IT Stress Management

Study on managing stress being faced by IT Professionals

The present article is concerned with how the Information technology and the consequent change in job culture affect work stress, mental health IT professionals. This is particularly relevant because jobs in Information technology are the most coveted one in modern India, and the most brilliant section of the youth are going for it. Some indentified that the key factors at the workplace which generate stress among IT personnel in Singapore. It was suggested that factors which generate stress be grouped into 4 broad categories as Lack of career advancement related to the problem of high rate of employee turnover, Work overload resulting in spillover of workload at home and guilt and dissatisfaction for being less attentive to family, Risk taking and decision making consisting of fear of making mistakes and Employee morale and organizational culture related to a lack of participation in decisions affecting their work, undue blame for machine failure and difficulty in team work considering the fluid and noninvolved nature of work. In a study on Work Stress among Information Systems Professionals it was found that employees reported the commonly experienced feelings such as frustration, pride in accomplishments, being overwhelmed, anxiety and common stress symptoms decrease in energy, anxiety, muscle tension, headache, stomach upset, negative thinking and insomnia thus both positive and negative effects were reported. It was discussed that employee's difficulties with stress within organization that continually introduce new technology and computer software into the work environment . Symptoms of stress are reviewed and employer and employee options to reduce stress are examined. The present study takes a holistic view of personhood and considers job stress as one imposed upon and interacting with other stressors. Therefore the study focuses on psychological distress, sense of wellness and organizational role stress of IT professionals as associated with stressful life events and coping resources. Very few studies have been obtained in this area. In India there is a virtual gap in study of this sector. Psychological distress in the present context has been defined as the overall feeling of anxiety, depression, and stress related somatization. It is the feeling of ill-being associated with various types and phases of mental illness. Wellness has been defined as a subjective feeling of being in a positive state of existence. Recent literature on mental health repeatedly emphasizes that absence of illness and presence of wellness are not synonymous: these have been found to be slightly and negatively correlated. Nadeem investigated Among different occupational stress variables role over load, role authority, role conflict and lack of senior level support contribute more to the occupational stress. He concluded that Bank employees cannot afford the time to relax and “wind down” when they are faced with work variety, discrimination, favoritism, delegation and conflicting tasks.

Here is a small exercise which helps to overcome stress which is being experienced us due to our day-to-day tasks.

Relaxation: The Gateway to Your

Mind Power

Before you start to develop your new skill of harnessing your subconscious mind power, there’s another skill you need to learn. While learning and performing it are extremely easy, it is very important to the process. It’s called relaxation. Before you begin an affirmation session, you want to relax your body because you also want to relax your mind…clear all the junk out of the way and get your brain wave activity to a minimum so you can focus on the ONE thing on which you want to focus. The subconscious mind is more susceptible to receiving and acting upon suggestions when it is relaxed and focused on that one thing.

Here is how I do my relaxation. First, I put on some very relaxing music. This is optional. Try using music at first to see if it helps you relax. If you relax better without it, don’t use music. But you want your surroundings to be quiet. If you have a family, tell your spouse and children not to bother you for the next 20 minutes or for however long you plan to spend. And before you begin, tell your spouse to take a message if you get a phone call.

I sit in a reclining chair and breathe at a normal pace for about 30 seconds and get my mind off of things. Then I take a deep breath, hold it for 5 seconds, then slowly release the air and as I do, I imagine my body is becoming relaxed, as if it dropped down to the next level. Then I return to normal breathing for about 10 seconds, imagining that my breathing is slightly lighter than when it was when I started. I repeat that process 4 or 5 times, then while I exhale the last time, I close my eyes, and say to myself quietly and slowly… “The muscles around my eyes are totally and completely relaxed… I couldn’t open my eyes if I wanted to because the muscles are soooo relaxed….now I see coming from the sky a beam of light, shining on the muscles around my eyes relaxing them even further… the light of relaxation is penetrating deeply into every muscle, nerve and fiber around my eyes, making them even more relaxed… my breathing is soooo light, my heart and pulse are beating sooooo slowly…now the light of relaxation is spreading from my eyes down my face, down to my jaw and all the surrounding area….down my neck and around to the back of my neck….now the light of relaxation is spreading down my back, down past my shoulder blades…now the light of relaxation has spread across my back, out to the sides of my torso…now the light of relaxation continues down my back and sides, penetrating deeply into the nerves, muscles and fibers, relaxing them even more…all the way down to the small of my back….down to my waist… now the light of relaxation is shining on the sides of my neck and has spread across the top of my shoulders, just relaxing them…now the light of relaxation is moving slowly down my arms, penetrating deeply into every nerve, muscle and fiber making them soooo relaxed…and now the light has gone down to my elbows and has relaxed every muscle…now the light of relaxation is moving down my forearms…slowly down…into my wrist…hands…fingers…and all the way out through the tips of my fingers…now the light of relaxation is shining on the front of my neck and is moving down my chest area, penetrating deeply into every muscle, nerve and fiber…all the way down to my solar plexus…now down to my abdomen and all the surrounding area… down to my waist…now the light of relaxation shines on my pelvis and hips and is moving down to my thighs…it continues down my thighs relaxing every muscle, nerve and fiber… allllllll the way down to my knees…now the relaxation continues down my calves…cascading down to my ankles… into my feet…and all the way out through the tips of my toes…every part of my body is totally, and completely relaxed”.

Now, as I said, that’s how I do it. If this works for you, great. If not, you can do it the way that works best for you. But you want to get your body totally relaxed. You don’t have to make an effort to relax your mind. It will relax along with your body. And don’t rush through this. I spend about 5 minutes doing the relaxation. Spend at least that amount of time. Also, I recommend that you do this in the morning before you go to work. If you do it in the evening after working all day and then eating dinner, you may fall asleep and miss out on practicing your new skill and throw your night sleep schedule off. So try it at a time when you’re less likely to fall asleep, and do it in a sitting position. I also recommend doing it on an empty stomach or waiting at least an hour after eating a big meal. If you do it right after eating, the food you ate will sit in your stomach like a blob because your metabolism will drastically slow down.

And notice where I put… That’s where you pause and imagine that part of your body relaxing. Just imagine it, pretend your body is relaxing…feel your muscles relaxing. Then move on to the next area to be relaxed. You most likely won’t be able to do the relaxation later in the day such as at work or while driving to work (certainly not then). And you want to say your affirmation more than once. So it’s a good idea to do the relaxation at least once a day followed by saying the affirmation for a good 15 to 20 minutes to allow it to sink deeply into your subconscious mind. Your Subconscious Mind Power is not “way down there at the very depth of your psyche”. It’s right beneath the surface, just one step down from your conscious mind. Relaxation helps you get to it.