Managing Stress

I’m not an expert at managing stress, but I have picked up a few key habits over the years that have helped me maintain a decent equilibrium. In the current era of post-COVID work I’ve noted that many colleagues are constantly feeling extremely high amounts of stress. Some peers have told me that they are now pre-diabetic, and others have claimed that they feel constantly on edge, and that the feeling can be incapacitating. Sleep and exercise seem to have gone out the wayside. The trend is certainly troubling. This shift toward the “stressed and exhausted American” dominating the urban landscape has made me realize how vital it is to have stress-negating habits.

I believe managing stress effectively requires one to stray from the norm of Westernized work culture. What are the norms, and can some of them be prevented at all?

• Wake up early and check your phone immediately

• Rush to work via car, sit in traffic and a drive-through, and eat breakfast along the way

• Chug coffee to mitigate sleepiness

• Sit at the desk and stare at a blue screen

• Eat an unhealthy, oily and heavily processed lunch at the desk, and eat it quickly

• Drink an afternoon coffee to mitigate the post-lunch drowsiness

• Drive home and quickly eat a large dinner

• Plug eyes to phone screen, tablet, or tv screen while drinking alcohol in order to “wind down”

• Sleep with the phone next to your bed

When listed it seems obvious why people at work seem incredibly stressed. These habits are not only debilitating, they’re cancer-inducing, and the mental state of most employees is a key indicator of this. I don’t always do the opposite of all of these negative habits, but I do find myself straying from them as much as possible. Obviously the key is to do damn near the opposite of each bullet point listed above. Here’s my own “aim” for a norm:

• Wake up early (a necessity if working) but don’t check the phone. Exercise outside and let dawn be the first light that the eyes register. In a perfect world, we all sleep in at our leisure.

• Ride the bicycle to work if possible. If not, exercise before driving.

• Have one cup of pour-over coffee or tea before work (at most)

• Spend five minutes before logging into the PC either practicing deep breathing or meditating.

• Work with a standing desk, not a sitting desk (if you have a computer job)

• Take a five minute walk every hour, regardless of your Inbox (responsiveness be damned)

• Eat a healthy lunch (oatmeal or a salad), preferably outside and with people, not alone in a rat cage

• Drink water and electrolytes throughout the afternoon

• Ride the bicycle home from work

• Listen to calm music while making dinner

• Watch the sunset

• Read myself to sleep

There has been pressure, even in my own work culture, to trend towards the less healthy habits. For example, there is an option to work longer hours Monday through Thursday, and then to have Friday off. I opted out of this option due to the extensive time it tethers you to a computer screen on Monday through Thursday. I decided it’s better to have an extra hour for movement and “slow eating.”

The work environment is also typically rife with toxic foods. Potato chips, birthday cakes, candy bars, and hamburgers dominate the food scene. The post-COVID average weight gain shows it. To make matters worse, many employees now work virtually, and as a result move even less, while still eating a similarly terrible diet. One has to shield the eyes from the packaged stuff and opt for a salad or oatmeal.

After work, the phone screen provides a universe of dopamine. Avoiding this is difficult, and I still struggle with this one. But the phone interferes with sleep, so I try to unplug by 7 pm. Alcohol, likewise, destroys sleep. And a good night’s sleep, whether you believe it or not, is probably the best possible thing you can do for yourself.

I don’t always hit all of these habits; sometimes, adulting is tough and time is constrained. But I strive to make most of them routine. Addressing some of them has required some shifts in my own routine. For example, I enjoy metal music. However, it gives me too much adrenaline, and too much adrenaline places one in a constant state of “fight or flight”. I’ve had to switch my music a little. I still listen to some metal, but not as often as I used to.

If you find yourself in a constant state of work stress, you are not alone. By most metrics, the vast majority of employees are constantly stressed in America. I don’t recommend switching all of your habits at once—that might be overwhelming—but instead gradually addressing one habit at a time.

Let’s start with a good night’s sleep and add to that.