Work and Stress

Anne Asher Author

First Published: March 13, 2019. Last Update: June 9, 2023

From our man-made environments to the way our workstations are set up, stressors are everywhere when we are on the job. 

Stress in a Nutshell

You may have heard that stress is bad for you. Possibly you've tried things like mindfulness meditation, or even assertiveness training to help manage the curve balls and hits that put stress on your happy little life.

Believe it or not good things and happy emotions can cause stress, too. This lesser known type is called eustress. Like regular stress, eustress may negatively affect your health.

Whether from struggles or celebrations, the effect of stress on your well-being is largely about how you react.

Stress starts in the brain, where nerve signals from areas that “specialize” in specific functions tap hormones to release into the bloodstream. This triggers temporary changes in your physiology. 

That is stress-in-a-nutshell.

"Under the Hood:" What Happens when You're Stressed?

With stress comes muscle contraction and tension. This is normal a normal part of the process.

What’s not normal is when muscles stay tight beyond the inciting stressful event, for the long term. 

But in the 21st century, with its rapid pace and heightened fears, that's the norm, unfortunately. For many people, letting go of tension and allowing muscles to relax again after a stressful incident can be challenging.

A number of things can help, including the items on this list:

• Stretching
• Meditation
• Somatic Movement
• PT modalities like ice and heat

But it’s also a mindset - one we’ve all but forgotten in this frenetic world of ours. Sad.

Let’s discuss those ‘ole hormones again. Encountering a stressful situation releases a number of hormones that alter physiology in the short term.

The hormones catapults us into a “fight or flight” state, triggering a rush of blood, and directing it to life-critical organs. You might experience this as a racing heart, harder or faster breathing, sweating and more.

In the fight or flight state, much of the blood that normally serves outlying and “less important” areas like skin, appendages and others, get rerouted to the core of the body, where the organs are.


Organs take precedence over arms and legs during times of stress because for millions of years, we humans have relied on them to keep us alive – even on a moment-to-moment basis. Maintaining a beating heart is a prime example.

This shunting of blood into the core of the body during times of stress can have an effect on your eyes.

With less blood input into the area, eyes may become more sensitive to light, or become dry, fatigued or sore. They may start twitching, as well.

Stress hormones can also hamper your immune system, which is a body process charged with keeping you disease-free. 


In this case, the hormone cortisol is secreted by the adrenal glands and may lead to inflammation. The amount of cortisol builds up with each stress reaction.

It’s common knowledge that many diseases start from a state of inflammation.

Causes of Work-Related Stress

Ergonomists have identified a number of things they call “psychosocial factors” that can up your stress levels on the job.

The pace at which you have to work is one of them. Unless your job is an absolute snooze, almost literally, the pace of work is classified as “competitive.” If you’re required to keep up with a machine, that’s called “machine-paced,” and is considered very stressful. (And who doesn’t have to keep up with a machine or 20 in this day and age?)

Other psychosocial factors include monotony, repetitive tasks and working in isolation. All the psychosocial factors can increase your risk for a work related injury, or, at very least make you less productive.

Take MicroBreaks

For jobs involving a lot of repetitive movements, the State of Washington Department of Labor and Industries suggests taking microbreaks, which they call “recovery pauses.”

Essentially, every 1/2 hour to hour, they say, it’s a good idea to stop what you’re doing and engage with a bit of movement. Recovery pauses should last between 1 and 3 minutes, the Department says.

5 Ideas for Microbreaks

Here are a few microbreak ideas to jog your thinking. Come up with your own ideas, too!

1. Keep a kaleidoscope handy.

Inexpensive ones, i.e., less than $10 each, can be easily found via internet search.) Use your microbreaks use to give your eyes a treat. I’ve found that kaleidoscope use also helps vary the movements eye muscles make, which can be quite refreshing.

2. Breath deeply into your belly 10 times. Breathing deeply wakes up the brain, contributes to good posture and helps your overall health.

3. Get up and walk around a bit. This type of microbreak is especially effective for countering "Sitting is the New Smoking" effects and health risks when you do it at regular intervals throughout the day.

4. Stretch. While stretching is not all you need to destress and maintain a healthy frame & form, it does release muscle tension and help you stay in tune with your body. I’ve found it helpful for brain fog and joint mobility.

5. Work on establishing or maintaining neutral sitting posture. This is a position whereby your joints are in good alignment, and muscles can relax.

By the way, the Washington Department of Labor and Industries suggests keeping the timing of microbreaks organic. In other words, don’t force yourself to stick to a rigid microbreak schedule.

Instead, set reminders (that have the suggestions about what to do pop up in front of you at the targeted times, as with a Google calendar.) You can decide at that moment whether you’ll go through with the suggestions or not, but the reminders keep movement at top of mind during the day, which is a very good thing.

This micro break strategy is about you, and your comfort. If you force yourself to take a break because the clock says to, you could end up creating stress and tension in the process of trying to avoid it.

Sources

Understanding the stress response. Harvard Health Publishing, Harvard Medical School.

WISHA Services Division. Office Ergonomics: Practical solutions for a safer workplace. Washington State Department of Labor and Industries. 2002