Too much stress associated with your work can be a very serious problem. Mayo Clinic
writes that in small doses, stress is a good thing. Stress can energize and motivate you to deal with challenges. However, prolonged or excessive stress can take a severe psychological and physical toll. High stress levels have been found to be associated with depression, anxiety, cardiovascular disease, musculoskeletal problems, impaired immune response and cancer. In a news release on Feb. 5, 2013 Kansas State University has reported, Mental break: Work-life balance needed for recovery from job stress.
According to a Kansas State University researcher YoungAh Park, detaching from work, mentally, physically and electronically, is of vital importance to recovery from job stress during nonworking hours. YoungAh Park has said that although staying connected to work through smartphones, tablets or laptops has become the norm, being plugged all of the time allows work-related issues to spill over to the family realm and disrupts recovery from job stress.
Park has said, "Competition in the workplace is getting fierce. People may worry about job security, want to increase their salary or advance in their career, so they feel they have to be more dedicated to their work. They show that by being available outside of normal work hours through communication and information technologies." It is important to consider that although checking work emails using a smartphone or tablet outside of normal work hours can be beneficial for catching up with work, this can also lead to work-related stress that spills over to the home.
Park has noted that people who are able to unplug from work activities when not on the job experience lower levels of fatigue and job burnout. These people also experience higher levels of positive emotions and life satisfaction than those who remain connected to work- related tasks and matters outside of their normal work hours. Park has commented, "If you have a strong technological boundary and self-restricted rules for using email, laptops or cellphones for work during off-work times, then you are more likely to experience psychological detachment from work." Park has suggested that in order to create a good work-life balance, you should set self-regulated rules for use of communication and information technologies for work during nonwork time.
