Normally, it’s the other way around- “Is Your Job Stressing You Out?” but I think if we look at it the other way, we might find that outside influences are actually causing you to stress at work, and you could have it all wrong. We are trained to think that when something is stressing us out, perhaps we aren’t disconnecting from work enough or our co-workers could be driving up our stress levels, or the boss is breathing down our back and it’s totally stressing us out.
But what if we looked it in reverse?
According to a Gallup poll released in 2014, the average work week has grown to 46.7 hours per week which is almost another full day of work over what we traditionally have grown to think is the “normal” work week. Does that stress you out just reading it? And if you are salaried, well you might as well conclude that you’re almost never really “off work”. While this data is discouraging and can produce some negative feelings among some, there is hope. The hope that just because we spend most of our time at work, doesn’t necessarily mean it is the only cause of stress or even the cause of stress at all. We have to work so we can meet our needs and survive so unless you win the lottery, your job isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. It’s probably a good idea to deal with your outside stressors to reduce your stress. We have more control over them and sometimes can even eliminate them. Now let’s look at how the science in psychology fits in.
The Biopsychosocial Model
Does just reading that term stress you out? It’s actually quite simple and a good way to put things into perspective. The biopsychosocial model sees your health as being determined by a few factors- biological, psychological and social (Schneider, 2012). It is different than the biomedical model in that it not only looks at the factors that can affect your health that you’re genetically tied to, like high blood pressure but it also looks at what social factors affect your health (religion, family, children, spouse or significant other or your socioeconomic status) and the psychological factors (how well you cope with certain situations). If we begin to evaluate our stress based on this model, it is possible you might find that your job is not stressing you out but rather you are stressing out at your job.
Let’s evaluate. You are diabetic and have to check your blood sugar everyday. Biological. The media, your provider and your insurance carrier bombard you with information about your condition and scare tactics. To add insult to injury, your significant other has different beliefs in religion and how to raise your children. You are a full time student with a full time job. Social. And you tend to over analyze things and have never been good at making final decisions once you do. Psychological. How many times did your job come up? Zero. But, by the time you make it to work you are so stressed you don’t even know the difference. And why not put the blame on your job? After all, you’re there more than anywhere else.
A Different View
Let’s look at the health belief model. After all, stress directly affects your health in many ways. According to the American Psychological Association, stress affects your musculoskeletal, respiratory, cardiovascular, endocrine, gastrointestinal, nervous and reproductive systems. Pretty much every system in your body. Which is why once you arrive at work, you’re feeling like your health is declining and you cant keep up. Is it the amount of work? Type of work? Probably not. Before we continue with the health belief model, let’s cover some tips for reducing stress. Psychology Today (Long, 2013) lists several tips for coping with stress:
- Muscle relaxation
- Diet- make it healthy
- Exercise- move more
- Sleep- get enough
Sound easy? It might not be the cure for it all, but it will reduce your stress and make you a happier employee and co-worker. Now let’s look at the health belief model as it pertains to stress. Once you achieve these items, chances are your stress about your condition will decrease as well. The health belief model is concerned with cognitive factors that include beliefs about how likely it is to become ill, and how likely our actions are to prevent illness (Schneider, 2012). Your doctor and your insurance company will thank you for it. And don’t forget your body!
The following are components of the health belief model:
General Health Values– do you have interest in maintaining your health?
Perceived Susceptibility to Illness– How likely is it that you’ll develop an illness. Specifically, one as a result of your stress if you don’t get it under control.
Perceived Severity of Illness– How serious is the threat of an illness? If we continue to allow ourselves to stress, what are the consequences and how serious are they?
Expectation of Treatment Success– if we change a behavior, is it likely that we will reduce a specific threat to our health? If we take control of our stress, will that reduce the threat to all the systems listed above?
Self- efficacy– Do we have what it takes to stop the behavior? Can we stop stressing at work by reducing the amount of stressors outside of work?
Perceived Barriers and Benefits– Cost benefit analysis. Is the benefit of reducing stress going to outweigh what it takes to get there? Consider your behavior at work, your productivity and interactions with co-workers.
If we begin to recognize what is stressing us out, how to identify those stressors and maintain a positive belief on reducing our stress, you’re well on your way to becoming more productive, happy and healthier.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/on-leadership/wp/2014/09/02/the-average-work-week-is-now-47-hours/
Long, J., Psy.D. (2013, August 25). 5 Quick Tips to Reduce Stress and Stop Anxiety. Retrieved February 11, 2016, from https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/finding-cloud9/201308/5-quick-tips-reduce-stress-and-stop-anxiety
Stress effects on the body. (n.d.). Retrieved February 11, 2016, from http://www.apa.org/helpcenter/stress-body.aspx
Schneider, F. W., Gruman, J. A., & Coutts, L. M. (2012). Applied social psychology: Understanding and addressing social and practical problems. Los Angeles: Sage.