When it comes to lowering stress at work, studies from
around the world have yielded a set of five tips, with advice ranging from
grabbing 40 winks at your desk to taking your pet to work.
The first tip highlighted by
New Scientist magazine is that workers should be sociable - but not too
sociable.
British research has shown
that sociability is good for the health, with a study of thousands of
civil servants revealing that moral support from colleagues, encouragement
from supervisors and clear direction from bosses kept stress levels down.
Male civil servants who lacked
support in the workplace were 31 per cent more likely to suffer from
anxiety and depression, and women 43 per cent.
However, too much socializing
could lead to work piling up.
The second tip is to ensure
your surroundings are as pleasant as possible.
Simply being able to see your
colleagues makes the working day much more manageable, with the height of
partitions dividing up office
space affecting stress levels.
Surprisingly, the higher the
partition is, the more people complain about noise from their neighbours.
Research from the University
of Montreal shows that the optimum partition height is 4ft 3ins (1.3m) -
high enough to provide privacy but low enough to ensure staff do not feel
isolated.
The third piece of advice
for workers is to learn to switch off.
Mobile phones and other
electronic equipment should be switched off after hours to allow burnt-out
brain cells to recharge.
Playing with a cat or dog can
also aid relaxation and if workers can persuade their boss to let them
into the office then the day will fly by.