how do you guys cope with stress at work ?

[picard]

how do you guys cope with stress at work ?

I do exercise on the weekend but I still feel dead tired coming home from work. my chest feels compressed in a vice.

I worry about every little mistake that I might make at work. I clench my jaws unconsciously.

I get anxious all the time at work.

 

[Fuglydude]

I'm not sure what you do for work, but I can relate to being really tired after my shift. Are you new at your job?

I work 12, sometimes 16 hour shifts in the fast-paced life and death world of critical care... out pt's are the sickest in the hospital and many are unstable. One small mistake could kill someone. Im' usually pretty bagged after a shift, but I still manage to get to the gym depending on whether I need to train that day or not.

I don't typically take any stimulants prior to work as they make my hands shake. I do however, take a multi, b-complex, EFAs, and anti-oxidants almost religiously. This combined w/ a reasonably healthy diet helps me deal w/ stress.

Working out, sex and doing things that chill me out are the strategies I use to cope w/ stress, (this includes work-related stuff).

I use several pre-workout strategies to amp myself up so that I am at least somewhat ready to lift. Going to the gym is a bit like going to war... you gotta be prepared or you'll lose. Here's what I do:

1. Make sure I'm properly hydrate (750-1000 cc of water pre-WO)
2. Pre WO meal (2 hours before lifting: light protein and some carbs. Ex: Egg whites/shake w/ some fruit)
3. Pre WO multi-vitamin and heavy dose B-complex supplement.
4. Pre WO stimulant (typically methyl-xanthine based)
5. Pre WO metabolic support (arginine esters, creatine esters, etc)
6. Pre WO anti-oxidants.

Sleep is also really really important to help reduce stress. So in short, stress relief is done by combining a healthy diet w/ prudent supplementation, optimal and varied physical activity, regular sex, emotional/spiritual fulfillment, and of course adequate sleep/rest.

Just my 2 cents...

 

[picard]

I feel my life seems to be bland. I don't know what of change I need in my life.

I am still clueless.

 

[RMM]

How I cope? Sugar and caffeine.

Ruins the diet, but I like my job, so that's a big plus. Deadlines and all, but at the end of the day the research we're doing is pretty damn cool.

How to avoid worrying about mistakes? Peer review (extra pair of eyes to look at your stuff, and you doing the same for others), plus accepting that what you do is usually what you do as best you can with the time you have. Strive to do better all the time, but don't beat yourself up, because mistakes will happen. Unless you're a surgeon or air traffic controller, it's not going to immediately kill someone.

Maybe the researcher world is different though, we make hypotheses that get proved wrong all the time and simply try to make sense out of a big mess, so we accept a certain degree of failure as inevitable.

 

[Drum&Bass]

quit your job and do something you enjoy