Stress Down Day

Friday 5 February 2010 sees the Samaritans organising Stress Down Day, this awareness day is designed to raise money so they can continue to answer calls from people in need of emotional support.

Stress is something that affects all of us at some point, a range of problems can cause stress in a person and one of the most common is work-related stress. The UK has the longest working hours in Europe, 1 in 6 of us work more than 60 hours a week and 29% of employees with high stress levels work more than 10 hours longer than they are contracted to do. So how do you achieve the right work–life balance?

Frances Ive’s book Stress – The Essential Guide has the following advice:

• Try to avoid working late every day, even if it is company culture.
• Don’t believe you’re indispensable and if you’re worried about something it is better to ask than to do it incorrectly or ignore it altogether.
• Take your lunch breaks! Get out of the workplace, go for a walk, have something to eat or meet a friend so that you can switch off for a while.
• Find out who the best person is to discuss problems with, or ask if your can be moved into a different department if colleagues are difficult to work with.
• Be honest with yourself – if you’re always stressed in every job your do, perhaps there is a pattern developing due to your own way of doing things. It may not be the fault of your job.

Stress – The Essential Guide is available for £8.99 from Need2Know books.

To find out more about Stress Down Day, visit www.stressdownday.org.