What is Stress?

            Stress is an obstacle that most people have to deal with on a daily basis. The ways it can work can be in a positive or a negative manner. Trying to figure out where stress comes from can be the challenging part. Work, school, and other activities can cause stress because of the pressure that is applied by completing these daily tasks. What is stress? According to Merriam-Webster, stress is a physical, chemical, or emotional factor that causes bodily or mental tension and may be a factor in disease causation. Even those that believe they don’t have stress, likely have stress because most people experience it in some type of fashion. Research of stress and knowledge development reflects the issues that are associated with medicine, sociology, psychology, and management (Cohen, 2012).

            The history of stress originated from Hans Seyle in 1936. Many ideas and concepts were studied by Seyle that became integrated in 1956 that was called general adaptation syndrome. He believed that people with external stressors try to escape them by physical stressors. This describes the first stage of general adaptation syndrome called the “alarm” stage. The second stage the “resistance” stage. This means that the way a person copes with the “alarm” stage is by reversing it. The final stage is called the “exhaustion” stage because this is when the person realizes that there is no escape from the stressors. In today’s world, we know positive stress and eustress and negative stress as distress. Integration has come a long ways and studies are still going on about this issue that many people deal with (Kenard, 2008).

An Employee’s well-being can be damaged from stress. Confidence is a characteristic that leads to job performance, and stress could affect that in positive and negative ways. Type of stress can help raise performance because it can bring more focus and ambition to a task. An example of positive stress in the workplace include a promotion at work , while an example of negative includes being overwhelmed with tasks that seem to be impossible because of the pressure that rides on completing them.

            Stress in the workplace can be categorized into topics that include factors unique to the job, roles in the organization, career development, relationships at work, work- life balance, and organizational climate/structure. Factors unique to the job include pace, workload, shifts, and a lack of appreciation. Roles in the organization include level of responsibility, role conflict, role ambiguity, and level of responsibility. Having a role that an employee is comfortable with is definitely a key factor in the overall performance of the job at hand. Being under/over promoted, job security, career opportunities, and job satisfaction are categorized under career development. Building good relationships at work make the atmosphere comfortable. These relationships can be with co-workers, supervisors, and other subordinates. Negative relationships cause lack of trust and the atmosphere may feel full of tension. Employees feel significant when they have a key role in participation. That type of example would be classified under the climate and structure of the organization. Finally, being able to leave work at work is sometimes tough to do, but it is important to enjoy family time when you are not working (CCOHS, 2007).

            There are many ways to deal with stress. Working out is one of the best ways to reduce stress. Types of workouts consist of yoga, running, lifting weights, and playing sports. Breathing techniques are used in yoga to help calm the body down while gaining strength and flexibility. Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) is a popular way to reduce stress. Ways to relieve stress will be described later on in plenty of detail throughout our group postings so that the viewers can get a better understanding of how to cope with stress. Everyone goes through it, and nobody is alone. A simple term called “stress” that was made up back in the late 1930’s has come a long ways. More details are being discovered by researchers throughout time so that humans can keep their personal stress under control. Stress was second to musculoskeletal disorders in a list of top causes for worker ill health in the mid 1990’s (Staples, 1995).

-Thomas Capaldi

Sources

CCOHS. (2007, June 6). In Workplace Stress- General. Retrieved February 8, 2013.

Cohen, J. A., Tarule, J. M., Rambur, B. A., & Vallett, C. (2011). Stress and the Workplace. Handbook of 

Stress, Coping, and Health: Implications for Nursing Research, Theory, and Practice, 310.

Kenard, J. (2008, June 10). A Brief History of the term Stress. In Health Central. Retrieved February 8, 2013.

Staples, J. (1995). Stress in the workplace. Safety Management, 11(1), 12-13.