Healthcare workers have always experienced a significant level of stress on the job. However, the COVID-19 pandemic severely exacerbated the stress and anxiety associated with working in healthcare. Many healthcare workers are burned out or suffering from levels of stress and anxiety that impair their health, personal life, and ability to perform their jobs. Here are six ways healthcare workers can reduce their stress:
1. Prioritze Self-Care
Self-care for stress is a systematic approach that aims to reduce your stress by prioritizing your own health. It starts with caring for your physical health by making sure you get enough sleep, eat healthy meals, and exercise regularly. Exercise in particular has been shown to be a highly effective method of relieving stress and anxiety, and it has a mood-boosting effect. The best type of exercise to engage in is an activity that you enjoy. You should aim to exercise for at least two and a half hours a week, although daily sessions and more intense modes of exercise are more effective.
2. Talk to Your Supervisor
The CDC has studied stress in the workplace and has demonstrated that relatively simple changes in workplace policies and procedures can substantially decrease stress and anxiety among workers, and these findings apply to the healthcare setting.
While approaching your supervisor about your work-related stress and anxiety may seem very counter-intuitive and intimidating, opening a line of communication with your supervisor about policy changes that can reduce stress in the workplace is likely to be highly effective. It may be easier to do this if you can enlist the help of a few work colleagues who are similarly feeling stress in the workplace so you can approach your supervisor together.
3. Get Support
Joining a professional society can be helpful. Professional societies and groups can provide support, mentoring, advocacy, and access to peer counseling and advice. Being aware that you are not alone in your struggles and that there is help available can be stress-relieving all by itself.
4. Seek Mental Health Care
Consulting with a qualified therapist, psychologist, or psychiatrist is an excellent approach to dealing with excessive stress and anxiety. Most workplaces and health insurance companies will cover treatment for workplace-related stress and anxiety. A qualified therapist can provide a safe place to talk about unpleasant work-related experiences, advice on how to deal with stress and anxiety, resilience training, and, if necessary, anti-anxiety medication.
5. Practice Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction
Consider learning about mindfulness-based stress reduction. This is a clinically proven approach to reducing stress and anxiety that involves mind and body awareness and meditation. Although traditionally taught as a formal eight-week course, individuals can learn about it on their own or through group classes offered by therapists, hospitals, clinics, spas, and even yoga instructors.
6. Quit or Reduce Substance Use
Many people reach for substances such as alcohol, cigarettes, and cannabis to help them unwind. Healthcare workers with easy access to prescription medications may also find themselves using various prescription-only substances to help them deal with their stress. While occasional use of these types of substances is not a problem, it is easy to become dependent on them and use them excessively to help relieve workplace-related stress and anxiety.
Unfortunately, excessive use of substances will increase your overall stress and anxiety and cause you to fall into a harmful cycle where you self-medicate to relieve the stress and anxiety caused by withdrawal from the substance you are using to self-medicate. If you find you cannot reduce or quit on your own, seek help from a professional who specializes in treating addiction.
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