Fighting fatigue in the workplace

MANILA, Philippines - With the frenetic pace of today’s urban living, many people find it harder than ever to cope with the challenges on the job. Experiencing some stress is a normal part of life, but suffering from excessive stress interferes with an individual’s productivity and affects physical and emotional health.

Because of the various health concerns connected to work stress and fatigue, it is of utmost importance to find ways of keeping this under control. Premier health institution Makati Medical Center and its Corporate Health and Wellness Center say that there are ways to manage and reduce stress at work.  

According to Rosemarie Cabujat, MD, head of MakatiMed’s Employees Health Clinic, managing work-related stress involves changing three major factors that trigger it: thinking, behavior, and lifestyle.

Part of reducing stress in your work life is changing the way you think. This, says Dr. Cabujat, involves two things: re-framing and positive thinking.

“Re-framing means changing the way you look at things,” she explains. “You’d be amazed at how big a difference this can make in your general outlook in life. While this doesn’t really change reality, it positively affects the way that you approach problems and stress-causing situations.”

In line with this, she says that positive thinking is still the way to go. “It’s a cliché, but positive thinking really goes a long way. Stressful circumstances leave you vulnerable to all sorts of negative emotions — despair, frustration, even anger — and so it’s important to focus on your strengths and look for opportunities to enhance the positive.”

The way you behave plays a big part in determining how stressed you will become. “You can address the practical aspect of stress by being assertive and organized, and the emotional aspect by valuing humor and finding positive distractions and opportunities to ‘vent’,” says Dr. Cabujat.

Time management, she adds, is a definite must. To reduce the chances of stressful situations, it is important to evaluate one’s current workload and learn to prioritize and de-clutter. This means letting go of unnecessary tasks and focusing on what needs to be accomplished by setting achievable goals and delegating.

Ventilation is equally important. “Make it a point to offload by sharing your concerns with your closest peers,” Dr. Cabujat advises. “Or, if you’re not comfortable with this, write in a journal so that you have a viable outlet for expressing yourself.”

According to Dr. Cabujat, a change of thinking and behavior should ultimately lead to an improved lifestyle. This also involves taking out unhealthy habits and adding in positive ones to reinforce one’s efforts: “Cut down on your smoking and alcohol intake and exercise and sleep more. Also, eat healthy and find time to unwind.”

She concludes: “It’s all about balancing your life. You need to be honest with yourself and re-evaluate your situation. Then you need to make a choice — you’re far too stressed now, what are you going to do about it? Focus on re-setting your priorities, taking time off when necessary, and developing interests outside work. Learn to take yourself less seriously. All these things combined help lessen the amount of unwanted stress you are experiencing.”

For more information, contact MakatiMed On-Call at 8888-999, e-mail mmc@makatimed.net.ph or visit www.makatimed.net.ph.