The American Academy of Family Physicians estimates that symptoms linked to stress account for more than two-thirds of all the visits to family physicians. When we think of stress we usually think of it as being a negative force, decreasing productivity and making you more susceptible to illness. But, stress also has a positive side. In fact, some stress is necessary for functioning effectively and living a full life. Managed correctly, stress can be turned around to cause a new positive energy force in your company, employees and profits.

With the advent of all the modern conveniences that were supposed to make our lives much simpler, why do stress levels continued to climb? The rapid change in technology continues to provide major stressors. Continual training to keep up to speed on innovations, constant derailing of productivity to fix computer/technology problems and the rapid influx of information that is more than anyone can comprehend all contribute to the stress epidemic.

Corporate change, reorganization and resizing are also key elements in the stress equation. In the last 10 years nearly half of all companies have restructured. Over 90,000 firms were acquired or merged and over 240,000 companies were downsized. The hallmarks of these stressors and decline in workforce productivity often include rapid increases in employee fatigue, anxiety, depression, emotional disabilities plus corresponding decreases in quality of work and in productivity.

What are the keys to effectively managing in this new age of hyperstress? There must be a stabilizing effect that allows people to feel they are in control. They must have a clear, conscious and practical awareness of the specific kinds of work experiences that give them satisfaction. They must know, in specific terms, what experiences give them the feeling that they have had "a good day at work." Surprisingly almost 87% of workers are not aware, in an actionable way, of their personal "work satisfiers."

Secondly, each person must have a clear, practical awareness of the strengths they bring to their work if they are to restore their sense of coherence and control in the ever-changing work environment. Strengths in the age of hyperstress go far beyond simple knowledge and skills. They also include traits such as creativity, tolerance to ambiguity, focus on results, ability to communicate complex or new ideas, work in a team, etc. Finally, a plan must be put in place where employees gain more frequent experience with work satisfiers and take action to make their strengths more obviously valuable to co-workers and managers. Becoming more practically aware of your personal satisfiers and strengths leads to significant decreases in worker stress levels.

Dr. Hans Selye, known as the father of stress management, and the founder of the Canadian Institute of Stress, documented the most positive results in improved productivity and performance by combining the improvement in satisfier and strength awareness with biological methods such as exercise, relaxation and nutrition. Combining the psychological methods with the biological methods improved a person’s ability to cope with stress and reduced their "body age" (a measure used to determine overall improvement in health and vitality) by over 11 years in less than 8 mos. There was also a significant improvement in productivity (measured by days absent from work) and health measures such as reduced blood pressure and reduced visits to doctors.

It was clinically proven that for each person there is the right (and usually simple) prescription for growing younger. However, you have to find each unique prescription, believe in it, and put it to work. One-size-fits all programs don’t work. Dr. Selye’s program explored each participant’s unique nature and situation, and created a personalized prescription for mastering the stressors of their particular situation. The proper mix of exercise, nutrition, relaxation, values and goal definition and assertiveness were the keys to success.