30-Second Summary
- Stress and poor mental health in the workplace can hamper your career.
- Not only are mental health disorders detrimental to an employee’s well-being, but they also affect the employer in the form of monetary losses.
- Poor memory due to stress can also lead to unsatisfactory performance at work, which can impact your earnings and reputation.
- While several workplaces offer support and counseling for mental health issues, individuals, too, can make specific changes to their lifestyle that might help.
- Brain-friendly food, regrouping with colleagues, calming activities, and setting realistic goals can help you manage work-related stress.
How Your Mental Health Can Impact Your Work Life
Your mental health can have a massive impact on your professional life. It can affect your performance at work and can shape your career trajectory. Be it chronic stress, anxiety disorders, or depression, poor mental health can pose a hurdle in your work life. To deliver to the best of your abilities on the professional front, you need to focus on maintaining a healthy mind.
Various workplaces offer counselor support and wellness workshops to boost the mental health of their workforce. However, you will need to take the first step to initiate your journey towards mental wellness. Here are some tips you can follow to calm your mind & body at the workplace.
Be More Mindful of Your Mental Well-Being
In the hustle of the professional world, we often forget to hit pause and evaluate our mental health. You need to be more mindful of your mental well-being and look out for the possible signs of stress and anxiety. With early intervention, you can treat mental health disorders effectively and continue to perform well on the professional front.
Some of the signs of deteriorating mental health in the workplace include the following:
- Frequently forgetting of names or important facts
- Sudden headaches or muscle pain
- Frequent spells of dizziness or numbness
- Sudden anxiety, panic, or breathlessness
- Lack of motivation to perform work-related tasks
- Chronic fatigue
- Brain fog
If you are experiencing any of these symptoms due to work-related stress, focus more on your mental health. Look for techniques to calm your mind and boost your memory. This will allow you to lead a healthy life while excelling at work.
The Relationship Between Mental Well-Being And Professional Success
According to studies, poor mental health caused by work stress can often lead to physical illnesses such as diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. Apart from this, mental health issues can also lead to poor work performance and employee absenteeism. This can eventually result in massive losses for the company.
At an individual level, stress can prevent employees from performing to the best of their ability. It can slow down your career trajectory and impact your earnings. Moreover, you may commit mistakes under stress or due to forgetfulness, which may tarnish your professional image.
Employers these days are more aware of the importance of the mental well-being of their employees. Therefore, many workplaces run initiatives to support those struggling with poor mental health. However, even if that is not the case at your workplace, you can take some steps to improve your mental well-being. Here are some ways in which you can lead a healthy lifestyle and manage work-related stress.
5 Ways to Improve Your Mental Health at Work
- Regroup with Your Team. According to studies, social isolation due to Covid-19 has impacted the mental health of most individuals. Even on the professional front, the workplace has moved from busy offices to a lonely desk at home for many. You might be missing socializing with your colleagues in person. Moreover, you could also be missing a human connection with your team members, which can cause work-related stress.To overcome this, try to schedule group video calls with your team every morning to regroup and start the day on a healthier note. It may improve your team’s performance and also boost your enthusiasm for your work.
- Follow A Calming Morning Routine. How you start your morning can set the tone for the rest of your day. Therefore, before jumping onto emails and work calls, do something to calm your mind & body. Meditation, breathing exercises, or yoga are all excellent ways to start your day. These activities will induce a sense of calm and lower your stress levels. You can also spend some time outdoors amidst nature to energize your mind. This will help you dive into work with a positive mindset and keep the stress at bay.
- Consume Brain-Friendly Foods. Food is the fuel for your mind and body. You cannot perform well at work if you do not supply your brain with ample nourishment. You should consume the best brain foods, such as nuts, fish, whole grains, and avocado daily. Also, avoid inflammatory foods such as sugary drinks and packaged snacks with high sodium content. These foods can increase your stress levels due to their inflammatory nature. Opt for fresh vegetables and fruits instead.
- Work in Better Lighting. Working in good lighting is an aspect of a healthy lifestyle that we often tend to neglect. Spending your day in a dimly lit or poorly lit room can lead to depression and other mental health issues.Always make sure to set up your work desk in a well-lit area. Moreover, blue light can boost your alertness and energy. So, invest in a mood-boosting blue light lamp if you do not get enough natural light where you work.
- Reassess Your Goals. Every few weeks, you should reassess and realign your professional goals. There is no harm in being ambitious. But if you link not meeting unrealistic goals with failure, it can dampen your mental health. Instead, set more realistic goals that encourage you to push yourself without burning out.
Moreover, don’t be too harsh on yourself if you do not achieve certain goals. Even if you consume the best brain foods, we are in the middle of a global pandemic, and everybody is functioning at a lowered capacity. So, celebrate the small wins and do not stress over minor glitches.
Final Thoughts
As we all try to adjust to the new normal and go back to work, either remotely or in person, we need to focus on our mental health. Stress, anxiety, and poor memory can hamper our professional growth and cause physical illnesses, too. Design your work routine in a manner that minimizes stress. Further, focus on activities and habits to boost your memory and cognitive function.
While work-induced stress cannot be avoided, you can learn to manage it better without damaging your health. A healthy routine, calming activities, and brain-friendly foods can help you perform better at work without getting stressed. Try to strike a balance between your health and career goals to enjoy the best of both worlds!
About the Author: Amelia Ruth is a Freelance Blogger and Representative of Health and Beauty Websites, including healthwebmagazine.com. She loves to share her ideas of health and wellness. Helping people with health and skincare is her hobby. You can connect her on FaceBook, LinkedIn, and Twitter.
References
Photo by Elisa Ventur on Unsplash
The opinions and views expressed in any guest blog post do not necessarily reflect those of www.rtor.org or its sponsor, Laurel House, Inc. The author and www.rtor.org have no affiliations with any products or services mentioned in the article or linked to therein. Guest Authors may have affiliations to products mentioned or linked to in their author bios.
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