Stress – Reasons and eye-opener
Stress has become a catchword for the generation today. There is no one who has not experienced stress or who does not know about it. Stress is all about deviating from our natural, comfortable paths, our comfort zones. Ask somebody “How stressed are you?” And they will come up with a list of reasons as if it was a status symbol to take more and more stress. On the other hand there are many who are in sheer denial. They feel that one could be stressed only if a doctor stamps the symptoms and labels it as STRESS in bold letters.
However, today what most of us forget is the fact that stress begins mentally and is psychological in nature. While a doctor can detect physical symptoms like High BP, diabetes etc., very rarely would you actually be judged with a disease called stress. But, unfortunately, if you give it a closer look to the way the lifestyle is changing, it’s imperative to understand the implications of being stressed.
Importance of stress management for employees & employers
It is important that we understand and realize the importance of stress management. Employers too should work towards providing a stress-free environment. The workplace stress is very harmful and has many adverse effects. These include:
• Reduction in productivity
• Increased management pressures
• Diminishing the performance of the brain, memory, concentration and even learning
According to survey results, in the UK over 13 million working days are lost every year because of stress. As per the UK HSE stress statistics, stress triggers 70% visits to the doctors and is a cause of 85% of illnesses in human beings. It is also harmful for employers as dealing with stress related claims consumes a vast amount of management time. Perhaps, there are obviously strong economic and financial reasons for organizations to manage and reduce stress at work, besides the humanitarian and ethical considerations.
Stress Management Tools – Online Gaming
There are immense techniques and tools that one can follow to relieve stress in everyday life. Most of these answers are hidden in our hobbies and interests. It is pretty simple if one loves dancing, drawing, writing poems, singing or listening to music, then these are your stress management tools. Many even love exercising, yoga, aerobics etc. They are different for all as each one of us is unique. We never find time for our hobbies but what we have failed to identify is the key to our happiness lies within us.
What is commonly loved by one and all are online games. Many employers create a special recreation zone for employees that include online games on PC. Few of the popular games played online are: Bubble Shooter, GunBlood, Apple Shooter, Knife Throw Game, Fat Cat, Symphony, AddUp, Truck Loader, Jumper, The Classroom, Raze, Gibbets, Coaster Racer, The Ninja game, Vector Boom, Gunbot and many more. While these games are created for recreational purposes, they are more than often used as a stress buster for employees.
Online gaming has proven to be really effective in driving the motivation levels of the employees. These could also be simple applications installed on the employees PC which they can play in-between work to relieve stress. Today, online games have gained a lot of popularity amongst the adults. With the advancement of technology and introduction of gadgets like PlayStation, I-Pads and Tablets one can see many adults spending their free time, especially while travelling. Nevertheless, to fight stress and depression, we should stay happy physically as well as mentally.
This is a guest post by Andy Phillip. He is an avid blogger and a school teacher who makes his students play games at school at the end of his lecture to beat the stress.
