Workplace stress is one of the major stress factors nowadays. It begins in the morning when you dread going to work and never stops till the evening when you are worn out or even feel burned out from spending your time at the office. How sad is this? To be under stress every day with seeing no way out!
What to do when the typical stress advice doesn’t work anymore? When you feel stressed even in a job you love? Even if you close the door to your office to minimize distraction? When reading all the tips you can find online still doesn’t help you get a few stress free minutes per day?
There are some out-of-the-box thinking and practices to manage stress. Here is a great example where aromatherapy was used to help employees decrease their stress levels and increase their job satisfaction.
One recent study has shown that workers in one of the most stressful careers are successfully using aromatherapy at work to deal with their stress.
Imagine working in the cancer treatment field. Each day you’re dealing with life altering situations, where some patients die and you’re dealing with their stress on a day-to-day, hour-by-hour basis. Secondhand stress itself is something that affects us, too.
At the Oncology Nursing Society 39th Annual Congress, a study was presented that showed nurses dealing with cancer patients were able to improve their own health and job performance using aroma diffusers in the office.
This career is one that suffers high turnover. The emotional impact of the job – as well as high demands placed on the workers – causes extreme burnout, so they often quit.
The James Cancer Hospital in Columbus, Ohio conducted the study – using diffusers to dispense essential oils over a 6-week timespan. They strategically placed them at a main nursing station.
They conducted before and after studies of workplace stress and measured four things: worry, demands, tension and lack of joy. Everything improved except lack of joy, but according to the study, that happened to coincide with an unusual number of patient deaths, so that’s understandable – because these nurses are caretakers of their patients.
Do you suffer from workplace stress? Why not try aromatherapy? You might seek out calming scents and invest in a diffuser or other aromatherapy method that won’t interfere with those around you. It could help you see your job in a whole new light.
Here is a detailed article about calming aromatherapy scents: http://stress.about.com/od/generaltechniques/a/aromatherapy_b.htm
The most important calming scents are lavender, rosemary, peppermint, lemon and ylang-ylang. Of course always ask your colleagues if they enjoy the scents, too. Some people have hard time tolerating some scents even if you personally love them. If they are allergic to a scent, your colleagues can get severe headaches and feel sick. So be mindful that you are not adding extra stress to your co-workers life!