Chronic stress

Your body is hard-wired to react to extreme situation  in ways that helps you to escape or fight threats from predators and other aggressors. Organism mobilizes all its resources for a fight or flight.

When stress occurs in modern life often there is no possibility of fight or flight. And under neoliberalism then each is his/her own, and workforce is artificially atomized,  t life is full of stress. Just lack of job security is a huge factor in creating the chronic stress. 

Also facing conflicting demands each day, shouldering a huge workload, making ends meet and taking care of your family creates additional level of stress.

Your body treats these factors as  threats and reacts accordingly. It inject hormones that increase your heart rate, blood pressure to give you additional chances to fight the threat.

For "natural threats" the body reaction to stress is usually short term and limited in time. Once a perceived threat has passed, hormone levels return to normal. Both adrenaline and cortisone levels drop, your heart rate and blood pressure return to baseline levels, and other systems resume their regular activities. With "social stress" duration is longer. The next result for your body is the same as if you're constantly under assault.  That's wear the body down and shortens your life.

when stressors are always present and you constantly feel under attack, that fight-or-flight reaction stays turned on. It also increase probability of obesity (overeating is often a reaction to high level of stress), sleep disorders, heart  disease, diabetes and other serious chronic diseases (see the list at mayoclinic.org ),  especially for people over 50.

People vary greatly in their tolerance  to stress. The level of "stress tolerance" depends on your genetics. Some are very "stress-resistant". For example many politicians live over 80, despite spending large part of their  lives in highly stressful environment.

The natural stress response

From mayoclinic.org

When you encounter a perceived threat — a large dog barks at you during your morning walk, for instance — your hypothalamus, a tiny region at the base of your brain, sets off an alarm system in your body. Through a combination of nerve and hormonal signals, this system prompts your adrenal glands, located atop your kidneys, to release a surge of hormones, including adrenaline and cortisol.

Adrenaline increases your heart rate, elevates your blood pressure and boosts energy supplies. Cortisol, the primary stress hormone, increases sugars (glucose) in the bloodstream, enhances your brain's use of glucose and increases the availability of substances that repair tissues.

Cortisol also curbs functions that would be nonessential or detrimental in a fight-or-flight situation. It alters immune system responses and suppresses the digestive system, the reproductive system and growth processes. This complex natural alarm system also communicates with regions of your brain that control mood, motivation and fear.

Some stress management strategies

They do not always exist. for example under neoliberalism just belonging to lower class and lower middle class automatically puts you in highly stressful environment because of the lack of job security and artificial exaggeration and exaltation of competitiveness (job reviews and such).  Making your employment highly conditional and durition of it unpredictable is the goal of neoliberalism. It wants to destroy all permanemt employment and make everybody into contractors. In other words it wants to convert everybody in lower and middle class into Uber drivers. According to Naomi Klein perspective (see her book "Shock Doctrine") it destabilizes social environment intentionally in order to secure market outcome for any activity ("neoliberalism"=market fundamentalism). This true both on a given society level and in relations between nations. Being  weak, poor or unemployed is a sin under neoliberalism (they view you as Undermensch) and they must suffer is the slogan: 

"Neoliberalism sees competition as the defining characteristic of human relations. It redefines citizens as consumers, whose democratic choices are best exercised by buying and selling, a process that rewards merit and punishes inefficiency. It maintains that "the market" delivers benefits that could never be achieved by planning.

Attempts to limit competition are treated as inimical to liberty. Tax and regulation should be minimised, public services should be privatised. The organisation of labour and collective bargaining by trade unions are portrayed as market distortions that impede the formation of a natural hierarchy of winners and losers. Inequality is recast as virtuous: a reward for utility and a generator of wealth, which trickles down to enrich everyone. Efforts to create a more equal society are both counterproductive and morally corrosive. The market ensures that everyone gets what they deserve."

• Maintain your sense of humor Having  sense of humor help to see things in proper perspective.  And not to over-react. This includes the ability to laugh at yourself. Watch a funny movie: the sillier the plot the better. The act of laughing helps your body fight stress in a number of ways. Reading Dilbert books might also be a decent stress reliever.
• Learn how to say "no." Know your limits and stick to them. Whether in your personal or professional life, taking on more than you can handle is a surefire recipe for stress. Distinguish between the "shoulds" and the "musts" and, when possible, say "no" to taking on too much.
• Get yourself involved in regular exercise. Include physical activity  in your daily schedule -- it allow organism a natural way to discharge elevated levels of hormons and also injects into the body endomorphins.  Physical activity is a huge stress reliever. If you spend at least an hour in the gym instead  of  eating chips you will experience the benefits very soon.
• Eat a healthy diet. Which in most case is easier to be  said then done.  Overeating and gaining way is a typical consiqunces of chronic stress. That is vital therapeutic technique for any micromanaged employee. Get a year subscription to a gym ASAP. practice brain maintenance. Maintaining your body helps to maintain your brain.  Exercise every second day (even a short walk will help invigorate your brain as well as your body), and practice relaxation techniques (tune out your critical voice). Yoga provides good relaxation techniques. Buy a massaging machine.  A massage provides some  relaxation too.
• Practicing relaxation techniques such as trying yoga, practicing deep breathing, getting a massage device or chair, learning to meditate
• Pare down your to-do list. Try to incorporate in it time for hobbies, such as reading a book or listening to music
• Foster healthy friendships outside workplace. It is important to resist "man eats man" atmosphere of neoliberalism.  One way is to foster friendships. They other is join some club or start attending church. Find a person to share the worry outside your work environment. Talk to someone you trust—a friend, partner, pastor, mentor , etc — about your concerns. Just talking can be a relief, and your listener may even provide some reassurance and guidance.  The rule No.1 here is that the person should in no way be connected to your current company and your boss -- information often has legs. 
• Volunteering in your community can also release some stress providing you with social support that your office environment might lack.
• Get enough sleep: Adequate sleep fuels your mind, as well as your body. Some over the counter drags like valerian and melatonin might temporarily help you to cope with induced sleeping problems and are relatively safe.   The key word here is temporarily.
• Look at the big picture. Take perspective of the stressful situation. Ask yourself how important it will be in the long run. Will it matter in a month? A year? Is it really worth getting upset over? If the answer is no, focus your time and energy elsewhere.
• Adjust your standards. Perfectionism is a major source of avoidable stress. Stop setting yourself up for failure by demanding perfection. Set reasonable standards for yourself and others, and learn to be okay with “good enough.”
• Reframe problems. Try to view stressful situations from a more positive perspective. Rather than fuming about a traffic jam, look at it as an opportunity to pause and regroup, listen to your favorite radio station, call a friend, or in some other way enjoy some quality time in your car.
• Express your feelings instead of bottling them up. beating a rubber manikin of your boss might help ;-)
• All work and no play is a recipe for burnout.  Workagolism might  be viewed as unhealthy attempt to cope with highly stressful environment and/or excessive demands. Try to find a balance between work and family life, social activities and solitary pursuits, daily responsibilities and downtime.
• Practice Stoicism. When stress is getting you down, take a moment to reflect on all the things you appreciate in your life, including your own positive qualities and gifts. This simple strategy can help you keep things in perspective.

Consider using the following two-step approach to managing workplace stress:

• Assess steps that can help decrease toxic worry, how you even slightly can improve your working conditions or organizational practices even within the severe constrains that micromanagement impose on you.
• Try to shape your office environment in such a way as to reduce the level of stress

Some additional recommendation for decreasing toxic worry

1. Keep a journal: One strategy that many people have found effective in coping with stress is keeping a journal, sometimes referred as a “stress diary.”
    
2. Please remember that job insecurity under neoliberalism is a norm. That is what neoliberalism is about. It artificially injects it into workplace via periodic layoffs, outsourcing, performance reviews and such. It is not your fault. But you can be better prepared to such calamity if you understand that and try to save some money for such an unfortunate event. Borrowing from 401K under duress (which unemployment is) is not penalized, so saving into 401K is a good way to secure such a fund. 
    
3. Take it easy.  Most of IT activity is useless, anyway; it like creating paintings on sand the shore. The next technological wave will wipe the sand clean. That means this stupid and nasty boss that block some of your super-useful initiative is a natural part of ecosystem and might even prevent you from wasting your efforts to help the useless corporation that currently employs you. Such broader view on your environment provide better psychological stability. See Slackerism. There are a lot of books that recommend such an approach, which might provide some other useful details.  Some can be bought cheaper the $1, see for example Don't Sweat the Small Stuff--and it's all small stuff ...
    
4. You can consider you boss to be an interesting clinical case and try to study him/her as a natural phenomenon. Some danger is not uncommon in studying natural phenomenon as any volcano researcher can attest.
    
5. Try to improve you "work-life balance". US work culture supports longer working hours, and a culture of "workaholism" all of which in combination with micromanagement produce dangerous amount of workplace stress. Micromanagement is actually the leading causes of workplace stress in the USA. There are two contributing factors: 
   1. Poorly defined and designed work roles.  Clearly defined work roles, and variation in work tasks within work roles, are likely to alleviate stress.
   2. Irregular work schedules. Unpredictable work schedules, particularly caused by  frequent changes in project direction typical for micromanagement.
       
6. Get the facts. Often worry is a small problem blown out of proportion by your imagination.
   • Before you let worry consume you, check if the fact that you operate are correct. Don't let work rumors, which are usually false, fuel your worry. A co-worker may just be thinking out loud about worst-case scenarios.
   • Find out what and how big the real problem is.
      
7. Make a plan B. Don’t become a passive victim of toxic worry; attack the worry by intensified searching for other job. Even if you never find a decent substitute the activity itself have high therapeutic value. Just make a plan and take it one step at a time, solving one part of the problem first and then the next. Bit by bit you’ll overcome the problem and dissolve your worry. Don't expect wonders; assume that you need to lose something to preserve your health.
    
8. Fight micromanagement induced speed disorders. Sleep deprivation increases irritability. Use slow walking for an hour before sleep and taking a 15-min warm bath after. A grass of warm milk or red wine might help too. What is more effective depends on your metabolism. People with slow oxidation of alcohol react better to milk. For people with high oxidation of alcohol wine helps better but the problem can be to limit its consumption to a healthy level and avoid becoming another alcoholic.  Valerian is a herb that is widely used for such cases in Eastern Europe and it is availed in the USA too.
    
9. Change your eating habits. You need to understand that your body is under severe pressure and  you just need to switch to a healthy diet (cut down on fats, sugar, caffeine). Some alcohol, especially red wine, can be your friend, especially a glass just before going to bed: it might improve sleeping. 
    
10. In case your manager is really nasty,  increase the doze of physical activity in after-hours. Bicycling, running on treadmill in gym, actually anything that can burn calories. As a more exotic example you can buy boxing gloves and punching bag. For many people this trick helps relieve micromanagement induced stress.  This is a proved Japanese approach.
     
11. Let it go. When you can’t do anything more about the problem, then let the worry go. Give it up to your past and forget about it. This may be difficult to do, but it is worth the conscious effort.
     
12. Say no to work on Sundays.  You can burn still same sardays, but make Sunday a "holy day". Take time out from the hustle and bustle of life for leisure time. Too much work is actually inefficient and can lead to burnout. Recognize when you are most stressed and allow yourself some reasonable breaks. When things feel especially difficult, take a walk or change your scenery. Most importantly, try to do things that make you happy.

Try to shape your office environment in such a way as to reduce the level of stress

Even minor things can have a positive effect:

• Consider buying a mascot for your office. A toy can do wonders for your morale.
   
• Take regular breaks throughout the day.  Under stress you have higher chances to get RSI or some other injury. So taking periodic break is of paramount important. It will help clear your mind and relieve pressure. Something as simple as going to the water cooler for a drink may do the trick.
   
• Try to improve pacing of your activities: Do more demanding work in the morning, when your energy level is higher, and easier work (documentation) later in the day, when you may be tired.  Or vise versa if your level of activity is higher in the second half of the day.  
   
• Try listening to relaxing music recordings for five minutes at least twice daily on the work. 
   
• If you feel stressed you can try after each nasty talk with your boss walk the stairs up and down several times. For many people such an activity can be a stress reliever.
   
• In case of overload get to work early or stay late; but do it  just once or twice a week, no more frequently.  You may be able to accomplish more when you vary your routine, but avoid Workaholism.

If your stress additionally increases due to job insecurity, take stock of yourself. Update your resume, and remind yourself of your skills and strengths. Also, make sure you keep up with new developments in your field. This will make you valuable on the marketplace.

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Last modified: March, 18, 2019