Friday 8 November 2019

The hardest thing was admitting that I was stressed at work...

To coincide with International Stress Awareness Week Annabel Gipp writes about workplace stress and shares her personal experience of working in the NHS.


Stress is something we all experience at some point in our working life, academic studies and at home. It’s almost become a standard for measuring how our day has been. I can recall many a time when I have exclaimed ‘That day was pretty unstressful!’, where this has really been code for ‘I’ve had a really great day’.

Being in employment has been found to have a beneficial impact on the health and wellbeing of a person, and helps to reduce workplace inequalities. Sadly however, being in low paid, insecure employment can actually contribute more to stress than being unemployed according to the National Institute for Health & Care Excellence. In non-manual workers, the most common cause of workplace absence was stress.

Workplace stress in defined as a harmful reaction people have to undue pressures and demands placed on them at work. Stress can manifest in a variety of mental and physical symptoms. Mentally, this includes:

  • Trouble concentrating
  • Negative feelings towards yourself, others and situation 
  • Difficulty processing information or thinking logically 
  • Constantly worrying something awful might happen 
  • Forgetfulness 
This can also manifest in physical symptoms:
  • Dizziness/ hyperventilating
  • Trouble sleeping 
  • High blood pressure 
  • Chest pains 
  • Tension and muscle pains 
  • Fatigue 
  • Digestive problems 

All of these can make it very difficult to focus on work or study, or even just keeping your home and socialising. This can result in a vicious circle which can worsen stress: 

A paper written by the Health and Safety Executive in October 2019 estimated that there were 602,000 workers across the UK suffering from work related stress, depression and anxiety. This resulted in 12.8 million working days lost and 54% of all working days lost to ill health were as a result of stress, anxiety and depression. The biggest cause of a build-up of stress was due to increasing workload, tight deadlines, too much responsibility and lack of managerial support.

It is also acknowledged that stress, depression and anxiety are more prevalent in public sector industries such as education, health and social care and public administration. Sadly, trends of reported workplace stress seem to be increasing slowly year-on-year, with 1,800 per 100,000 workers reporting work place stress in 2018/2019.

Stress has been linked with increased risk of many chronic health conditions, including heart disease, high blood pressure and depression. It has also shown to have links with immune system suppression, including in the progression of cancers, gastrointestinal disorders such as irritable bowel syndrome, skin conditions, neurological and emotional disorders.

So, stress is a very serious condition that needs to be reduced wherever possible, and organisations have a part to play to help manage it as much as possible.

Sadly it is not always possible to remove stress completely. I work in the NHS, and the nature of working in this organisation can potentially increase stress. Using this as one example, workers within the NHS are often faced with increasingly large workloads, stretched budgets, emotionally distressing situations or challenging patients - which can all increase stress.

I have had to take some time off work due to workplace stress. For me this was caused by a number of factors but what helped me return was a very supportive manager and team, and adjustments at work to help manage my caseload.

For me, the hardest thing was admitting that I was stressed at work. I felt guilty for letting the team down and that I should be able to manage. However, reducing the stigma around workplace stress is essential, as seeking support allowed me to return more quickly and stay in work.

So what can we do? The NHS Employers Website has a great tool to assess how you are feeling today, and it’s essential to check in on yourself. Having space to reflect and allowing yourself to voice worries or anxieties can help and give you time away from the stressful environment.

Trying to connect with people around you and with meaningful activities can all be helpful as well. But the key message is to seek support when you need it, from whoever you feel able to seek this from. Be it a colleague, friend, GP or charitable service, talking is essential and no-one is an island.


Annabel is a Floating Dietetic Clinical Specialist at Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust (TEWV). Practitioner of Public Health, Faculty of Public Health, Trade Union Representative for the BDA (Association of UK Dietitians) and Staff and Dietetic Wellness Champion.


Good sources of information:

Image:
  1. "According to HR you haven't had any stress-related illnesses yet." by Grizelda Grizlingham via University of Kent, British Cartoon Archive (Reference number: GGD1406, Published by: Prospect, Sep 2017, with thanks to Copyright holder: Grizelda Grizlingham): https://archive.cartoons.ac.uk/Record.aspx?src=CalmView.Catalog&id=GGD1406&pos=11

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