Five Science-Based Tips to Reduce Work Stress
These Quick Strategies Can Help You Focus and Increase Productivity
Writing a Competency Demonstration Report (CDR) for Engineers Australia is a challenging and stressful task for most engineers who apply for Migration Skills Assessment through CDR pathway. It involves a lot of hard work including research, studying the requirements, writing career episodes, proofreading, and preparing the summary statement.
Professional CDR shares golden tips indicating that we all have those days when everything is stressful, even the smallest and smallest things. While stress is a normal reaction your body has when changes occur, it can really affect your mood and performance if you don’t learn to relieve symptoms. Fortunately, there are a number of quick remedies to reduce it and get back on track. Here are five science-based tips for reducing your CDR preparing work stress.
1. Write Your Feelings
Writing feelings down on paper is an easy way to reduce stress during work hours. In a study by Dr. James W. Pennebaker, 46 college students were asked to write about traumatic life events or trivial topics for 15 minutes, four consecutive days. During the six months after the experiment, students who wrote about traumatic events visited the campus health center less frequently and used less pain relievers than those who wrote about trivial matters.
Journaling can be a therapeutic way to overcome the frustrations you may face at that time. So instead of bottling frustrations, put them out on paper.
2. Get Some Exercise
While writing your CDR is tough to concentrate, therefore exercise has been touted as one of the best ways to reduce stress. The Mayo Clinic has said that exercise in almost any form can alleviate it. Physical activity helps increase the production of feel-good neurotransmitters in the brain, called endorphins, and can reduce symptoms associated with mild depression and anxiety. Additionally, doing so can also help improve your self-esteem.
However, not everyone loves going to the gym (or sometimes can’t). Therefore, Professional CDR recommends a physical activity that you can enjoy, whether it is riding a bike, practicing yoga or even just walking. Exercising regularly can help you improve your overall physical and mental health.
3. Check Your Email Less
Are you constantly checking your e-mail throughout the day? Checking email frequently can seem like a mundane and inconsequential task. But it could actually be stressing you out. A study from the University of British Columbia found that limiting the frequency of visits reduces daily stress. In the study, participants who checked it only three times a day experienced significantly less daily stress than those who had unlimited use of email for a week.
Checking your emails frequently or visit Facebook pages can not only affect your stress level but also make you less productive while drafting your CDR files. If possible for your profession, try to do it only three times a day, once in the morning, once in the afternoon, and once at night to avoid distraction.
4. Drink Black Tea
Stop having a cup of coffee when you are stressed. Instead, seek out soothing black tea to reduce your stress. According to a study published in the journal Psychopharmacology, six weeks of tea consumption leads to a reduction in post-stress cortisol and greater relaxation. Writing a CDR requires constant hours of focus and sometimes sleepless night. Black tea has proved to be good non-sedative as well.
If you are in the habit of having a cup of tea during work hours every day, you could see similar benefits to increase your productivity and reduce stress while writing your CDR.
5. Chew Gum (Yes, really!)
Did you know that simply chewing gum can reduce stress? Apparently it’s true. In a study at Swinburne University in Melbourne, levels of salivary cortisol (a marker of physiological stress) in chewing gum chewers were 16 percent lower than chewers without it during mild stress and nearly 12 percent lower in moderate stress.
In addition to a reduction, the study also found that chewing gum increased alertness and improved performance in multitasking activities. Have a pack of gum on hand when you work – it’s worth a try, right?
With these science-based tips for reducing work stress, you can finally breathe a sigh of relief. Try some of these simple methods to reduce it and get back to being calm and productive.