Study of workplace stress finds there’s a better way to cope than relaxation.
Learning something new is a better way to deal with stress than relaxing, research finds.
The study of workplace stress compared it with simple relaxation strategies like taking a break or listening to some music.
It emerged that learning something new worked better as a stress buffer and helped people manage their negative emotions.
Ms Chen Zhang, the study’s first author, said:
“When jobs are consistently stressful, managers may feel that they are rather constrained in trying to reduce transgressions in the workplace.”
People in the study were working in a variety of industries, including healthcare, finance and education.
Relaxation had its place — it did help people calm their minds and it reduced tiredness.
Learning something new was better, though, Ms Zhang said:
“When it comes to addressing negative emotions and actions in stressful work environments, building positive resources by learning something new at work could be more useful than relaxing.
When an individual comes out of relaxation activities at work and realizes the stressful situation hasn’t changed, it may generate frustration and reverse the benefits of relaxation.”
Learning something new works as a resource-builder.
Ms Zhang said:
“Managers may want to offer opportunities for employees to learn new things in their work.
Similarly, employees who wish to prevent their own conduct from falling prey to stressful factors can also seek ways to learn something new in their everyday work.”
So, at this very moment you are busting stress much more effectively by reading about this study than you would be otherwise.
Well done!
The study was published in the Journal of Applied Psychology (Zhang et al., 2018).
