Tuesday 9 May 2017

Managing anxiety at work and university

Whether you are busy at university with exams or feeling the pressures of multiple deadlines at work, experiences of anxiety, stress or anxiety based depression can be difficult to manage. As this Mental Health Awareness Week is focused on thriving (rather than simply surviving), we’ve put together a few tips on how to help thrive at work or university when you are dealing with anxiety, stress or anxiety based depression.


Raise issues early

If you feel that anxiety, stress or anxiety based depression is beginning to take a toll on you at work or university, it’s important to raise these issues early on. Speaking to your manager, supervisor or tutor about how you are feeling, allows for you to work together to identify opportunities to implement support and useful changes.

 

 

Access support

Make yourself aware of the support that is available to you. Many organisations offer an Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) and universities have a range of services. Anxiety UK offers a variety of support options through its membership packages including access to reduced cost therapies and a year’s free subscription to Headspace.

 

Create a timetable

It’s the age old rule, but it’s worth reiterating: try not to leave everything until the last minute. When you have a range of different tasks to tackle, break them down into a manageable timetable and address the more challenging tasks earlier rather than later.

 

 

Connect with fellow students/colleagues

Connect with those around you to create an informal network of support.  It can make a real difference just being able to talk to others who know what you are going through. It can also be a great opportunity to exchange advice and tips.

 

 

Focus on achieving a work/life balance

Maintaining a work/life balance is incredibly important. Increasingly people are taking their work home with them, but it’s important that we don’t let this take over. It’s always worth being aware of how working at home may affect you. For example, checking your work emails at 11pm in bed can make it difficult to switch off and get a good night’s sleep. Or staying up until 3am writing an essay finished can have a knock on effect if you are already feeling stress or anxious.

 

Savour the successes

Remember to savour the successes at work and within your studies. We can all become so focused on how much work we still have to do and how many improvements could be made, that we can neglect to take stock when we’ve done something well. This is really important.

 

 

Look after yourself

When we are feeling overwhelmed by workloads, we can often neglect to look after ourselves. Simple things like ensuring a balance diet, getting a good night’s sleep and cutting down on your caffeine intake can make a real difference on how we are feeling.

If you have any tips of your own, please feel free to share them in the comments section below.

The post Managing anxiety at work and university appeared first on Anxiety UK.



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