April is Stress Awareness Month and we’re launching our new Address the Stress campaign to raise awareness among staff about what stress is, its impact on the body and ways to manage it.
Frequent stress is a hazard to your health. It can feel overwhelming but there are ways for you to manage stress to reduce its impact.
According to survey data from Ciphr, the overwhelming majority (79%) of UK adults feel stressed at least one day a month and 74% of UK adults have felt so stressed at some point over the last year that they felt overwhelmed or unable to cope.
We live in stressful times and colleagues may already have their own ways of handling stress but the University is here to support you and direct you to resources that you might find helpful. How we manage stress can make a big difference to our physical and mental wellbeing, and the first step in managing it is to know how it affects us and why.
Deborah Gill, Vice President (Education & Student Experience) and Wellbeing Champion, said “Some stress in modern day life is normal but chronic long-term stress can be damaging to our health and wellbeing. The wellbeing of our people is a key priority for the University and we are supporting staff through stress awareness training and through actions linked to the Mental Health Charter.”
What does recurrent stress do to the body?
- Stress is not a mental health condition, nor is it a diagnosable illness. It is a state that our body goes into as a reaction. It puts on hold many essential functions that keep us healthy, and as a result, creates a wide range of unpleasant symptoms.
- Examples of symptoms include fatigue, headaches, joint and muscle pain, chest pain, sleep problems, difficulty relaxing, appetite changes, loss of motivation, poor timekeeping, indecision, distraction, confusion, lapses in memory, irrational thoughts, difficulty taking in information, withdrawal, obsessive activity, irritability and mood swings.
- We can deal with stress temporarily, when our body has a chance to recover and restart those essential functions afterwards but if we don’t get a break, and therefore don’t recover or restart those essential functions, it can lead to or worsen many mental or physical medical conditions. This is known as chronic stress.
Stress training and information in person and online
Visit our dedicated stress Sharepoint page to find advice on managing stress and stress training provided by the University’s staff wellbeing team.
We know online doesn’t work for everyone, so we’re getting on the road and coming to a location near you across April – July to talk to staff about stress and what support is available. You can find out locations, dates and times for the Address the Stress staff roadshow here.