“Busy”. Why this answer is very often given when the question is innocently ”how are you”? Hustle, constant demands and time pressure both at work and home cause stress on individual, organisational, familial and societal level. These impacts, whether psychological  or physiological, are also economical.

This topic came vividly on my mind during the previous long weekend when running around four long days with active kids. Although physically exhausted, I actually felt mentally quite energetic to start the new week.  It is in fact supported by scientific evidence that the most effective coping strategy to recover from stress for a family with children is indeed operating control and keeping activity level relatively high also on spare time (more complex results explained in Mauno, Rantanen & Kinnunen, 2009). By the way, the same research found out that for childless families/individuals the best stress-release method was ‘mastery’ i.e. gaining new knowledge and learning new skills also off-job.

Fortunately there are also various ways how workplaces can impact on individuals’ lowered stress levels and increased well-being.

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