You can find ‘key takeaways’ at the end of this page.

Vhi Integrative Health Specialist & Health Coach, Micheli Romão, has a wealth of experience when it comes to helping people manage work-related stress. Here, she shares tips for alleviating some of the burden of stress.

Work-related stress symptoms

Feeling some pressure or stress at work is expected, but if it starts to affect your health, something needs to be done. From my perspective as a health coach, when a patient comes to me, they're at a point where the stress they’re feeling cannot be dismissed anymore. I think work stress is like that ─ we put up with a lot before we recognise that it’s become a problem.

Not being able to sleep is often the catalyst for someone to decide they need help. And in many cases, when someone comes to see me, they haven’t made the connection that stress is the root cause of their poor sleep, or whatever the issue is. Other stress symptoms include:

• Irritability
• Anxiety or panic
• Mood swings
• Headaches
• Nausea
• Fatigue
• Body aches

Keep in mind that there are many symptoms stress can manifest as, and they differ from person to person.

Symptoms you might not realise are stress-related

Some symptoms are often overlooked as being stress-related, so it’s important to be aware of them:

• Feeling ‘out of control’ and overwhelmed. Feeling out of control often refers to emotional responses that feel like an overreaction or very out of character for you.
• Becoming more forgetful, struggling to concentrate or to recall information.
• Lack of motivation to socialise or spend time with your friends and family.
• Loss of confidence in yourself and your abilities.
• A reduction in healthy eating habits. This can lead to unintended weight gain or weight loss over time. If you aren’t aware of just how much stress your body is dealing with, you might not connect the two.

What can people do outside of work to manage their stress?

Try these six steps:

1.      Validate your stress

The first thing is to acknowledge and validate that you’re experiencing a very real struggle. It’s also personal, and others might not understand exactly what you’re going through, but this doesn’t make your struggles any less real.

2.      Take a helicopter view of your stress

When you’re in something, it’s hard to see the nuances and the numerous factors at play. But by stepping back and taking a ‘helicopter view’, of your situation, you can look for opportunities, routes and exits. You do this by learning to ‘remove’ yourself from the stress of the workplace when you finish work each day. You’re not carrying the weight of it home and into your personal life, skewing your ability to step back for a clear view of the situation.

You do this by finding a way to indicate to your brain and your body that there’s a clear break between your work hours and your personal hours. Step three explains how you can do this.

3.      Create signals for your brain and body

I advise people to perform an activity that signifies to both your mind and your body that you have left work and how being at work makes you feel. Maybe you go to the gym on the way home, or you grab a coffee, or you change from work shoes to comfy shoes in the car. Even if you do a 10-second mindfulness ritual before opening your front door! Whatever you choose, it tells your mind and body, “Okay, work hours are over. It’s time to focus on my personal hours.” When you get good at this, you’ll find the mental clarity to take that helicopter view and decide what you can and should do to help your situation.  

4.      Nourish your mental resilience

Building mental resilience can help us to cope better with stress. There are two key things that make us more mentally resilient: a good support system and quality self-care practices. Resilient people don’t just invest their energy and time into their worklife ─ they invest in their personal lives through connections and self-care. This can sound unattainable when you’re stressed and busy (and absolutely, it requires effort), but this effort is worth it. Your health is worth it. Even spending 20 minutes a day with a friend or getting outside for a short walk will impact your mental resilience.

Self-care isn’t just taking a bath or getting your nails done ─ although these things do feel good! True self-care is creating habits that nourish your mind and body, and which you maintain consistently as a routine.

5.      Find healthy outlets

When we’re stressed, our bodies only understand this feeling as being under threat and needing to fight. You need to take the pent-up emotions from stress ─ frustration, hurt, fear ─ and positively offload them. Things like weightlifting, kickboxing and running allow your body to release the instinctive feeling of needing to respond to a threat.

6.      Never put more effort into work than you do your personal life

It’s fine to put in extra hours at work when you really need to, but the key is to match that with more personal hours to balance that out. Worked two hours overtime this week? Book a yoga class one evening or grab a solo breakfast on Saturday. Put effort into yourself and your self-care, because you absolutely deserve it.

Remember, your work is not you ─ it’s simply your skills being put to use. But you are far, far more than your job. The only constant in life is yourself, so nourish your personal life as a priority.

Key Takeaways

• Work stress often goes unnoticed until it disrupts sleep or daily functioning.
• Common symptoms include irritability, anxiety, fatigue, headaches, and mood swings.
• Less obvious signs include forgetfulness, feeling overwhelmed, poor eating habits, and social withdrawal.
• Validate your stress: acknowledging it is the first step to managing it.
• Take a helicopter view: step back to assess your stress objectively and identify ways to separate work from personal life.
• Create transition rituals: small actions like changing shoes or a mindfulness moment can signal the end of the workday.
• Build mental resilience through strong support systems and consistent self-care.
• Balance effort: match extra work hours with extra personal care.
• Find healthy outlets: physical activities like running or kickboxing help release stress-related tension.
• Remember your identity: your job is not who you are, so prioritise your personal life and wellbeing.

This content is for information purposes only and is not intended or implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek advice from your GP or an appropriate medical professional if you have concerns about your health or before commencing a new healthcare regime. If you believe that you are experiencing a medical emergency call 999 / 112 or seek emergency assistance immediately.