The Dangers of Workplace Stress
Many of us experience workplace stress – and we’ve all seen our fair share of stress, workplace and otherwise, over the last few years. Workplace stress can be overwhelming and lead to decreased productivity, a short temper and lower mood in its immediacy – but that can be just the tip of the iceberg. Chronic stress can lead to a wealth of serious and chronic health conditions.
Chronic workplace stress can put you at greater risk of mental health conditions like anxiety and depression, alongside physical health issues such as constant body aches and pains, fatigue, headaches, and cognitive issues. High levels of stress are also known to put undue pressure on our heart in increasing blood pressure and forcing our hearts to work harder, alongside inflammation of the heart and reduced blood flow to the heart, which can lead to heart disease or stroke.
Pre-, during, and post-pandemic, there have always been plenty of workplace stressors that can affect us. From unmanageable workloads, lack of control over our working environments, unsupportive colleagues, lack of support from management or difficult working relationships, struggles with work/life balance to financial worries – the list can be overwhelming.
How To Manage Workplace Stress
However, if you’re able to spot the signs of workplace stress and have effective tools to help you manage that stress, you can not only avoid these chronic health conditions, but enjoy a much fuller and happier quality of life, and a more productive work life.
Natural remedies like meditation, exercise, and better sleep hygiene can be excellent ways to help relieve stress. Alongside these support mechanisms, there are also a wealth of intuitive apps which can help you manage stress if you find it difficult to put down your devices, but still want to create a little breathing room for yourself. Utilising self-care practices from across the board can be the best way to prepare you for all of life’s stressors, so having a few apps in your back pocket could be a great solution for you. Let’s take a look at some of the most reputed and successful apps to help manage workplace stress.
Apps To Help You Manage Workplace Stress
Serenity
Serenity, developed by Tap Tap Tap, allows you to explore a realm of fantasy worlds, all built around creating a relaxing environment for the mind. You’ll explore rolling shorelines at sunset, meadows and forests in a summer breeze, and animals playing, alongside more abstract vision and soundscapes to soothe the mind.
Headspace
Headspace is one of the most downloaded apps for managing stress and anxiety, and offers a vast library of guided meditations and mindfulness techniques. Founded by a Tibetan monk, Headspace’s range of audio guided meditations, animations, articles, videos, and mood-tracking, all work in beautiful harmoney to help navigating stress and negative emotions, manage anxiety, and aid sleep.
Many businesses have recognised the power of Headspace and have partnered with them to offer pre-paid subscriptions to their staff as a part of a staff benefits and wellness package. Headspace often offers free trials, but it’s worth asking your HR department if a paid subscription is an option!
Recolour
Recolour’s ethos is simple, but incredibly effective. This app transfers the simple but ever calming colouring book to your device screen, allowing you to colour and create and forget about workplace stresses.
The app offers over 2000 illustrations to colour in from your phone or tablet, turning those long commutes or lunch breaks into a space for relaxing and some artistic expression – something some of us haven’t done in a long time!
Pacifica
Pacifica provides you with a wealth of holistic tools across Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, mindfulness, and broader relaxation habits to help tangibly address anxiety and fully equip you to handle stress when you find it presenting in your daily life.
By encouraging you to track your daily activities and record your feelings around them, Pacifica helps you engage with you emotional wellbeing, and identify triggers to stress and low mood. As you develop this skill, you can help put yourself in better control of your mental health and lower your workplace stress. Audio exercises are available alongside guided meditation and breathing exercises, alongside a broader mood tracker, daily challenges, and goal tracking.
Acupressure: Heal Yourself
Acupressure: Heal Yourself is one of the most innovative self-help apps on the market. This app translates traditional acupuncture into a simple app, allowing you to reap the benefits of acupressure on your daily commute or even whilst working at your desk. Instead of using needles, this app highlights particular pressure points on the body that can help alleviate stress and anxiety.
Using simple finger pressure, you can help release tension in the body, improve mental and physical wellbeing, boost sleep, and become more productive during your working day. With illustrated instructions and over 90 pressure point combinations available – as well as full offline access – this could be your next best kept secret to managing workplace stress .
