Be a Stress Buster

Digitalvision Whether you're a penurious postdoc or a highly paid pharmaceutical executive, stress may be an unknown by-product of your daily lab work. Stress is our great common denominator. We are stressed, feel stressed, are stressed out, or are overstressed. Anyway you say it, grad students, professors, bench scientists, and their department supervisors live with some amount of stress everyday. "I guess it's demands, it's time lines," says Patrick Edwards, associate director in regulatory affairs at Merck & Co., the Whitehouse Station, NJ-based pharmaceutical company. "You've got to have a grant application in by a certain deadline, or a book chapter finished at a certain time, or attend a meeting. The more of those deadlines that add up, the more stressful it is." But having a full slate is not necessarily bad. Some stress in short, small doses, can actually be energizing and motivating. However, chronic stress--the type that does not go away--can be debilitating. It can come in many guises: worrying about job security, being in the wrong job, having a personality clash with your boss, trying to meet unrealistic timelines, or watching an experiment fail. Chronic stress can lead to anxiety, depression, hypertension, and gastrointestinal disorders, as well as absenteeism, burnout, accidents, and low morale. People handle stress differently; some internalize it, while others talk about feeling stressed. Regardless of the style, the physical effects of stress are tangible. Experts agree that an estimated 75%-90% of all visits to primary care physician are stress related. And the job is clearly the number one stressor for most people, including scientists, who often find that deadlines are vexing and stressful. A study published in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine found higher healthcare costs among workers reporting high levels of stress.1 In addition, a survey conducted in 1992 by the St. Paul Fire & Marine Insurance Co. found that problems at work were more strongly associated with health complaints than were problems from any other area, including finances and family.2 What can be done to reduce stress? Lots, if the root cause is known. But when you're already stressed out, it's not always easy to identify the culprit. A DESTRESS PLACE At the American Management Association (AMA) in Washington, DC, seminar instructors use symbols and exercises to teach how stress works and how to consider solutions in a stress-free environment. At a recent seminar for managing emotions in the workplace, 20 participants, mostly middle managers, look either stressed out by missing two days of work, or simply skeptical about what the course and the AMA instructor, Larry Ray, can teach them. A bulldoggish looking man with a blunt, brush haircut, Ray nevertheless exudes civility. Before long he plunges into the first exercise, a "visual bio sketch." The sketch must start with birth and end with coming to the seminar; it must take no longer than two minutes to explain. One by one, Ray displays each person's sketch. Except for those by two graphic designers, stick figures are the artistic style of choice. An amazing amount of information is dispensed in two minutes, along with a lot of laughs. The idea behind the exercise, Ray says, is to get people comfortable, and that's always a first step in preventing stress. It's also a good way for a supervisor to learn about an employee. It's easy to build a stereotype about a person and then react, not to the person, but to the stereotype. But that can only heighten stress. "Stereotyping is just not helpful," says Ray, a former prosecutor and now CEO and dispute-resolution specialist with the Institute for Organizational and Personal Transformation, a nonprofit organization devoted to conflict resolution. "Once you see that in your employees, it means you have to dismiss stereotypes and generalizing about people." Dismissing stereotypes is a two-way street, especially when you consider that many managers were never trained to manage. In other cases, managers may be lousy bosses because they are awash in their own stress. "So when you talk to a supervisor who is giving you stress don't attack them personally," Ray says. Often deadlines are set and workloads doled out by upper management without any consultation with those doing the work. In those situations, Ray advises that the key to reducing stress is controlling what you can. Each morning take a snapshot of your day and prioritize your responsibilities in order of importance. If you can, get your supervisor to sign off on your plan. Charles Haber, a biochemical engineer at Merck who now works in regulatory affairs, says he figured out early that his grad school boss, himself a new assistant professor, expected Haber to be prepared for meetings with a game plan. I learned to manage him," Haber says. "I'd meet with him on a weekly basis and develop a plan for the week. Then the following week we would revisit the plan and see how it went. After two or three years the supervisor couldn't say that he was disappointed with my progress because he had signed onto the plan. This was very helpful." BURNED OUT? Try These For Stress Relief International Stress Management Association (USA) www.isma-usa.org Retreats and Seminars Internet Magazine www.retreatsandseminars.com VirtualPsych www3.telus.net/virtualpsych As for the things you can't control, Ray recommends developing strategies to deal with those issues. If a timeline calls for you to complete an assignment quickly, understand that and do the best you can under less than ideal conditions. Recognizing that certain things are beyond your control will significantly reduce your stress. "You need to be prepared to do a little flexing and adapting by putting yourself in the other person's shoes," Ray says. STRESS BUSTING At the AMA seminar, the second exercise focuses on thinking styles. Participants choose one characteristic displayed in each of six boxes. One box offers the words hopeful, concern about control, devil's advocate, emotional, look for fact, and fertile. Other boxes contain words such as hunches, positive, objective, and creative. Then Ray tosses people colored plastic leis, each color--red, blue, yellow, pink, and white--representing a thinking style. He divides people into groups. Ray assigns participants to use the leis to build a dress code for a computer company. They are instructed to take on the "personality" of the colored lei--red is emotional, blue is controlling, yellow is the cheerleader, pink wants numbers to back up everything, and white is the negative thinker. For 10 minutes participants yammer away, each lobbying furiously for their own point of view. At the end of the exercise, one group has decided employees can't wear tutus or kilts. The participants comment that they found the debate frustrating and stressful because no one wanted to hear anyone else's point of view, which, of course, was the whole purpose of the exercise. It's important to understand the other person's values. If you can do that, real communication will follow. "If your supervisor is a blue thinker (controlling) you can adapt," Ray says. "You can start a discussion by saying, 'How much time do we have' and 'Here's my goal.' That puts the supervisor at ease. So by taking care of their issues, it opens up an opportunity for your issues." And it reduces everyone's stress level. Ray says surveys show that between 90% and 98% of all workers want peace in the workplace. "They want harmony," he says. BODY WORK But even when you adapt, adjust, and flex, stress can still find you. When that happens, a good cardiovascular regimen, something that makes you breathe deeply and gets the heart pumping, works best. For Edwards, cycling provides a stress-release valve. "It's not just riding the bike," he says. He rides with a cycling club in Philadelphia's suburbs. "It's a hobby. I follow the professional cycling tours in Europe and do all the maintenance on my bike and experiment with new ways to train. I find it very difficult to think about work when I'm riding." Bob Calandra (rotoca@aol.com) is a freelance writer in Philadelphia. References 1. R.Z. Goetzel et al, "The relationship between modifiable health risks and health care expenditures: An analysis of the multi-employer HERO health risk and cost database," Health Enhancement Research Organization Research Committee, J Occup Environ Med, 40:843-54, 1998. 2. S. Moran et al., "American workers under pressure," St. Paul Fire & Marine Insurance Company Technical Report, 1992. STRESS BUSTING ON A DEADLINE: Practical In-the-Lab Techniques 1. Stop and Breathe Slowly. As you inhale bring in a fresh, new perspective and let go of the stress as you exhale. 2. Take A Five-Minute Vacation. Change your mental frame of mind by thinking about places and activities that you like. 3. Listen to Upbeat Music. Stop what you are doing and really listen to your favorite song. 4. Walk Outside. Physically leave the stressful environment. 5. Take a Ride Around the Block. Take a 10-minute ride to clear your head. 6. Call Someone. Talk to a friend or someone who offers you support and unconditional acceptance. 7. Make Time For Exercise. Working up a good sweat while exercising is probably the best way to burn off stress and gain a fresh perspective. 8. Do Stretches in the Office. Close the door (if you have one), stretch slowly, and breathe deeply.

Be a Stress Buster

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