6 ways stress harms productivity
read time: 4 minutes
disclaimer: This is not medical advice. This is intended to educate, inspire and support you in your self healing journey. Speak to your functional medicine doctor, holistic psychologist, or medical professional. Some content might be sensitive; I invite you to practice self-harmonizing.
Wasn’t technology supposed to make life better?
More efficient and easy… so you could work 6 hours per day, take off every other Friday, the month of August and a couple of weeks at Christmas and the New Year, too!
So you could actually enjoy leisurely walks with your pup, exercise and gardening, and still have time for a delicious home cooked meal with loved ones.
But the opposite has happened.
You are working at least 8 hours per day.
Checking your email first thing in the morning and last thing at night.
Given just days off at the holidays and feel guilty for taking your hard earned vacation days.
The stress of work and life is getting to you.
Harming not just your physical health, but your mental health and cognition, too.
Overwhelming stress (traumatic and/or chronic), activates the amygdala (emotional learning, fear, anxiety) and decreases the neocortex (logic, reason, decision making, motivation).
If only we truly understood that healing stress would actually improve overall efficiency, productivity and fulfillment in the workplace and beyond!
6 ways stress harms productivity
1 — poor memory
The hippocampus is the part of the brain that plays a major role converting experience into memory.
Under extreme stress (traumatic and/or chronic), the function of the hippocampus decreases and gets smaller! Meaning your memory goes out the window!
2 — unfocused, difficulty concentrating
When overwhelmed by stress, the nervous system becomes hyper-vigilant, constantly scanning the environment for danger.
It becomes unable to focus on one point, task or project, but instead is constantly bouncing around expecting a threat to jump out.
This symptom of stress is often diagnosed ADHD, it was for me.
3 — indecisive
Constantly scanning the environment for danger, the nervous system picks up a vast amount of information.
Unable to concentrate, feeling flighty, overwhelmed by information and choice, and decreased function of the neocortex negatively impacts decision making abilities.
4 — perfectionism, procrastination
Overwhelming stress in the nervous system, often a mix of early life trauma and attachment issues combined with “normal” demands of life causes people to feel anxious, afraid, unseen and under appreciated, which drives people to overcompensate with perfectionism.
Perfectionism has two presentations: hyperdrive and paralysis.
The hyperdrive presentation is the type A over-achiever who is exhausted, aggressive, and burnt out. The paralysis presentation is stuck in freeze and procrastinates.
5 — creativity
When the nervous system is overwhelmed by stress, it’s stuck in survival mode. It’s defensive and contracted — physically, mentally, emotionally, energetically.
When contracted, the nervous system isn’t open for new, creative ideas because “new” is interpreted as unfamiliar, unknown, unpredictable, unsafe, and down right dangerous.
6 — apathetic, poor collaborators
Overwhelmed by stress and in defense, contraction, the nervous system isn’t generous, compassionate nor interested in anything outside of their immediate demands.
The nervous system doesn’t have the energy resources to care about someone else, their wellbeing, their success. The nervous system is too busy wondering “will I survive”?
How else is overwhelming stress harming your productivity?
Share in the comments & join me on Instagram.
And be sure to send this to your boss ;)
infinite love to you,
Stephanie
