Tips to Keep Work Stress Away from Home
March 4, 2025
“ Keep your home as a safe space.”
——-
The lines between work and home life can easily become blurred.
Stress comes with the territory for many working professionals, and that stress has the potential to trickle down into family life if parents are not careful.
According to the Australian Psychological Society’s “Stress and Well-being Report,” 31 percent of people cite work as a leading cause of stress. In addition, 92 percent of all serious work-related mental health condition claims were attributed to mental stress. The Anxiety Disorders Association of America indicates 40 percent of people experience persistent stress or excessive anxiety in their daily lives, much of which is attributed to work.
Each profession has its share of stress-inducing situations, and no parent wants to bring work-related stress home at the end of a long day at the office. The following are a handful of strategies parents can embrace as they try to keep work-related stress from affecting their home life.
· Turn off notifications. When you’re home, focus on home and avoid work. That may require turning off work email notifications on your phone or putting a company laptop away and out of sight.
· Build more exercise into your day. A study by researchers at the University of Florida found participants who took at least 10,900 steps each day were less likely to take out stress on family members compared to participants who took only 7,000 steps. Exercise can help reduce stress and releases feel-good endorphins. Exercise paired with adequate sleep can improve self-regulation skills.
· Try a new job. While not an answer for everyone, moving on to a new career or even a different position can tame work-related stress and help improve relationships at home. Some people find scaling back hours may help them find balance as well.
Stress at work doesn’t have to come home at the end of each day. Various strategies can ensure stress stays at the office.
