"It is not the stress that harms us; it is our reaction to it"
Hans Seyle, pioneer stress researcher

What is stress?

Stress is our physical and emotional response to a demand or 'stressor' in our environment. We can also 'turn on' our stress response with negative thoughts, beliefs or attitudes.

Stress is defined as a nonspecific response of the body to any demand made upon it which results in symptoms such as a rise in blood pressure, release of hormones, quickness of breath, tightening of muscles, perspiration and increased cardiac activity.

Stress is not necessarily negative. Some stress keeps us motivated and alert, while too little stress can create problems. However, too much stress can trigger problems with mental and physical health, particularly over a prolonged period of time.

Stress at work

While work is only one of a number of sources of stress, it occupies about half of our waking time. So our enjoyment of work has a major impact on enjoyment of life generally.

Sources of job stress

One of the major causes of stress in the workspace is the feeling that things are beyond our control. Advances in technology bring many advantages, but they are also a major contributor to daily stress.

Other stressors that may arise from the workplace include:

• Overload - 'too much work, too little time'.
• Relationships - conflict with colleagues or boss.
• Conflicts between work roles, job demands and juggling the balance between work and home life.
• Long hours, shift work and being unclear about work roles.
• Complicated tasks, poor training and feeling isolated or undervalued.
• Changes in the role or organisation (eg, restructuring); lack of communication between managers and workers, or between departments.
• Bullying or harassment.
• Not being able to talk openly about stress, health or mental health problems.
• Physical environment - noise, dirt, mess, dangers, lack of air or poor equipment, messy workspace.

See also tips for managers for eliminating the top 10 sources of stress at work.

Stress and mental health in the workplace is a wide-ranging and complex topic, and a number of myths persist that obscure the real facts about those who may have a mental illness.

To delve further into this subject a useful place to begin is with some definitions of what stress, mental health and mental illness are.

Original material provided by the Mental Health Foundation of New Zealand and the World Federation for Mental Health, edited by everybody.