The best kind of work is the one you enjoy doing. While work may not always be fun, it shouldn’t be torture either. If your work is squeezing every ounce of happiness out of you, then you need to make some adjustments, because work without happiness is tantamount to slavery.
You can’t (always) make your work colleagues or employer change conditions at work to make you more comfortable, so it’s up to you to adopt new habits to improve your situation. You can start by practicing the following to reduce work stress.
1. As much as possible avoid rush hour traffic
In the mornings, wake up as early as is necessary to avoid the peak period of traffic in your area even if it will mean getting to work over an hour early. Sitting down in one place for long whiles commuting increases stress and anxiety. It doesn’t help that the vehicle moves intermittently.
After you close from work don’t tarry too long in the workplace if the extra time will lead to a traffic build up, and if you close during the rush hour you can wait a while for the traffic to ease. You can eat your supper whiles waiting for effective time management.
2. Don’t carry your work home
Make sure you don’t turn your bedroom into an office. Working in the comfort of your home does not reduce the amount of brain power you use. If the amount of work you do in a day exceeds 8 hours you are exposing yourself to a lot of unhealthy stress.
When working at home, it is easier to lose track of time. The great danger is that you can easily eat into your time for sleeping. If you can’t finish very important work during work hours then consider starting your work day a little earlier the next day to catch up. At least, you will still get a full night’s sleep.
3. Follow a strict sleeping regime
Your body reacts to sharp changes in your sleeping cycle. Ensure that your sleeping time and waking time do not differ much. You should draw your personal timetable such that you can finish all your activities for the day before bedtime.
When your body gets used to a sleep pattern you will feel more rested in the mornings and your body will have little adjustments to do during the day.
4. Laugh more
Laughter is good medicine. There are different kinds of chemicals that are released into your body when you laugh, which helps to release stress. Don’t be so devoted to work such that you can’t find time to laugh out loud.
Don’t be too uptight; make provision for entertainment in your work day. On weekends you can have a little outing with friends to release stress and on weekdays you can make do with watching some entertaining shows at home after work.
5. Nap immediately you get home from work
After keeping your body very active at work, you need to give yourself a break immediately after work to let off some steam. Like we talked about in point 2, working several hours straight can have adverse effects on your health.
Apart from napping after work, you can fit a power nap in your afternoons instead, to help reenergize you for whatever activity you have got to do next. Power naps don’t need to be long. A power nap as short as 20 minutes could make you feel energized enough for the rest of the day.
You no longer have to spend your weekends wishing Monday never comes. Hopefully, these methods will help you destress and put some life back in your work days.