Managing Stress

by Ken Brough

Rarely a week passes without media coverage of stress in the public service. Lack of resources, unreasonable project timelines, demanding supervisors and ever-changing priorities are the most frequently mentioned causes. My spouse is a public service manager and my chiropractic practice has a large percentage of public servants as patients. I see the physical results of these workplace stressors on a daily basis.

Stress is often billed as a negative force, but it can have positive aspects. Hans Selye, a Canadian research pioneer, described two categories of stress: distress (negative stress) and eustress (positive stress). The effect of the stress response is, to a large extent, in the interpretation of the individual and the unique skills employed to adapt to stressful situations. For example, while some people interpret standing on the edge of a high bridge as an extremely distressful event, to a bungee jumper it can be an exhilarating and positively stressful event. Stress is part of the fabric of life.

Despite initiatives to reduce workplace stress, studies show levels continue to increase. Technology, which was supposed to reduce stress by simplifying our jobs, has in fact made them more stressful by increasing expectations imposed upon us. I am not optimistic that workplace stress levels will reduce in the near future, but in fact expect them to increase.

At this point, you may raise your hands in frustration and prepare to resign yourself to a life of crushing stress. Not so fast. There are two components of the stress response that are critical to understand in order to adapt to stressful situations. The first is an individual’s unique interpretation of stressful events. In my practice I find it stimulating to listen to a patient’s problems and help to resolve them – something many would find stressful.

Conversely, I would find it extremely taxing to perform my assistant’s job, answering four telephone lines while at the same time booking appointments and maintaining a smile and a sense of humour. I would last about an hour before I was fired or carried away. The question becomes whether your job fulfills your skill sets and your life objectives. So the first action is to reassess whether there is a good fit with the type of job you are doing.

The second component of the stress response is an individual’s ability to deal with the stressful situation. It has been said that a state of health is when the body is able to successfully adapt to the physical and emotional stressors placed upon it. When health begins to deteriorate, it is usually the result of a decrease in the body’s ability to adapt to stressors. When the body has lost its ability to adapt, a physical response occurs. That is when people visit my office. Headaches, fatigue, neck pain, low back pain and digestive upset are frequent complaints of people who are suffering the adverse effects of prolonged stress.

Stress is often a weak-link phenomenon. It strikes the weakest area of the body the most aggressively. When a system of the body begins to break down it is often the relief valve that forces the person out of the stressful environment before more serious pathologies result. I often treat people with acute neck or low back pain who say: “This is the worst possible time for this to occur. I am at a crucial stage in a project and I am not replaceable.” This is nature’s way of showing us that we are in fact replaceable.

The best way to deal with stressors over which we have little control is to improve our body’s ability to adapt to stress. There are several ways to do this:
1)     Exercise daily. Thirty minutes of aerobic activity greatly improves people’s ability to cope with daily stressors.
2)     Meditate. Spend 15 minutes per day in quiet reflection. Attempt to clear your mind of the daily chatter. Focus on you and what your body is telling you.
3)     Eat a good breakfast and have small nutrition breaks throughout the day. If your body is not fueled it cannot adapt.
4)     Leave the office at lunchtime. It is a great time for a 30-minute aerobic walk.
5)     Develop a ritual at the end of your workday to signal that work is over. Hourly workers punch their time clock card to signal the end of their workday. What do you do? I wash my hands about a hundred times a day, but I take a little longer with the last wash and symbolically wash away all of the problems and pain I have dealt with during the day.
6)     Take care of your body. Chiropractic care and massage therapy help to relieve the physical aspects of the stress response and help your body more effectively adapt to daily stressors.
7)     Develop a hobby or passion. If we are entirely focused on work we become boring, one-dimensional beings. Ironically, often the most successful individuals in a particular area are the most one dimensional.

But there is more to life success than just career success. Hans Selye said, “Without stress there would be no life.” Stress will always be a part of our life. We must find ways to embrace it and deal with it effectively.


Ken Brough is a partner with Glebe Chiropractic in Ottawa.