the worst yet,” says Dr Rosemary Anderson, Chair of ISMAUK. “What people need to understand is that stress isn’t something that will simply go away if left to its own devices. There are many active measures that we can take to reduce the effects of stress in our lives – which is why we’re using National Stress Awareness Day this year to help to promote this.
“One of the interesting findings of the research is that if young people are suffering from stress, one in three of them will call a friend to talk about it – a vital coping strategy that anyone could benefit from. Yet these figures fall to less than one on ten as people get older – indicating that stress is something that they are reluctant to admit to. That simply can’t continue if we’re going to tackle stress effectively.”
ISMAUK recommends the following 10 tips for reducing your own personal stress.
1. Find someone who will listen. Talk to them or seek professional help.
2. Take regular short breaks throughout the day – especially at times or in situations that are causing you to experience stress.
3. Avoid self-medication with nicotine, alcohol, coffee or tranquillisers.
4. Use physical activity to work off stress.
5. Don’t put off relaxing. Learn stress reduction techniques and use them daily.
6. When you are ill, don’t pretend that you are not.
7. Recharge your batteries with adequate rest and sleep. Stop when you are tired and do something about it.
8. Don’t be too argumentative. Life shouldn’t be a constant battleground.
9. Recognise and acknowledge what you cannot change.
10. Manage your time better. Prioritise and delegate. Prevent excess pressure tomorrow by saying “NO” today.
