Good Mental Health Is The Key to Help You Work Better
- November 28, 2023
- Mental Wellness Tips
- 0 Comments
Table of Contents
Are you feeling depressed, anxious, and exhausted at work? Every day when you wake up, you struggle with the idea of whether to continue this job or not. When you get home from work, you don’t even have the strength to shower.
Sometimes, you feel empty, lose motivation, and don’t want to do anything. If you are experiencing these things, your mental health requires healing. What is mental health? And why can it motivate your mood when working?
What Is Mental Health?
WHO defines: “Mental health as a mental state that helps us cope with life’s pressures, realize our abilities, study, and do good work while contributing to society. Mental health is an important part of human health and happiness, providing the foundation for us to make decisions, build relationships, and shape the world in which we live.”
Mental health is super important for personal, community, and socio-economic development.
According to an Ogilvy study in February 2022, 70% of Gen Z say their mental health needs the most attention or improvement.
There are several types of mental health conditions, including mental disorders, psychosocial impairments, or other states associated with distress, functional impairment, or risk of self-harm. People with mental health problems often have lower levels of happiness.
The Relationship Between Mental Health and Work
Work can greatly affect your health and happiness.
In addition to financial benefits, work can add meaning and purpose to your life. It can also give you a sense of identity and strengthen your self-esteem.
The relationship between work and mental health is a two-way relationship, affecting each other. So, just as work can impact your health, mental health can also impact work, specifically work performance and productivity.
Recent estimates suggest that mental health problems cost the global economy $1 trillion each year due to issues with productivity, absenteeism, and employee turnover.
In reality, many workplace factors are beyond the average employee’s control. But even if your mental health is affected by the workplace, there are still effective measures to help you take care of and protect yourself from those impacts.
Signs of Mental Health Problems in The Workplace
To be able to protect your mental health from being harmed by your job or workplace, you first need to understand the signs of mental health problems. Understanding these signs helps you monitor yourself and promptly detect if something is wrong with your mental health.
Symptoms or signs of mental health problems can vary widely depending on the individual and their condition. It’s important to be aware of changes in how you think, feel, and behave. That is the first step to detecting mental health problems.
If you identify yourself with some of the following symptoms, it may be time to reach out for help:
Reduced work performance
You need help completing daily work or even personal or social tasks.
Difficulty concentrating and thinking
You need help focusing on tasks, remembering, thinking, or changing your talk.
Changes in appetite or sleep cycle
You have insomnia, sleep too much, suddenly change your diet, or abuse stimulants like alcohol, etc.
Mood changes erratically
You feel hopeless, helpless, difficult, or experience unusual mood changes, even extreme thoughts and actions.
Loss of interest in activities
When your mental health has problems, the easy-to-recognize signs are that you lose interest in work, even give up your hobbies, and withdraw from friends and social relationships. You show a marked indifference towards these aspects.
Fear or anxiety
You become too suspicious of colleagues or anyone. You suddenly feel anxious or afraid in certain situations.
More sensitive
You become sensitive more towards external factors such as sounds and sights and try to avoid over-stimulating situations.
Abnormal behavior
You feel disconnected from your surroundings, behaving strangely, erratically, or out of control. You see or hear things that are not real.
Pain of unknown cause
When your mental health is not good, physical signs may appear. Typical examples are headaches, stomachaches, or muscle pain.
Challenges Things Mental Well-being at Work
Now you know the signs of someone with mental health problems. So, in the workplace, what causes or risks lead to those signs?
Factors that negatively impact mental health in the workplace include:
- Long working hours, inflexibility, and lack of personnel due to cuts in unfilled positions leading to increasing workload
- Working remotely (remote working), but there is no separation between work and personal life
- Toxic and encouraging work environment office bullying, harassment, or abuse
- Lack of training and guidance for staff
- Lack of support from equipment to other resources needed for the job
- Unclear communication and communication from management about goals, tasks, or decision-making processes to employees
Above are just some of the most common risks leading to mental health damage in the workplace. The causes can vary depending on each individual’s work position and field of expertise.
How to Take Care of Your Mental Health?
Taking care of your mental health at work is not only about solving immediate mental health problems but also promoting your quality of life.
Even if you don’t face mental health challenges, taking steps to care for your mental health is essential. This equips you with the tools and a healthy mind to improve yourself, increase your work performance, and deal with future risks.
So, how do you work while ensuring healthy mental health?
Please apply the following methods:
Turn off the power
Whether working in the office or remotely, balancing work and life is important. Small actions to create this balance include taking breaks during the day and turning off screens when the work day is over.
Instead of being available 24/7 to answer work calls, emails, or messages, make time for your family, friends, and yourself. After work, you should relax and do activities to recharge and enjoy yourself.
Practice relaxation techniques
Relaxing and recharging effectively doesn’t stop at leisure activities like lying around watching TV or surfing Facebook.
To Protect your mental health and lower stress by activating your relaxation responses. You can do this with meditation, exercise, or yoga.
Take care of yourself.
You can make a big difference to your health by sleeping well, eating healthy and nourishing foods, and exercising regularly for mental health at work and beyond.
Self-care is completely within your control, unlike factors in the workplace. The more you try to take good care of yourself, the better you will deal with workplace hazards.
Find meaning and purpose in work.
If you love your job, that’s great. Instead of being affected by the negativity around you, you can focus on doing what you love. But even if you don’t love your job, there’s still a way to find meaning in work there.
Focus on how your job helps others or the benefits it brings you, like financial stability or great co-workers.
Looking for training opportunities or taking job-related classes to improve your qualifications can also help you hate your job less and find it more meaningful.
Connect and collaborate
Developing mutually supportive relationships with colleagues, collaborating in groups, and having fun together can help reduce stress and improve your mood at work.
If you’re far from your coworkers, try to find opportunities to collaborate with people on projects or activities outside of work to create connections.
Build resilience
The more resilient and resilient you are, the better able you are to withstand the stress, anxiety, and despair caused by work problems.
Resilience can help you bounce back from setbacks in your career or personal life and maintain a positive outlook in all circumstances.
More than being strong, resilience takes effort to build and maintain over time.
Conclusion
Up to now, many people probably still wonder what mental health is because it is an aspect that is often forgotten. Always remember that you have the right to talk about and be concerned about your mental health at work.
You can work well and aim for further goals only when you have good mental health. Therefore, if you see any signs related to mental health rekindling, stop for a moment and find a way to fix it. Talk to someone you trust if necessary; don’t be shy because we can all experience mental health problems.
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