People who suffer from chronic headaches often associate them with their job, the people they work with, or the high levels of stress associated with meeting strict deadlines… or a combination of all of the above. While there may be underlying physiological causes for chronic headaches such as hormone imbalances, past injuries or other health conditions, the stress related to a person’s job can also wreak havoc on physical, mental and emotional health.
How Your Job Causes Stress
For people who love their jobs and actually enjoy going to work each day, the stress they endure is similar to an adrenaline rush. Instead of letting it get to them, they thrive on it. They look at it as a challenge that must be faced and overcome.
Others, who dread going to their job, look at the obstacles and become frustrated or overwhelmed. The constant pressure can lead to chronic headaches, insomnia and a host of other health problems including chest pains, hypertension and irritability. Constantly being pressured with deadlines and seemingly insurmountable work goals can be devastating to a person’s health.
What Happens at Work Stays at Work
One of the best ways to effectively control how job-related stress affects your physical health and emotional well-being is to leave the problems you face at work behind you when you walk out the door. For many people this should be a fairly easy task to master once they learn how to compartmentalize their lives.
While some professions require that you remain on-call or that you take a small portion of your work home with you each night, that doesn’t mean you can’t set aside a time that is solely yours to do what you please. Setting a boundary between home life and work life is the best way to de-stress and keep yourself in balance. Finding ways to relax and forget the events that occur during work will help you to control your stress level.
Why Is Your Job So Stressful?
Look closely at your job description and what your job requires you to do on a daily basis. Constantly thinking about what needs to be done can be mentally draining. The more mentally and emotionally fatigued you become, the higher the risk of chronic headaches and stress-related health problems.
Is there anything you can do to make yourself more organized? Are you in a position to delegate certain tasks to others? Make notes and streamline your job by prioritizing your tasks. Finding ways to make your job easier will reduce the stress you feel when you have to consistently meet deadlines.
The Big Picture
Take a look at your lifestyle as a whole. In some cases, a person’s job is only a part of the problem. Being burdened financially or with health problems can raise a person’s stress levels substantially.
Eating a healthier diet is one way of reducing how stress affects the body. Exercising on a regular basis can also help reduce frustration and it improves mental clarity. People who don’t exercise on a regular basis often have health problems that are adversely affected or made worse by constant levels of stress.
Finding simple ways to adjust your lifestyle to include more healthy habits can dramatically reduce your risk of chronic headaches.
National Headache Institute
If you believe your chronic headaches are caused by work-related stress, there are things you can do to help reduce their severity and minimize their frequency.
Evaluate your job and lifestyle to find simple ways to make them less stressful.
If you have any questions about chronic headaches, please contact the National Headache Institute located in Houston, Miami, and New Jersey . We can help diagnose the underlying causes of your pain and work with you to alleviate it.
