Work is a source of stress for us

According to a survey by Huawei CBG Poland - 38% of those feeling professional pressure say this state of affairs has persisted for more than six months, and 31% are unable to indicate how long. Long-term stress negatively affects our well-being, leads to lower mood, constant fatigue, insomnia, impaired productivity or professional burnout. Yet 84% of us never measure its level. Such control turns out to be extremely important. Proper analysis through smartwatch functions can help us learn about our reactions and learn to control them. This will consequently improve our health and level of life satisfaction.

As many as 72% of working Poles experience work-related stress every week. Such a dose of nerves can have consequences for our health. Some of the symptoms of chronic stress are insomnia, lowered immunity or heart problems, and even migraines. For almost one-fifth of workers (19%), their profession is a daily source of anxiety, while 33% feel professional stress even 2-3 times a week. What's more, as many as 20% of respondents admit that they can't get through a week without at least one difficult day. A conclusion that sheds some optimism on the situation of employees' mental condition is that slightly more than a quarter of employees experience work-related stress only 1-2 times a month or less often (28%). So what is the most common work-related anxiety and how can we deal with it?

Wages too low and pressure too high

The level of salary continues to be the strongest stress generator among working Poles, as many as 61% of them admit. There is nothing surprising in this, after all, the amount of earnings directly affects the feeling of security. Being able to make life decisions without financial pressure is an unattainable dream for many - only 3% of respondents do not stress about money at all. Slightly fewer, 56%, cite high pressure for professional performance as a factor that causes them strong or very strong stress. There is a lot of talk in the public space about the health consequences of putting too much pressure on subordinates, but as you can see, education on the subject is still needed. Only 4% of us are not stressed by this topic at all. However, other factors, such as excessive tasks and overtime, lack of development opportunities and inappropriate work atmosphere also weigh heavily on employees - 49%, 46% and 45% of people, respectively, cited these problems as strong stress factors.

Surprisingly, conditions at the place of employment negatively affect the well-being of as many as 43% of workers, and the lack of remote work on 33% of them.

Pressure at work has long been a problem

According to stressed employees, their problems have been going on for a long time. As many as 38% of respondents admitted that they have been feeling the stress of their jobs for more than six months, while 31% are unable to say how long they have been feeling the pressure. Nearly one in four (23%) indicate that the problems have persisted for several months, while another 8% indicate that it has been less than a month.

Monitoring stress levels is a must

As many as 84% of respondents admit that they never check their stress levels. This is worth changing, because controlling it helps identify the factors that trigger it. The sooner we notice them, the better we can counteract the short- and long-term effects of irritation and anxiety. Excellent tools with advanced stress measurement functions are smartwatches.

- Monitoring stress levels is important both when we experience an increase in stress and when we do not notice such symptoms. In the former case - when the watch shows us that the level of tension in our body is too high, we can apply anti-stress techniques such as breathing exercises, muscle relaxation or meditation. It's also worth taking care of regular physical activity and better sleep, which a smartwatch can also help us with. However, if severe stress occurs frequently and over a long period of time, then many people stop feeling its symptoms - our body gets used to this permanent tension. The watch records changes in stress levels around the clock, which will objectively show whether we are stressed or not. The analysis of daily data will also allow us to link rapid increases to events that took place at a particular time of the day. This will allow us to find out what situations cause us increased tension, as well as their negative symptoms, such as accelerated heart rate or sleep problems. This will allow us to react appropriately - build healthy habits and, if necessary, eliminate the main sources of stress from our lives," says Dorota Rakowska, Marketing Director at Huawei CBG Poland.

[1] Survey conducted on behalf of Huawei CBG Poland by SW Research, March 2024, N = 1000.

Source: press mat.