Stress and anxiety. Where do they come from and how to combat them?

Both professionally and personally, it is clear that stress and with it, anxiety, in modern times have become an endemic scourge that people living in modern society have to deal with.

Too many stimuli, tasks, urgent matters and responsibilities create stress and, poorly managed and maintained over time, in the long term can become chronic and negatively affect our health.

Experts on the subject agree that, in this matter, prevention is better than cure. Be that as it may, having stress at specific moments can be something relatively normal and acceptable, but if it happens to you all the time it becomes a sign that something is wrong, a problem that we must combat.

 

Stress is…

But let’s start at the beginning: what is stress?

Stress is a state of mental fatigue caused by a higher than normal demand. It is the reaction of the person before a challenge or excessive demand, and that creates a feeling of tension.

At specific times, stress can be a good thing, allowing you to respond effectively to an unusual challenge or demand (for example, avoiding danger, playing certain sports that require reflexes, or performing an urgent task). This type of stress is called point stress and it is something positive that all people have experienced at some point in their lives, and that helps them successfully cope with important situations in their lives.

In contrast to the above, a very different situation occurs when this stress is repeated for a long time (for example, due to personal or financial problems, too much stress, responsibility or workload, impossible tasks to carry out, etc.) . In this case, specific stress becomes chronic stress and can end up damaging your health, causing involuntary changes in behavior, fatigue, concentration problems, anxiety, depression, insomnia, weight changes, among other physical health problems and mental.

Closely related to the above is anxiety, which is a feeling of fear, fear or restlessness. This can be caused by stress. As with stress, when anxiety occurs at a specific moment (the most common example is before taking an important exam) it can be positive by giving us strength to help us successfully overcome the challenges we have at a given moment .

But as with stress, too much anxiety can become chronic, leading to anxiety disorders, where it no longer has a specific cause and is maintained over time. The most common is generalized anxiety disorder, in which people who suffer from it worry excessively and continuously over time about common problems, without being able to do anything to control these feelings. Other cases are those of panic attacks or phobias.

It is not easy to predict when a person will suffer these situations, and many times they occur without the person being aware of it. Suffering from these disorders or not depends a lot on the personality of each one and the situations to which they are subjected. In these cases, you should go to a professional to diagnose these disorders and help us find solutions.

Tips to combat stress and anxiety

Reviewing the literature, these are some tips that experts give to avoid (or reduce) stress and anxiety:

– Identify the causes of stress: It seems obvious, but having a knowledge of the causes of problems is the first step to combat them. For this, perhaps some of these articles and methodologies can help you: Evaluation tools.

In an ideal world, where we could find the causes of all problems and tackle them at their roots, of course much of all this would be solved. Despite our regret, sometimes the causes are not so obvious, or they cannot be easily solved, or they are a series of circumstances that, together with our way of being, create a difficult problem to solve. In another article I wrote in the past, I share some ideas about this: 5 tips to be happier by changing your way of thinking (and not your life).

– Avoid sedentary lifestyle: Experts point out that sedentary lifestyle can aggravate stress and lead to anxiety disorders. Sitting for too long, in front of the computer or television has a negative influence on us, and is related to the appearance of sleep and health problems.

– Exercising: In line with the previous point, moderate exercise, as well as walks, nature excursions, etc., reduce stress levels.

– Perform relaxation techniques: At this point, it is worth talking about certain techniques that have become very fashionable lately, and that goes hand in hand with trying to achieve an open and positive attitude in our life, something that for some people is easier than for others. The best known of them are, for example, meditation, deep breathing, yoga, tai chi or mindfulness, or hydrotherapy, among others.

– Having a healthy diet: Another point that experts always agree on is food. A healthy diet improves our physical and psychological health, so it is another point to take into account.

– Rest and social life: It is important to reserve time for rest where we can disconnect for a few hours from our worries. Socialization and social life is also key, and dedicating time to our personal relationships, with our partner, family and friends.

– Planning and organizing your life: Finally, a point that perhaps should have gone first. Having a clear mind about what we want to do with our life and what our long-term goals and objectives are is essential to be able to face the problems and tasks of day to day without getting lost with things that, after all, perhaps are not so important if we see them in the long term.

Some applications for smartphones that can help you

There are free applications for your mobile phone (Android, etc.) that can help you identify, track, and combat stress and other similar problems.

With no intention of advertising, we show you a couple of them below:

For example, we have Youper, which includes tests to detect and monitor your health over time with specific questionnaires on symptoms related to generalized anxiety disorder, depression, post-traumatic stress, or social anxiety, among others. It also allows you to know your personality, keep track of your daily mood, identify activities that affect you positively or negatively, do mindfulness and meditation to relax, give you advice, etc.

Other applications that are simpler but that can also help you organize your ideas and identify which activities affect your mood are diaries and mood monitors, such as Dailyo, where you can record your mood each day along with the activities you do, and later view the statistics for months or years. Very useful to identify your good and bad moments!

Many other similar applications offer similar utilities, so we encourage you to find and try the one that best suits what you are looking for.

How to create your company policy: Definitions, requirements and types of policies

Having defined an appropriate policy is essential for the correct operation of the organizations. Furthermore, it is a required document to implement some standards such as ISO 9001 and ISO 14001. That is why, in this article we will explain all you need to know, understand and create a company policy.

 

Definition of business policy

The policy of an organization is a statement of general principles that the company (or organization) agrees to follow. It marks a number of basic rules and guidelines about the behaviour expected of its employees and sets the basis about how to perform the business activities.

A good policy should not occupy more than one or two pages and should not include details. It should be a simply list that defines the philosophy of the company, such as for example a commitment to comply with the law, the desire to create a good working environment, the implementation of continuous improvement systems, the need to manage the activities and processes to obey the procedures, the expectation of minimizing the environmental impact through a good management of the resources, etc.

After creating the policy, it should be documented and included in the Quality Manual or Integrated Management Guide of the company. In addition, the policy should be distributed and known by all the employees, it must be implemented and it have to serve as a starting point when drafting the other company documents. For example, if in the politics talk about “compliance”, the rest of the procedures should emphasize in this.

Types of Policies

There are several types of policies in terms of scope:

– General Policies: These are policies that reach throughout the organization and mark their outlines. They should be known by everyone and provide a guide about how to behave. A good policy should be in line with the strategy set by the company and serve as a reference for the development of departmental policies and the objectives.

– Departmental Policies: These are the principles to be followed in each department or service. The most common are the Quality Policy which sets out the principles and objectives to achieve a good quality level, the Environmental policy where we talk about being responsible and minimize the environmental impact, and the Politics of Occupational Health and Safety  which speaks about getting a good working conditions and minimize the risk of accidents.

– Specific Policies: The latter type of policies are rules set for activities and projects tailored to them.

There are several rules that require to have a policy that includes some aspects. Among them are the followings:

 

ISO 9001: Requirements for quality management system

The ISO 9001 require to include a policy in the Quality Management Manual of the organization that includes the following:

– Commitment to comply with legal requirements and commitments set by the organization.

– Continuous improvement of the effectiveness of the Quality Management System.

It is also said that this policy should be appropriate to the purpose of the organization and serve as a framework for establishing and reviewing quality objectives. Finally, it must be communicated to the workers and it have to be reviewed regularly.

 

ISO 14001: Requirements for environmental management systems

This standard requires an environmental policy that includes the following:

– Comply with legal requirements and signed requirements.

– Continuous improvement.

– Prevention of pollution.

The policy should be appropriate with the environmental impact of the activities of the organization and serve as a framework for setting and reviewing environmental objectives and targets. This policy should be documented and implemented, reported and made publicly available.

Note: The ISO standards are applicable to all countries, but each country has its own transcription. In the case of Spain, it’s called “UNE EN ISO” (UNE = Una norma española = A Spanish Standard, EN = European Norm). Despite this, all the adaptations are equal and mutually compatible.  ISO 9001 says the same as UNE-EN ISO 9001, and ISO 14001 says the same as UNE-EN ISO 14001 (but in different languages).

 

Integrated policies

In the reality, many organizations have implemented together the ISO9001, ISO14001 and other standards. In this case it is frecuent to have an Integrated Management Guide which provides for all in one document (called “Integrated Management Manual” or similar). In these situations you can create a comprehensive policy that covers all points described above and you can implement all the rules at once.

 

Integrated Policy Example

Finally, let’s take an example of integrated policy for a fictitious manufacturing company that manufactures bottles and has created a policy tailored to meet ISO9001 quality standards and ISO14001 environmental management. This policy would be included in the Integrated Management Guide:

“The company PDCA Bottle Factory is a company dedicated to the production and distribution of glass bottles. Its principles and commitments are listed in the following points:

– PDCA Bottle Factory agrees to follow the legal regulations and the commitment that it has set with its customers.

– The activities of the company will be managed and documented orderly, grouping them in processes, setting ambitious targets for key processes, which will be reviewed and updated at least annually.

– PDCA Bottle Factory will establish appropriate systems to prevent pollution and manage its resources efficiently.

– The company will stablish and follow a continuous improvement system that will improve the way to perform and manage the activities of the company in order to increase its effectiveness.

These principles will be communicated and followed by all staff. In addition, this policy will be reviewed periodically to be adapted to the current situation of the company. “