Stress is inevitable in all areas of life. At some point, everyone has been overwhelmed with responsibilities and occurrences at work and in our personal lives. Juggling all areas of life together causes Stress and can be harmful emotionally and physically. Before serious stress issues happen, let’s first take a closer look at what stress is, its effects, and what productivity tools to use to manage it.

Defining Stress

The term “stress”, defined as “the non-specific response of the body to any demand for change”, was pioneered and popularized as a scientific idea by Hans Selye in 1936. Walter Bradford Cannon also added important contributions by defining stress as the fight-or-flight response, a physiological reaction to perceived threats. Today, the word stress is commonly used in describing a negative experience emotionally and physically and in any areas of life. 

Jerry Kennard, Health Central: 

As historians of psychology would be quick to point out, Selye actively avoided using the term stress until 1946. He was acutely aware of the fact that stress was much more closely associated with notions of ‘nervous strain’ and he was at pains to try to avoid criticism that his use was inappropriate. In terms of accuracy, it was Walter Cannon who actually developed the term stress in his work relating to the flight-or-flight response in 1932.

Common Sources of Stress

Mickey Trescott, Rodale Wellness: 

There are, however, many moments in life that are more likely to cause stress than others. It is important to note that it isn’t just the event or process that is stressful, but it is the way we react to it. 

• Major Life Event Change – Change is primarily associated as the main agent of stress. These changes could be any major life events like the death of a loved one, disease or any unexpected illness, an accident, marriage, having a baby, job loss and the like.
• Health Problems – Sickness that needs ongoing medication such as a chronic disease.
• Financial Problems – Another cause of stress is having to deal with financial difficulties. Looking for ways to address financial issues and how to overcome them can mean great stress to anyone.
• Relational Stress – This could mean issues in the family, with friends, troubles with co-workers and such.
• Emotional difficulties – Heartaches after a breakup, sadness, anger or irritability, fear, anxiety are some examples of emotional difficulties.
• Too much workload – Working on too many tasks and responsibility is one common stressor for workers.

(source)

Effects of Stress

Stress could lead to short-term and long-term effects physically, mentally and spiritually. Short-term, it could contribute to headaches, irritability, stomachache, and lack of sleep. Long-term, stress could lead to serious illnesses and disorders like depression, panic attacks, heart disease and is even accounted to have contributed to stroke or heart attack. Chronic stress is very harmful that it could affect a person’s overall well-being. (source)

Productivity Tools to Manage Stress at Work

• Google Calendar or Apple Calendar

Calendars are an everyday necessity for organizing and keeping track of daily activities and events. People would forget a lot of things such as important dates to celebrate like anniversary and birthday, miss appointments and miss deadlines. Depending on a person’s preference, both Google Calendar and Apple Calendar are easy to use. Jot in important events, reminders, reservations, and anything to your calendar. Make the most of your day and see your schedule ahead. Switch between day, week and month view and easily edit and update notes at hand. Calendars are readily available on all devices such as Android phone, iPhone, Mac, and Windows. You can also download one as a Chrome browser extension provided you have a Google account.

Dann Albright, Make Use Of: 

Google Calendar can be a really useful tool in keeping your life organized, but it doesn’t do you any good when it fills up and leaves you stressed. We often don’t have enough hours in a day, but the calendar itself can come to our rescue. Plan your schedule smartly and you won’t have to do everything at once.

• Spotify

Take a break from whatever makes you stressed. Enjoy listening to your favorite music via Spotify. If you’re like most people who work productively while listening to music, this one is best for you. Spotify is used worldwide with almost all kinds of music available online for free. If you prefer listening without disrupting ads, subscribe to their premium account at a very minimal price. Spotify is available for Mac OS X, Windows, iOS, Android, Windows Phone and more.

Caroline Picard, Good Housekeeping: 

A neuromarketing company called Mindlab International just released something that could extinguish your anxiety the next time bad luck strikes: a 10 song playlist that’ll have you feeling totally zen…

Their other top picks, including popular artists Adele and Coldplay, also bring on ultimate relaxation:

1. “Weightless” by Marconi Union

2. “Electra” by Airstream

3. “Mellomaniac (Chill Out Mix)” by DJ Shah

4.” Watermark” by Enya

5. “Strawberry Swing” by Coldplay

6. “Please Don’t Go” by Barcelona

7. “Pure Shores” by All Saints

8. “Someone Like You” by Adele

9. “Canzonetta Sull’aria” by Mozart

10. “We Can Fly” by Rue du Soleil

You can listen to all 10 songs on a Spotify playlist that’s about an hour long

• Criptext for Gmail

Another browser extension for everyone is Criptext for Gmail. This extension allows its users to send encrypted emails, attach large files, track read emails and downloaded attachments and even set the attachment as read-only or password protected. Unbelievably, this extension also allows unsending messages by deleting email contents sent to the recipient. This is perfect for people who frequently use email at work; taking off the hassle of apologizing for missent messages and making security a priority in Gmail. This extension is available for both Safari and Chrome users. 

Abhimanyu Ghoshal, The Next Web: 

With more companies becoming aware of the need for secure communication channels, Criptext is an interesting workaround for features Gmail is missing.

• Todoist

A to-do-list tool for everyone who loves organizing daily tasks and taking notes on every single goal and milestones in life. It’s an online task management app that helps its users keep track of activities, events, and tasks. Stress less and do the things you want to accomplish today and list the things you’d want to work on tomorrow, in the future and even daily. Todoist is available on all devices: Web, Desktop, Mobile, Browser Extensions, Email Plugins and even on Wearables. Focus and be more productive at work and take away unnecessary stress by using this tool!

Mike Vardy, Productivityist: 

I can say unequivocally that I’m a Todoist user now. I like what they’ve put together and I like where they’re headed… but Todoist is now my personal task management application of choice.

• LastPass

Found yourself sometimes struggling with remembering your password for a specific website? Tried many of your password combinations, but still can’t get the right one? The next thing you know, you’re stressed and caught up waiting for the reset password link on your email instead of using your precious time spent on an important task on hand. LastPass is an app available to download on Windows, Mac, Linux, Mobile and Browser Extensions. It’s a platform for saving usernames and passwords in one safe place. Using LastPass, you can not only save your passwords, but also secure and keep track of important notes like WiFi passwords, credit card numbers and more. It makes way for automatic log-in and form filing. No need to check your wallet and search for your credit card details in order to fill forms online. Everything is in one place. No more scratching your forehead and looking at your ceiling, trying to remember your password. All you need to do is remember one password, which is your LastPass account, and LastPass will remember everything for you. It’s easy and safe.

Jason Fitzpatrick, How to Geek: 

LastPass is a password management tool that takes all the effort out of managing your passwords—it’s so effortless, in fact, that it’s the most popular password management tool among How-To Geek readers. 

• AdBlock

Does it annoy you seeing lots of advertisements while you’re surfing the net? Are you distracted by products showing at the side of the web page you’re working on and realized at the end that you’re checking on these products instead of focusing on the tasks you’re working on? For people who get irritated and eventually, stressed by these ads, Adblock is a tool for you. It’s a browser extension you can use for Safari and Chrome users. It blocks and prevents advertisements from showing up on YouTube, Facebook, and any other websites. Lessen your stress and get more productive by not dealing with unnecessary ads anymore!

Thorin Klosowski, Lifehacker: 

Adblock Plus is one of the most robust browser extensions out there, and while its namesake is its most-used feature, it’s not just about blocking ads. In fact, you can do all sorts of things with it, including cleaning up Facebook’s interface and making sure web sites aren’t tracking you.

Our choices, perspective in life, and attitude create a big difference in handling stress and changes around us. Changing the way we think and adjusting our expectation of things can lessen the occurrence of stress. A healthy lifestyle like regular exercise, meditation, doing yoga, healthy eating habits, getting enough sleep and such, could be a great help to managing and relieving stress. Take a break, enjoy what you have today and make time with your social support. Stress is unavoidable and is part of  day-to-day life. The productivity tools above could be of great help to manage stress, but what makes the difference in being a rock star on managing stress is how you deal with it and renewing your mind and focusing on the essential things in life. Worry and stress no more! Focus on what you can do today and make use of the available resources featured above. 

Keep your life simple and make use of what advanced technology has to offer today. Don’t just work hard but also work smart. For more tools and guide to work smarter, you may check “3 Ways to Work Smarter Using Dead Drop” or “10 Free Mobile Apps for Productivity that will Help You Work Smarter”.