Stress
Work-related stress can make you miserable and worsen medical conditions.
It’s a wide-spread problem. Authorities estimate that workers' compensation
claims related to stress cost more than $150 billion annually in health care
expenses and lost productivity.
What are some common causes of stress?
- Demanding jobs with too much responsibility and too little control.
- Harassment by supervisors, administrators and difficult students.
- A poor physical environment — including overcrowding and lack
of materials.
How will stress make me feel?
- Unhappy
- Easily irritated
- Quick to anger
- Tired
- Depressed
- Headachy
- Sick, with stomach, back trouble, or other illnesses.
- Sleepless.
- Subject to rapid loss or gain of weight
What can I do to relieve stress?
- Try to identify what it is about your job that most gets on your nerves. Then talk with the teacher with whom you work to see if there are ways to restructure your assignments to manage the irritation. If necessary, talk to your UFT chapter leader and then your principal.
- Eat the right foods, drink lots of water and eat slowly.
- Avoid the wrong foods, like caffeine, sugar and alcohol.
- Do physical exercises such as walking, stretching and deep breathing.
- Take assertiveness training.
- Manage your time through prioritizing and setting goals.
- Find new ways to relax and do so every day for at least 20 minutes.
- Call on your family, friends and co-workers for support by sharing your feelings.
- Take a UFT stress management course (see the UFT course catalogs in August, January and June for course listings; some are in-service and some carry college credit).