Work Stress Overload: Knowing When It’s Time to Get Stress Treatment Help
Rapid advancements in communications, manufacturing and information technology have created the need for a “super” workforce capable of keeping up with ongoing changes, tight schedules and increasing demands. These developments coupled with a flailing economy can create the perfect storm, driving a person’s stress levels to the max.
According to the American Psychological Association, adults in the U. S. identify work as the second most common source of stress after money. With work being a necessary part of daily life for most people, work stress overload can easily be minimized or even overlooked within the course of person’s everyday affairs.
Ignoring signs of work stress overload leaves a person wide open for developing any number of ailments, both physical and psychological. Knowing when it’s time to get stress treatment help can help you get ahead of the problem before stress levels climb any higher.
Work Stress
More work and longer hours are expected of today’s employees.
Not too long ago, a person could expect to enter the workforce, find a job and remain in the same job for the length of his or her time in the workforce. Today, job changes and changes in job roles have become the norm more so than the exception. This degree of instability, in and of itself, can create insecurity and stress within the workforce.
Today’s employees also work longer hours than any generation before. According to Fairleigh Dickenson University, the added hours worked in total equal out to a 13-month work schedule crammed inside a 12-month calendar year. This length of time on the job inevitably cuts into time spent with family and friends, which can create a whole new layer of stress in a person’s life.
As with any form of chronic stress, over time, work stress overload has the potential to eat a person up from the inside out, causing rapid declines in quality of living.
Call our helpline at 888-647-0051 (Who Answers?) to see if your insurance will help pay for treatment.
Signs of Work Stress Overload
Signs of work stress overload can affect a person’s performance on the job as well as conditions and circumstances outside the workplace. In effect, work stress overload impacts most all major areas within a person’s daily life.
Signs of work stress overload may take the form of:
- Problems concentrating
- Feelings of depression
- Insomnia
- Headaches
- Diminished sex drive
- Fatigue
- Irritability
- Chest pains
- Bouts of anxiety
- Substance abuse
Who’s Most at Risk of Developing Chronic Stress Disorder & When to Consider Treatment
Certain life situations and work conditions can predispose someone to chronic stress disorder.
Work Stress Effects
While most any form of chronic stress can be detrimental, work stress affects a person in different ways than family or financial stressors do due to the limited degree of control one has over workplace conditions. According to U. S. News & World Report, long periods of work stress overload can actually shorten a person’s life span.
Under these conditions, a person may develop unhealthy habits in an effort to cope with the demands of the workplace. Unhealthy habits often take the form of:
- Skipping lunch or eating fast food regularly
- Smoking
- Drinking
- Illicit drug use
- Social withdrawal
- Missing sleep
- Procrastination
- Neglecting responsibilities
More than a few of these behaviors exist as known risk factors for developing serious, long-term health problems, such as hypertension, heart disease and mental illness.
If you or someone you know suffers from work stress overload and need help finding stress treatment options that meet your individual needs, please feel free to call our toll-free helpline at 888-647-0051 (Who Answers?) to speak with one of our phone counselors.
