As Rise and Shine readers, you must be highly motivated and in search of success.
This means that you are very vulnerable to stress attacks. All people in search of success will encounter stress some if not all of the time.
Wi t h t h e p reva i l i ng economic challenges, most people are stressed with financial pressures as the money they make does not match with their budgetary requirements. A little stress is always good as helps you to be active and to get things done.
However, when you encounter excessive stress levels, you should begin to get concerned. Today, we will focus on the signs and symptoms of stress and factors that cause stress. But before that, we will attempt to define stress.
There are many definitions for stress. Some say that stress is simply the way a human body responds to any kind demands. Others consider stress as a physical, emotional or mental factor that causes bodily or mental tension. Personally, I like comparing the normal stress we talk about when we mean that we are overloaded with work on the one hand and stress that is studied in mechanics or in engineering in general. In engineering, stress is defined quantitatively as the average force per unit area of a surface within the body on which internal forces act.
We wi ll now look at examples of factors that can cause stress. We will confine our discussion to stress at work. One of the key factors that cause stress is overworking. If your workload is constantly much more than you can manage, you will be under a real risk of suffering from stress related issues.
Secondl y, i f you are being expected to perform far greater than you are currently capable of doing, that situation may also cause stress. Similarly, if you are being demanded to constantly work at optimum or perfect levels all the time, then you are bound to encounter stress.
We now have an idea about what causes stress and that can help us control stress. But should we be affected by stress, how can we identify the problem? Also, if our subordinate, peer or even a boss has stress, are we able to pick that up? Let us now turn to some of the common signs and symptoms of excessive workplace stress. We will focus on the non-clinical/ non-medical symptoms and signs.
If you feel some fatigue, or you hav e t roubl e concentrating, it could be that you are stressed up. Also, if you have challenges sleeping or you feel irritable, depressed or anxious, that could also point to situations of stress. Most importantly, if you are beginning to lose interest in your work, you could be operating under excessive stress levels.
R em em b e r t h a t a rea sonabl e amount o f stress is always good as it propels us into activity and helps us to get things done. However, when we encounter excessive stress, we should get concerned and we should begin to take responsibility to manage the situation before it becomes much worse.
Today, we have looked at the definition of stress, symptoms and signs of stress as well as some of the common factors that cause stress.
Do be there again next week when we wi l l be delving into the details of how you can deal with stress both proactively as well as reactively.
Good luck as you make 2026 a stress-free year and as you rise and shine without suffering from stress-related problems!
