The study of the effects of accumulated stress on the human body is relatively new and not much research has been done about this important subject until the last couple of decades.
Medical scientists and health professionals have been able to nail down one fact: people who are able to shed and cope with stress are much healthier and happier and tend to live longer than those who don’t.
The stress that you are subjected to throughout the working day can be physical as well as mental and emotional. In a high-pressure business environment, a businessman is being called on to make decisions, deal with situations, many times deliver bad news. There are good days and bad days and days where everything goes great. But we all know there are a few days that don’t go swimmingly well. Making sure the bad days don’t don’t amount to stress is important.
Accumulated physical and mental stress can negatively affect your body and mind in several different ways. Nagging headaches, bouts of insomnia, struggling to focus and stay attentive to tasks in the office…these can all be signs stress is starting to get to you.
In some business environments, it’s actually expected that a hard working, ambitious businessman MUST show signs of stress or he’s ‘not working hard enough’. There was a hilarious episode of ‘The Office’ in which characters in the series fictional office vied with each other to ‘prove’ to their boss they were working harder in order to win an award. Many of the workers took this to mean appearing on the job haggard from lack of sleep, shaking hands from too much caffeine, slept-in clothes, ‘concentration headaches’ and more.
Being ‘stressed out’ has definite negative impacts on a person’s work performance, so far from ‘proving’ how hard they are working, stressed out businessmen are likely pointlessly risking their health. This is because studies have shown stressed out people’s productivity actually DECLINES over time, it doesn’t stay at the same level or increase. They are literally working harder and getting less results.
This is why smart businessmen actually PLAN how to relieve their accumulated stress every day, and on the weekends make sure they relax enough and lose any remaining stress before starting a new week fresh.
A happy, relaxed, refreshed businessman actually gets more done than a harried, exhausted, stressed-out one.