A psychological study suggests that coffee can help us cope with stress work. However, this only works for women who tend to be more collaborative after consuming caffeine.
For men, caffeine leads to reduced performance in stressful situations. Instead of coffee, we recommend using Agreedo, a meeting minutes software for businesses, to make your meetings more collaborative and to increase the performance of participants.
In contrast to coffee, it works for both sexes and is completely free. If you often find yourself very drowsy during work and in situations where high concentration is needed such as meetings, it does not necessarily mean that your work or the meeting is boring.
Is Poor Sleep Affecting Your Performance?
You may be short on sleep like millions of people. If the meeting is boring anyway, a quick nap might be the smartest solution. AgreeDo can prevent boring and unproductive meetings from your workplace by making meetings less necessary and making the remaining ones more efficient.
According to a neurological study, 19.5 percent of American adults are sleep-deprived, often resulting in problems like falling asleep during meetings. However, insufficient sleep is less common in Europe. The study also showed that more women suffer from severe sleepiness than men. These results even raised serious safety concerns, especially for workplaces with a higher risk of injury.
How To Deal With Stress at Work
Work-related stress has considerable health consequences ranging from less serious ones such as getting more flu episodes and colds to potentially severe consequences such as metabolic syndrome which can lead to lifestyle diseases like heart disease.
While stress work is common, it’s almost impossible to find a low-stress job. A more practical approach is to implement coping strategies to decrease stress at your workplace. These stress management techniques are worth trying if you’re feeling stressed at work.
Stay Organized
Even if you’re disorganized by nature, plan to stay organized so you can reduce work stress. Being organized when it comes to time means less of a morning rush which prevents tardiness, and less pressure at the end of the day.
Being organized also means avoiding clutter and increasing work efficiency.
Personal and Work-Life Balance
You could easily suffer from burnout if you’re available around the clock. You must set clear boundaries between your home and work-life to prevent potential stress. Part of this means allocating time for socializing and having rules for when you will and won’t answer phone calls or check emails.
What Are the Symptoms of Stress at Work Meetings?
People don’t often recognize the symptoms of stress at work meetings. Instead, they convince themselves that things will get better, but more often, this isn’t the case. Here’s a list of symptoms to watch out for.
- Fatigue
- Headaches
- Muscular tension
- Heart palpitations
- Irritability
- Procrastination
- Anxiety
What Is Work Meetings Stress?
This term describes stress that is triggered by meetings or experienced during meetings. It arises when demands surpass an employee’s ability to cope. Sources of work meeting stress include missed deadlines, contentious projects, and disagreements between employees. Feeling unprepared or being put on the spot in a meeting can exacerbate tension as well.
How Do You Manage Stress at Work Meetings?
Prepare for Meetings
Ensure you have everything you need for your meeting. If you’re delivering a presentation, print copies you can hand out and go through your notes a couple of times.
You should also charge your laptop or have your notebook beforehand to avoid wasting time and tension before the meeting. Advanced preparation will help you feel calm and organized.
Resist Anger and Hostility
If difficult meetings develop into blame games or arguing matches, don’t participate in the yelling and finger-pointing. Instead, remain calm, quiet, and address the problem with your HR representatives or immediate supervisor after the meeting.
Take Time-Outs As Necessary
Deep breathing or relaxation techniques offer a good way of dealing with stress at work while alleviating anxiety. Consider setting aside five minutes before the meeting to calm your nerves and collect your thoughts.
It’s equally important to leave sufficient time in your schedule so you don’t run late. Tardiness can add tension even before a meeting starts. If you experience agitation during the meeting, you might want to excuse yourself to regain your composure.
Managing Work-Related Stress
Work-related stress is an increasing problem worldwide. It affects organizational productivity and employee health. Fortunately, dealing with stress in the workplace is possible with the aforementioned strategies. Stress work is common and it can seriously affect your quality of life, your health, and even your ability to perform at work if you don’t take steps to manage it early on.