Stress
The FormScore reports show that Stress and Stress Management are the biggest negative drivers on our form.
Stress in Fight or Flight terms:
When faced with danger our autonomic nervous system, which regulates our reaction to a perceived threat (or pressure) is activated.
The sympathetic branch of the autonomic nervous system kicks in. The pupils dilate.
The heart starts racing, the blood pressure increases. Blood is diverted from things like the digestive system to the muscles, ready that we can fight or run away (flight).
Adrenaline and cortisol are released into our system. Our brain activity, our focus, narrows, and it moves away from our ability to think clearly and widely.
And so this prepares us to deal with this threat.
When we're safe, the reverse happens:
The parasympathetic branch of the nervous system kicks in. This is known as "rest and digest." We recover from the stress that we faced.
Blood returns to the digestive system.
The heart rate goes down.
Blood pressure goes down.
The stress hormones stop.
We recover from the stress that we have just experienced.
This is what we are biologically hardwired to do over millions of years. The problem is that we are not dealing with physical threats on a day-to-day basis.
Instead, we deal with work, family, finances, clients, bosses, meetings, colleagues.
Stress Management in the workplace:
Fact: We are going from one perceived threat to another with very little time, to rest and digest, to recover.
Problem: Going from pressure to pressure (which gets into consistent stress), with no recovery time, leads to exhaustion and burnout.
We are physiologically evolved to deal with perceived threat and pressure.
But we need to allow ourselves to recover:
We need to allow ourselves those breaks in the day. Schedule them.
Seek mindful moments.
Pursuit hobbies.
Seek connections.
Resources:
You can find out more from Simon Sinek on 'Finding your Why' and the science behind it here.
Check out this handy list of tips on dealing with stress.
📖 Read our expert opinions, slice of life and other articles on Stress.
🎧 Listen to our podcasts on Stress.
