Make work stress work for you in the end
Back at your desk after the weekend, you should be refreshed, but it’s not unusual to feel stressed. The work you didn’t finish before Friday is now overdue, and then there are meetings with the difficult boss to get through.
If you are silently screaming at your computer, take heart: You’re not alone.
Yet new research published in Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience shows that stress can be good for us. The report from the University of Vienna found that stress is an essential psychobiological mechanism, without which we could not survive, as it helps us manage threatening situations.
But its added benefit is that it can lead to an increase in pro-social behaviour. Perhaps that explains the humanitarian instinct we all admire, when some rush toward danger in a terrorist attack or natural disaster, being driven to help.
The possibility that stress can be beneficial is explored in The Stress Test by Ian Robertson, one of the world’s leading researchers in neuropsychology. In the book, Robertson examines Nietzsche’s proposition: “What doesn’t kill me, makes me stronger” — the idea that individuals can learn to harness their own power, as opposed to being subject to forces outside their control.
“We experience stress when we believe the demands upon us exceed our ability to cope with them. That perception leads to feelings of anxiety and threat, which triggers the ‘fight or flight’ response,” Robertson says.
“This is the activation of the peripheral autonomic nervous system, which releases hormones like cortisol and adrenalin to increase our heart rate and send more oxygen to muscles, so we can fight or run away.
“Meanwhile, our stomachs go into turmoil because digestion is not a priority, leading to gastrointestinal problems. Skin may feel sweaty as the body cools down in anticipation of overheating from sudden activity.”
He adds: “It is a kind of energy to prepare us for action and it can be harnessed in different ways.”
So, if your stress is brought on by the thought of dealing with a bullying boss or series of tricky meetings — rather than an actual tiger — how can you use those feelings to work for you?
According to Robertson, it’s all down to our hormone systems. “Too little of the hormone and we underperform, too much and we overperform. The secret is finding the sweet spot in the middle for optimal performance.”
That’s what you are aiming for — and here are some ways Robertson says will get you there:
ACHIEVE THE CHALLENGE MINDSET
“Turn the ‘threat’ mindset into a ‘challenge’ mindset,” says Robertson. He says symptoms of stress, such as dry mouth and churning stomach, are as much symptoms of excitement as anxiety.
So you might experience them when you feel anxious about a meeting, but also if your hockey team is playing.
Robertson says there’s scientific evidence that if performers are told to say out loud: “I am excited” rather than “I feel anxious” it will help them perform better.
In an office, set a goal for yourself that the meeting is going to be an opportunity to practise your skills.
BREATHE YOUR MIND CALM
You can control the chemistry of your brain via your hormones, says Robertson.
“Noradrenaline is a critical part of your stress response, switched on whether you are frightened or attracted or surprised via a general alerting response,” he says. To reduce the amount of noradrenaline produced, take a long, slow breath in for five counts and out for five, and repeat for a few breaths until you feel calm.”
SET SMALL GOALS
Sometimes we feel understimulated and undermotivated — which means we are not stressed enough to power ourselves through the day. To beat this, set small, achievable goals, says the professor.
“If you achieve it, the brain will respond by releasing the neurotransmitter dopamine, which is part of the brain’s reward network.”
STOP MULTI-TASKING
The brain’s limitations mean that it can only handle a certain amount of information front and centre at any one time. This means attention is a limited resource and the brain will gets frazzled from multi-tasking, he says.
This is why you should switch off alerts for your phone and emails, concentrating on one thing at a time.