Stress can be defined as a mentally or emotionally disruptive or upsetting condition occurring in response to adverse external influences and capable of affecting physical health, usually characterized by increased heart rate, a rise in blood pressure, muscular tension, irritability and depression.

The Confederation of British Industry has calculated that:

• Stress affects one in five of the working population
• It's the single biggest cause of sickness absence in the UK
• It costs UK industry £3.7 billion each year
• Work-related stress accounts for over a third of all new incidences of ill health
• Each case of stress-related ill health leads to an average of 30.9 working days lost
• A total of 12.8 million working days were lost to stress, depression and anxiety in 2004/5

 stress can cause many workplace problems, including:

• A fall in productivity and that of employees
• Poor decision making, indecisiveness
• Reduced quality of work and an increase in mistakes due to tiredness
• Increased sickness absence
• High staff turnover
• Poor workplace relations

Stress often has a cumulative effect. If one member of staff becomes ill through stress, it places added pressure on those covering for them.

in:spa tackles stress in various ways:

• Regular exercise and physical activity strengthens the immune system, cardiovascular system, heart, muscles and bones.  It also stimulates the release of endorphins, improves mental functioning, concentration and cognitive performance, lowers cholesterol, blood pressure, cortisol and other stress hormones.
• Yoga and meditation calms the wandering mind, improves concentration and brings a sense of well being.
• A high nutrient diet – you need to eat well in order to beat stress.  Foods rich in antioxidants, omega-3 fatty acids and folate fight and neutralise free radicals, control high cholesterol and hypertension, and prevent age-related cognitive decline and damage to blood vessels and brain cells.  A good, nutritious diet plays a very important role as stress uses up nutrients (vitamins and minerals that are needed to boost immunity, produce hormones, make energy etc.) and stress produces toxins the body has to work hard to expel.
• Getting enough sleep has a profound impact on your stress levels, immune function and disease resistance. 

Initiatives such as nutrition seminars, relaxation workshops, healthy-eating guides and feel-better programmes, have been put in place in various offices and there has been a dramatic increase in health and wellbeing assessments, and a decrease in self-reported absence.

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